Alloy vs kerb... guess who won

[CurranShelter]

I'd managed to avoid alloy wheels before this car, knowing how susceptible they can be to damage. But the inevitable happened... after about a year and a half with my fancy machine-faced alloys, I slightly misjudged a 3-point turn and managed to grind about 3 centimetres of wheel rim against the kerb. These wheels may be nicely finished with a good lacquer but they're still pretty soft when it comes down to it.

I really don't feel inclined to fork out a load of cash yet for a professional repair, just for this small area - I'd rather wait until such time as there's more to be done or maybe when I'm ready to sell. Nor do I fancy spending hours on it with a DIY kit and still not being satisfied at the end of it.

Therefore I'm left wondering if I need to do anything in terms of protecting the exposed metal in the meantime. I've come up with surprisingly little from an online search, so can anyone offer any wisdom on that? A the moment it's just covered with blu-tack to protect it from the elements... is that OK or plain stupid? And for when the time does eventually come to get it repaired, I'd be interested to hear any recommendations on the best options.

Thanks...

[Heidfirst]

clear lacquer or nail polish in the meantime to protect it from air.

As for repair/refinish it probably comes down to who is best regarded in your area.

[CurranShelter]

Thanks, Mrs has some clear nail polish, sure she won't mind sparing a bit...

[paleAle]

It's hard to beat old steel wheels - better on icey conditions too!

[Cyker]

I bought a colour-matched paint stick off eBay (Or it might have been Amazon??) and carry it in the boot with my just-in-case oil!

It's quite thick and kinda fills in the grooves carved into them when I kerb them! :P

[paleAle]

Why do you carry it round in the boot?

[Cyker]

I'm really paranoid about kerbing my wheels and would quickly clear any spoil and paint over them before any corrosion gets a chance to kick in! (These wheels were shocking when I bought that car; Massive chunks of paint flaking off. That is semi-common tho' - When I was hunting for a Mk1 D4D, I'd say 1 out of every 4 I saw had a problem with the paint on the alloys peeling, Mk1 Yariseiseusis had some extremely poor quality alloys - They didn't seal the backs properly so corrosion would get in and cause the front to bubble up and flake off! First thing I did when I bought this thing was to get my local powdercoaters to strip them all down and powdercoat and lacquer them and I was deathly afraid of scraping them!)


Ironically this isn't so much of an issue with New Yaris since I deliberately bought one with steel wheels because a) I don't care if I kerb them and b) They were lighter than the OE alloys?!?!