4 Big Mistakes People Make With Wheel Repair and How YOU Can Avoid Them

Wheels are the essential rotating underpinnings of any vehicle, particularly a high-performance vehicle, which depends on its wheels functioning as intended for optimal performance. But there are some common mistakes people make when repairing damage to their wheels. At Salt City Wheels, our goal is to help you restore your wheels to their former glory and performance - while avoiding all those common pitfalls. 

Here are four scarily-common mistakes people make when repairing their wheels and how YOU can avoid them:

1 Repairing A Wheel That Should Be Replaced

This might seem quite obvious, but it’s amazing how many people are taken in by promises that ‘your wheel will be as good as new’, when it’s bent at 90 degrees. The truth is that some wheel repairs should not even be attempted and the wheel should simply be replaced. Even though the iron or aluminum from which most wheels are fashioned is incredibly strong and durable, even these tough metals have their breaking points. And since the safety and handling ability of your vehicle depends on the integrity of its wheels, it’s vitally important to know where this breaking point lies. At Salt City Wheels, our trained wheel repair experts are known for their honesty and integrity. Your safety and the safety of your vehicle are our top priority. We will be able to tell you on-sight whether your wheel can be repaired or if it should be replaced. While most wheel damage is completely repairable, it is important to know when and if it isn’t. Our highly-skilled technicians will give you that peace of mind.

2 Causing Further Damage Using A Tire Iron

If you’ve ever had your tires replaced, you will know that this is a very real and common issue at tire shops. Often it’s the trainees working on replacing your tires and a simple lack of skill or even just rushing to get through as many tire changes as possible can result in damage and scrapes to the rims of your wheels. The same problem can present itself with wheel repair - if a technician is not careful or experienced, it is easy to damage the wheel that has just been repaired through the simple act of reinstalling a tire. Salt City Wheels carefully train all their technicians to reinstall tires gently and capably, meaning your wheels will leave our shop in pristine condition. We guarantee it.

3 Having Wheels Aligned Before They Are Repaired

This is a surprising one to many but the alignment you would get BEFORE having your bent wheels repaired can be remarkably different to the alignment you would get AFTER having your wheels repaired. This is because you can’t properly align wheels that aren’t straight or consistent to start with - the alignment is always going to be skewed towards the bend in one particular wheel. For this reason, it is very important to have any damage to your wheels repaired BEFORE having them all aligned. This will save you unnecessary trips to the mechanic and ensure reliable and optimal vehicle performance. 

4 Mismatched Paint Refinishing

Even if you’re simply after the same OEM finish the vehicle’s manufacturer deemed most appropriate for your vehicle, it’s amazing how often we get contacted by panicking vehicle-owners who just had their wheel repaired - and it looks horribly different to the other three wheels. At Salt City Wheels, we have many thousands of paint colors, finishes and types available to us, including the original paint colors used by each vehicle manufacturer. When you ask us to complete your wheel repair, you can rest easy knowing all four wheels will match perfectly afterwards.

Salt City Wheels are known in the industry and amongst its customers for wheel repairs that are second to none, utilizing the highest level of professionalism, industry knowledge and skill. If you’ve inadvertently made one of the mistakes above, or if you want to avoid them all and get your wheels repaired properly right from the get-go, give the mobile wheel repair experts at Salt City Wheels a call today at 801 425 3044.