Quote:
Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy
.... you can shop around for your favorite body shop or wheel repair guy, you can change the wheel color if you like. You'll always be dealing with a 3rd party if the dealership is involved, and you might get better pricing if the dealer marks up these "services" that just get outsourced anyway. I very recently paid $450 to have four wheels totally refinished and one straightened, that included repairing curbing on all four and having the color changed.
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If the dealer pays $75 a wheel to have the same guy do the wheel repair, what benefit do you have managing it yourself and paying the same guy $110? Negotiate the repair into the selling price and have the dealer contract it. They get better rates, they're better customers that give that guy business every week, all year long.
Also, those are Alcoa wheels -- very dense -- easy to fix and re-polish. They're polished not chrome or paint. I wouldn't paint them. $50-100 a wheel is probably the range depending on how much damage exist. I doubt they would need any straightening, those are incredibly strong wheels.
I still think getting the chips taken care of via airbrushing then covering them with beautiful smooth shiny plastic is better than refinishing them. Once those chips are "under wraps" they will disappear. When you resfinish that area, the paint will never be as rock-resistant again, ever. That new paint will chip like crazy.
And a pro will spot the repaint in seconds, as good as you think your job will be. I can always tell. Always. If the paint tint matches, the metallic won't, or the texture won't, or the refraction won't, or the seams will have telltales, or the clear where the blend the doors will eventually lift/peel, or there will be overspray or tape lines somewhere..... $1000 won't buy you concours paint. Just a nice front clip respray without blending.
You don't have to trust me. Find out for yourself.