Greetings All,
My new Clubman isn't perfect any longer; I've scraped the coating off the rim of my 16" wheel, over about 6 inches of the circumference, right along the tire boundary. Now there is a rough part, and a jagged boundary with the coating of the wheel. Can I do anything to keep the wheel from looking any worse as time goes by?
Should I plan on replacing the wheel to keep the car looking young? This must be common from parallel parking. Maybe I won't repeat the event with a new wheel.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

Throw out all four rims and buy new ones!

Well on a more serious note could you post a picture so that we can see how bad it is. i have repair some scraps on rims with touch up paint from the dealer. Others needed to be sanded down and fully repainted.

Also look in your telephone book for wheel repair you may be surprised to find someone that can do the job for you in your area.

 

Ask the dealer who repairs their wheels or look in the yellow pages for wheel repair---

 

You can google "rim repair" for your area and you'll probably get some hits for people who do this for a living. That's what I did recently (for my Miata wheel) and was amazed at how easily the whole thing got taken care of!

We had been trying to fix it ourselves (2-3" of curb rash) for a couple weeks by sanding, then painting with touch-up paint, then sanding it off and trying again, and again. Though it looked much better, it never looked really "great". The guy (Red Line Rim Repair) came to the house, sanded it down a bit more, air-brushed it with a perfectly matched silver, sprayed again with clear coat, and DONE...$50!!! Looks fantastic! Depending on how severe your damage is, it may require a little more grinding which may cost a bit more, but well worth it; no more stress!!! Good Luck with it!

 

I just repaired my wifes rim on her Audi tt with body pudy and paint. It looked pretty good, but not perfect. It didn't matter anyway, because she hit another curb within 2 week of the repair and f###'d it up again anyway.

 

Thanks, Folks. I will take all the advice above, and get a photo to accompany the post, soon.

 

This company in California seems to be able to make minor scrapes dissappear. I suspect that with the environmental friendly coatings it is easier to match with a paint.

http://www.amazingbumper.com/serv_wheelrim.htm

 

It depends on how bad it is.
A wheel repair shop could do it- no problem.
If the gouges are not too deep, you could use some sandpaper to smooth them out and refinish the spot.
Typically, BMW wheels, and I believe MINI, are painted with Wurth silver lacquer paint and clear. There are other silver paints out there, but the one from Wurth is the proper match for BMW, MINI, and BBS wheels. Not cheap, but one can of silver and one can of clear can cover 4 wheels if you are lucky. The silver will look grainy and too bright until you get a couple of coats of clear on it. Then you will get the depth. As with any painting, preparation is key.

 

My advice is stick a few inches farther from the curb- law in MN says parallel parkers have a legal distance of 12" from the curb- not cutting in as deeply will prevent any errors!

Kind of like the best modification is racing school-

No sense fixing the wheel if you're going to curb it again!