[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by kaisen

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.

IF the dealership passes along that discount to the customer, then I totally agree. But that is a big IF that depends on the dealership. It also assumes that the dealership uses a quality shop for the wheel repair and touch-up, as opposed to the lowest bidder. Again, dealership dependent. I know that I have seen some paint touch up done on expensive vehicles that was worthy of my kindergartener (I had a high school job in a dealer detail shop), so some of my pessimism may be showing.

My comment regarding the wheel repair was simply a data point, the work that I had done was much more substantial than what is needed here but the price was still reasonable.