Has anyone else scraped / gouged up the edge of their bullit rims? Input would be appreciated. Thanks.

I knew there was a reason I wasn't too crazy about low profile tires--they cut down your margin of error when making a tight corner turn.

On the way home today, after I had committed to my left turn into traffic on a one way street, a guy in a big white Econoline van on the other side of the intersection pulled out on me, turning wide and threatening to hit my passenger side front fender. To avoid a collision, I cut the steering wheel hard, but clipped the driver's side rear wheel on the concrete curb.

Upon inspection, I found 5 "chips" or "pits" along the edge of the Bullit wheel, and in the middle of the 5 pits, I now have a "gouge" about the size of 1/3 of a dime, along the edge of the rim. Aside from the primary concern about having possibly impaired the integrity of the air seal where the rim edge meets the tire rubber (so far I don't think that happened but I will monitor the tire pressure tomorrow), I need to address the aesthetics or appearance of the now rough rim edge.

Questions:
1. Is the entire Bullit wheel aluminum, making the metal softer and more vulnerable to damage but also more malleable and subject to smoothing out the rough edge and dented rim?

2. Should I have it professionally repaired by a tire and rim shop? If so, any recommendations? I have a great working relationship with the service manager at a local Tire Kingdom in the suburbs west of New Orleans.

3. My brother in law, a pretty handy all around and car guy who is willing to help me, has some measure of experience smoothing out the rough edges of aluminum rims routinely scraped by my sister at the wheel (she usually snags the rear passenger rim, not the rear driver's rim like I did. Maybe it's in our gene pool or something. )

Should I just get together with my brother in law, smooth it out the best we can, and ride off into the sunset? I'm not looking for perfection, but do want better than the rough / dented edge I now have.

 

I did once. I lightly wet sanded the damaged area and the scrape was 95% removed. I knew it was there but from a distance of 10' I could not notice the difference.

I am not suggesting this would correct the problem since I don't know the extent of the damage. I am stating it worked in my case without having to have it professionally repaired or replaced. I would seek a professional's advice before taking any steps.

 

Thanks, 1 Bullitt, for your input. I can't get with my brother in law until Saturday afternoon, so I do plan to check with a professional first before we touch the rim.

I'm just not certain who that might be. I'll start with the service manager at Tire Kingdom, and see if he has any recommendations on a referral, if they don't repair rims (I'm sure they see this all the time).

Glad to hear you got your scrape 95% removed (first for your sake, and hopefully for mine also). I couldn't get a picture of the rim on here tonight, sorry, it is dark and raining right now and the photo wouldn't show too well.

 

I know that in the overall scheme of things, this is not that big of a deal. But, it is the first "ding" of any kind on my 2 month old GT, and it is bugging me. Not sure what's worse--if someone else dings you, or you do it to yourself. Since I was at the wheel, I kind of feel like I should have avoided scraping the rim---but of course, if I could have, I would have.

It would have been MUCH worse if the guy in the big white van had struck the car. So I'm counting my blessings on that front. Just irritated about the gouge in the rim edge.

 

Again, is the entire rim (especially the edge near the rubber) aluminum?

 

I believe it is!

kc

 

There's two companies that I know who repair rims. Turbax and Wheeltech. If you google them you might be able to get a little more info.

 

You might try calling around to a few body shops and see if they can give you a good referral. I am sure the rim is all aluminum. There are a couple people on here that do insurance work. Maybe one will chime in for you.

 

I've seen alot of wheels that are referred to as 'Anthracite' (i think the spelling is correct), and I'm not sure if this is of the same properties as aluminum or not?

 

i did the same thing when i was parking on friday. they give you a ticket if you are more than 6" away from the curb around here, so needless to say, i scraped the rear passenger side rim. two big gouge marks in it. so depressing.

 

If the tire is not losing air, forget about it. If the looks are what you are afraid of, sand it down. While I do not prefer Fusion tires, they have a rubber lip that comes out from the rim. Great idea though. It helps protect the rim's edge and will hide that V gouge somewhat.
When you replace the tires you may want to explore that option.

 

Someone on here may be selling the stock rims as well as alot have bought aftermarket and may be willing to part with them cheap...just a suggestin

 

Thanks, folks. I appreciate all the suggestions, info, and encouragement. It is frustrating when the wounds are self-inflicted.

I'm not familiar with Fusion Tires, but I will certainly check into that when I replace the originals.

Thanks again. M.

 

I know how you feel the same thing happend to one of my rims, i did it myself without issues. Yes the wheel is all aluminum, the Anthracite is the color. use a plastic hammer to smooth down any burrs, then wet sand the area to smooth it out again. the lip is polished so you will have to use a progressively finer paper but should be able to get pretty close to the finish. polish it out again with mothers and you should be good to go.

 

I belive it is also clear coated as well ,check as you fine sand the edge to see if there is .

 

I scraped one of my polished wheels too, I was very mad at myself when it happened. I was leaving the drive-thru at the bank and I heard "thunk". I knew exactly what happened right away, brushed up against the curb on the way out. I guess I'll have to get some sandpaper and try to polish it out. There's no big gouges, just a few inches of scrape marks.

 

I did the same thing yesterday parallel parking... rear left wheel lip. I haven't gotten used to how huge the 05 is compared to my 89... the car's a tank! Anyway, now that 4 of us have done it, who wants to sell us each one of their original wheels?

 

Well I just did this to two of my 03 AFS wheels....I curbed the passenger side a while back....I used my dremel, with a small 3/4 sanding disc (320 grit). I went along the edge smoothing out the best I could. I then used the same discs on my finger and went in a straight line around the lip, trying to match the machine lines (mine are the machined ones, not the polished ones). When I got done with that, I used a little crocus cloth by hand on it to lessen the dull (super fine emery cloth). You would need to start polishing here....When I got it to my desired look, I taped the lip off, and shot it with some Krylon clear, just to keep if from oxidizing (looking like charcoal grey vise the semi shiny)....It doesn't look perfect, and you can see I repaired it when you look close. But from a standing distance you don't even notice it anymore (whereas the curbed look could be spotted several feet away)...It only took a couple of hours total for both wheels....It is easier if the wheels are off the car...

Good luck....

 

Just my $.02 here. My son who works for a tire company has a set on his car. They may help parking, but traveling and clipping the curb, He tore up both chrome rims.

 

Thanks for the updated info, especiallyon the Fusion tires. Will certainly keep that in mind.

I got an estimate from a rim repair shop, although it was sight unseen over the telephone, he said expect $125.

My brother in law will help me Saturday afternoon. For free. I know, you usually get what you pay for, but he is very meticulous and as I said above, he has done this numerous times as his wife / my sister scrapes the right rear wheel regularly.