Curb Rash Fix

[Hawkman99]

It didn’t take long to get curb rash. A month into owning the car I backed out and rubbed against a curb on the front rim.

Here is what I did to fix.

Went to Advanced Auto and purchased the duplicolor paint, spot bondo, 800 and 320 and grit sand paper.

I taped the rim where the rash started and ended so I wouldn’t go past. Then I sanded the rim with the 320 to get the rough part off.

Then I smeared some bondo on the rim being sure not to get on tire or other part of the rim.

Then I sanded with the 800 to smooth out.

Now came the fun part, painting. I applied the paint with the brush trying to be careful to not leave marks. Waited 30 mins then did another coat. If I had some rough spots I used 1200 wet/dry sand paper. After I was satisfied with the paint, I applied two coats of the clear.

Not perfect but much better and only cost me $30

 

[MaxYasgur]

View attachment 392427 It didn’t take long to get curb rash. A month into owning the car I backed out and rubbed against a curb on the front rim.

Here is what I did to fix.

Went to Advanced Auto and purchased the duplicolor paint, spot bondo, 800 and 320 and grit sand paper.

View attachment 392428

I taped the rim where the rash started and ended so I wouldn’t go past. Then I sanded the rim with the 320 to get the rough part off.
View attachment 392429


Then I smeared some bondo on the rim being sure not to get on tire or other part of the rim.

Then I sanded with the 800 to smooth out.

Now came the fun part, painting. I applied the paint with the brush trying to be careful to not leave marks. Waited 30 mins then did another coat. If I had some rough spots I used 1200 wet/dry sand paper. After I was satisfied with the paint, I applied two coats of the clear.

Not perfect but much better and only cost me $30
View attachment 392430

I just used the same Dupli-Color color on some minor rash, and it matched perfectly.

 

[dansev]

That looks great. Nice work! I wish I had the energy to fix my rims. I swore I would do it. But never have. [sigh]

 

[Resist]

Or, you could just get more efficient and better looking wheel covers that also cover the entire rim. I got the Orbitals by Rimetrix. Tesla made a bad choice by picking a tire/rim combo where the tires don't stick out to protect the rims, like with mosts vehicles.

 

[dansev]

Or, you could just get more efficient and better looking wheel covers that also cover the entire rim. I got the Orbitals by Rimetrix. Tesla made a bad choice by picking a tire/rim combo where the tires don't stick out to protect the rims, like with mosts vehicles.

NOW you tell me about these covers! Seriously, it’s a ridiculous design Tesla made on those rims. Anyone who lives in a congested/city area will inevitably ruin the rims. When I got my winter tire set with new rims, I swore I’d never rash ‘em. Well, it wasn’t more than a month. Argh!!!

 

[OldPro]

View attachment 392427 It didn’t take long to get curb rash. A month into owning the car I backed out and rubbed against a curb on the front rim.

Here is what I did to fix.

Went to Advanced Auto and purchased the duplicolor paint, spot bondo, 800 and 320 and grit sand paper.

View attachment 392428

I taped the rim where the rash started and ended so I wouldn’t go past. Then I sanded the rim with the 320 to get the rough part off.
View attachment 392429


Then I smeared some bondo on the rim being sure not to get on tire or other part of the rim.

Then I sanded with the 800 to smooth out.

Now came the fun part, painting. I applied the paint with the brush trying to be careful to not leave marks. Waited 30 mins then did another coat. If I had some rough spots I used 1200 wet/dry sand paper. After I was satisfied with the paint, I applied two coats of the clear.

Not perfect but much better and only cost me $30
View attachment 392430

Looks good!

 

[Resist]

NOW you tell me about these covers! Seriously, it’s a ridiculous design Tesla made on those rims. Anyone who lives in a congested/city area will inevitably ruin the rims. When I got my winter tire set with new rims, I swore I’d never rash ‘em. Well, it wasn’t more than a month. Argh!!!

It's probably more the tires Tesla picked. I've never curb rated rims before in my decades of driving, because the tires always protected them. Then after my first year with the Model 3, I've curb rashed 3 of the rims. I heard about the Orbitals a while back but didn't want to spend the money on them. But after watching numerous videos I recently became more interested in them, especially since many have gotten better mileage out of them over the Tesla aero wheel covers. Never liked the look of the Tesla covers but wanted more range because of them. Now we many more options and these newer wheel covers look so much better.

 

[snorp]

Awesome job! My mother-in-law recently curbed one of my wheels all the way around the rim, so I'll give this a try too!

Did you sand everything by hand? What type of clear stuff did you use?

 

[Resist]

Did you sand everything by hand? What type of clear stuff did you use?

You pretty much have to sand by hand, unless you took the tire off the rim, but because it's such a small circular area sanding by hand is best anyway.

 

[OldPro]

My beautiful spouse of 41 years curbed her rims within 45 minutes of picking up her Tesla. I bit my tongue until it bled.

 

[mhlang99]

My beautiful spouse of 41 years curbed her rims within 45 minutes of picking up her Tesla. I bit my tongue until it bled.

My beautiful wife of 43 years curbed 3 out of 4 new Tsportline TST rims within a month, AND within 2 weeks of purchasing her red rocket, "following a truck ....." I knew what came next! 2 big stars in the middle of the windshield.

 

[Resist]

Almost seems worth it to replace the Tesla tire/rim combo with an aftermarket set where the tires stick out a bit more to protect the rims. Or maybe just tires that fit the stock rims, but stick out farther.