# Diamond cut alloy damage - DIY repair or professional ?



## Norbreck21a

Hi guys, after nearly 2 years of keeping my alloys pristine on my Golf GTD, I had the misfortune the other day of kerbing the nearside front whilst swerving to avoid a couple of young lads coming around a parked car on a corner on my side of the road (at a rate of knots as well). The radar assisted emergency braking system must have thought they was going to me a hit so emergency braked for me, and I just steered to avoid the car then heard the sickening thud of metal on concrete 

To be honest I think I got off a little lightly as the auto braking system had almost brought the car to a complete stop so it only caught a slight part of the rim, and no suspension damage. It has put a slight tear in the tyre wall, but it's not down to the chord and they are all being replaced this weekend anyway.

Now (eventually) to the question. Whilst some of you might consider the damage slight and just leave it, I know it's there and my eye gets drawn to it all the time. Is this something I can make "better" (although not perfect) myself my lightly sanding the rough bits down and then re-lacquering, or am I just best leaving this to the experts (I've been quoted anywhere from £100-£160 for a repair) ?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Here's the damage


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## Ultra

You can improve that with a dremel type tool and a buffing wheel, a little bit of kerb damage is easier to live with when you think about what could happened.


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## Kerr

I've seen a few good smart repairs. 

The wheels can only be refurbished a couple of times at best. So I'd try to avoid having them machined as they will likely be damaged again in the future. 

Not sure I'd be happy using that tyre anymore. That looks a deep cut.


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## Sicskate

I'd be tempted to just sand it down and polish it up. 

But as Kerr said, tyre looks fit for the bin now


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## Mr K

Use a small, fine file to repair, then the usual process of preparation before polishing up and re laquer, it will look fine. Easier to do with the tyre off


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## alan hanson

as said i'd defo hold off i know you know its there but for something smallish and limited refurb times id make best i can and live iwth it. have the same wheels and im praying pretty much everyday im in the car


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## IamDave

I kerbed my N/S front about 3 weeks after getting my car was rather annoyed. Got an assortment of wet/dry sandpaper and sanded away the crap starting with some 80 grit then finished with finer paper to remove the coarse sanding marks. Bit of metal polish then get some lacquer from halfrauds to protect it. Can still see it up close but looks 10 times better.

Here's the worst bit after I'd finished with it


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## raze599

If you want to go down the route of painting it, Wurth paint seems to be a near perfect match for German wheels. I plan to refurbish my wheels next year with it, my wheels are so bad with deep damage and scratches and gouges everywhere.


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## shine247

Do not just leave it, you will soon get the white worm and it will look a whole lot worse. Get it smoothed down and lacquer it. It is a fair scrape, it will catch your eye from time to time but as said, could have been more serious.


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## MDC250

Can get pretty decent smart repairs as said above. I was reasonably impressed with what the dealer sorted when they knacked one of mine when they had swapped a tyre over one time. It's obviously not 100% but over time you'll notice it less.

Reality is no matter how well you look after a diamond cut wheel it will suffer over time. Not long had a full set replaced that were 3 yrs old with generous mfr contribution. They look nice but it won't last


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## Harry_p

I agree with the above, the worst thing to do would be to just leave it as it will encourage corrosion under the lacquer and spoil the whole wheel.

As a minimum I would lightly sand the area to remove any material proud of the surface and then lacquer it to protect the alloy.

It won't look perfect but should take the edge off it and stop it causing any future damage.


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