If you’re looking at the online shops for new wheels to replace those curb rashed ones, hold off on clicking “buy now.” That is, until you see what Logan McCombs has to share on rim restoration, on MotorWeek’s “Your Drive.”

LOGAN MCCOMBS: So, say you’re driving down the highway and you just hit that nasty pothole, or you’ve taken a turn just a little too sharp, and you want to know how you can get it repaired. Well, I’m here with Sam from Rim Renew, and he’s going to walk us through that process today. Sam, thank you for joining us.

SAM FRIEDMAN: Thank you for having me.

LOGAN MCCOMBS: So, say I do hit that pothole and my tire is losing pressure. What is the process of evaluating a wheel?

SAM FRIEDMAN: Sure. First thing we do is we decipher whether or not the wheel is repairable or not. If the wheel is bent, we’ll take a look at how it’s bent, where it’s bent, and we’ll tell you “hey, that is repairable” or maybe it’s too far gone. If the wheel is cracked, that is also something that is repairable… 

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LOGAN MCCOMBS: Okay.

SAM FRIEDMAN: …as long as it’s not too badly cracked.

LOGAN MCCOMBS: Okay.

SAM FRIEDMAN: Once we make those determinations, we’ve got wheel straightening machines, we’ve got welders, and we can make the wheel round again…

LOGAN MCCOMBS: Okay.

SAM FRIEDMAN: …and weld back together the wheel to make it airtight. If we’re doing à la carte, you bring me a bent wheel, we can just straighten it, remount and balance the tire, and you’re gone in a couple hours. If the wheel is cracked, it’s about the same. Or if we’re doing full refinishing with a bent and a cracked wheel, now we’re throwing the kitchen sink at it, we’re fully remanufacturing the wheel; typically speaking, the longest time frame, for our shop, is about three days if we’re doing all four wheels on the car and all of them have damage to one extent or another.

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LOGAN MCCOMBS: Okay. And is there a point where a wheel is not repairable?

SAM FRIEDMAN: Absolutely. If the wheels bent in a certain way, it might not be repairable. If it’s bent through the spokes, it’s called bent from center or bent from the hub. That’s a tough fix. Sometimes we can do it. In terms of being cracked, industry standard is no more than welds in any one wheel. Beyond that, you should really replace the wheel.

LOGAN MCCOMBS: Okay. All right. And say I have a wheel that maybe I curb rashed. What is, what would the process look like in repairing something like that?

SAM FRIEDMAN: One way is to sand out the damage and paint and blend the paint back together. Or what we do in our shop is powder coat the wheels. And that’s an all-over process to make the wheel either remanufactured or look as good as new as possible.

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LOGAN MCCOMBS: So, say someone does need the full restoration. What does that process look like in its entirety?

SAM FRIEDMAN: Well, internally in our shop, what that looks like is, first step would be at the straightening machine where the wheel gets straightened out back to 20,000ths of an inch of a perfect circle all the way around. That is industry spec. Next step would be welding if the wheel is cracked and needs to be welded. It’s TIG welded. And the third step would be stripping the wheel and sending the wheel to the powder coat room where it will get a full new finish on it in whatever color or finish the customer chooses to switch to, or back to its original, uh, finish.

LOGAN MCCOMBS: Okay. And this doesn’t always apply to just factory wheels? It can be aftermarket, correct?

SAM FRIENDMAN: Absolutely.

LOGAN MCCOMBS: Okay. Well, Sam, thank you for all that information. And if you have a question or comment, reach out to us right here at MotorWeek.