Four Things Car Enthusiasts Know About Caring For Painted Wheels

Wheel paint is a glorious thing, protecting your wheels from corrosion and damage, while making them look beautiful, elegant and unique to you. As with all lovely things, they deserve proper care to keep them looking their loveliest best, so here we give you our four top tips for keeping your painted wheels in tip top condition.

1 Use A Clear Coat Protectant Over Wheel Paint

Any wheel finish expert worth their salt will always use a clear coat protectant as a finishing seal on your new painted wheels. This seal will provide a further layer of protection against any corrosive particles burrowing into the underlying aluminum and damaging it. Make sure to check with your wheel repair expert if they use a clear coat protectant as standard with your new wheel finishes.

2 Use Non-Acidic, Non-Abrasive Cleaners

While a pretty tough surface, wheel paint is not impervious to damage, and acidic, abrasive cleaners can wear down their surface over time, leaving them vulnerable to corrosion and peeling. To avoid this, simply use a non-acidic, non-abrasive cleaner from the start and you’ll enable your wheels’ protective coating to function at its best. Some good products to use are Simple Green or P21S. These are both non-acidic cleaners that will effectively clean your wheels without wearing down the protective clear coat. Also using Wheel Wax, which is designed for use on clean wheels, will help prevent brake dust from sticking to your wheels, keeping them looking cleaner for longer.

3 Repair Any Surface Damage Fast

The three layers that your wheel finish expert applies (primer, pigment, clear coat) will provide great overall protection to your wheels, but of course they aren’t bulletproof. If these protective layers are damaged, even with what seems a small scratch or nick, corrosion can form under the surface surprisingly quickly. That’s why it’s vital to get any damage repaired as soon as you notice it, to prevent structural damage to the wheel beneath. And another reason to make sure you have a great quality clear coat protectant on the surface from the get-go!

4 Use An Experienced Wheel Repair Expert To Replace Tires

It may seem unnecessary, but trust us, when you’ve seen as many messed up wheels from a simple tire replacement as we have, you won’t think twice before having your wheel repair and finish expert take care of the lot! The problem with a standard tire shop is that often they use trainees to change tires, who are not skilled in handling the potentially brutish machinery required to remove and refit tires. This commonly results in deep scraping around the rim of the wheel and sometimes dents and dings in the wheel surface itself where tools or machinery inadvertently make contact. Not a pretty sight, let me tell you, and one that will send you crying straight over to the wheel repair people. So you might as well have them take care of it all for you in the first place, especially when the price is the same. They will save you substantially in both time, money and stress.

The wheel repair experts at Salt City Wheels in Salt Lake City, Utah have decades of combined wheel repair and refinishing experience. Our highly-trained team know their way around a wheel, bringing premium finishes, perfect repairs, and tire replacement to your door with our 100% mobile service. If you need tires, wheel repair or a glorious new wheel paint finish, give us a call today at 801 425 3044 for your FREE consultation.