My lady thought it would be fine to begin cleaning my MINI's wheel with a metal wire brush. My garage has awful lighting and it was dark out, so it was about a quarter "clean" before she realized what was actually happening: The shiny coating on the wheel metal was just getting scratched to hell.

After drying it and assessing the damage, it now appears to be pretty scratched up. But really only noticeable if you know it's there.

Is there anything I can do make the scratches look any better? The wheels are otherwise really shiny; Can I wax the wheel surface?

Sorry, I couldn't get a decent picture. Thanks.

 

That wheels needs to be repaired or you will have issues with it later on, more then likely she took the clear coat off, it would need to be sanded smooth, primed and spray painted and then have the clear coat put back on. This can be done at home, but if you dont know what you are doing can make it worse. Since the wheel does not seem to have any other damage besides the paint, i would send it out to be redone, should be less then 100 bucks.

 

Upon closer inspection, I can't manage to actually catch my fingernail on any of the scratches. Which makes me think maybe it's not as bad as I originally thought.

I am going to try a deep clean, then hit with some rubbing compound, another cleaning, and then some wax. If that doesn't work, I will look in to repair/replacement.

Thanks for the info.

 

First of all, dump your lady...

Secondly, it sounds like the worse case scenerio would involve lightly scuffing them with some 400 or so sand paper and spraying them with clear only. They should be fine after that. I'd try some rubbing compound first though as you suggest.

 

rubbing compound is fairly harsh and sanding them even more so. I'd try a less aggressive method first like Meguiar's Scratch-X 2 or something a bit more aggressive in their product line like Swirl X.

 

Yeah I wouldn't do rubbing compound either. I would take some Prima Swirl to it, maybe 2-3 passes, and then coat it really well with a wheel specific wax.