As the picture shows, I obviously barely kissed the curb. The damage is very minimal and hard to spot, take into consideration the pic was taken in the dark with the flash lol. This being my first new car bought, I told myself going into it that I would take full responsibility to keep this car as pristine as possible and when set backs do occur, I would take the time to attempt to learn a thing or two about maintaining and repairing a vehicle. Although I am fairly knowledgable with the basics, I have never attempted a "repair" like this. I'd like to get some feedback from you guys on my plan of attack, i've kinda combined a number of things i've read online on the topic. I feel confident with the final result because the damage is so minimal. I'm listing my plan below:
Is the face polished/clearcoated and then the pockets painted bright silver? I haven't really looked at a 2LT wheel close before.
I would personally start with like 400 or 600 grit, and WET. Remember, you can always go coarser, but you can't go fine again as easily. It's hard to tell how how deep the scratches are, but you might be surprised what a little hand wet sanding with 400 could do.
I'm not sure how thick the clear coat is on it, so I'm not sure when you'd break through. The painted parts are probably 3 step, primer/basecoat/clearcoat, but the polished parts would just be polish then clear.
If you don't break through the clear, just hit it with some wet 1200 or so, then do some hand polishing.
I had one of my Excursion wheels (polished/clearcoated) that had the clearcoat stripped from getting it stuck in sand (long story). I took the wheel off, hand polished it, prepped with alcohol, then sprayed a generic clear over top, not the wheel clear coat. In that case, it dried to a nice finish, but not the same degree of shine as the originals. The gloss clear coat didn't look high gloss. Those wheels are stored in the garage now and no longer on the truck, so I haven't tried improving the finish.
I would personally start with like 400 or 600 grit, and WET. Remember, you can always go coarser, but you can't go fine again as easily. It's hard to tell how how deep the scratches are, but you might be surprised what a little hand wet sanding with 400 could do.
I'm not sure how thick the clear coat is on it, so I'm not sure when you'd break through. The painted parts are probably 3 step, primer/basecoat/clearcoat, but the polished parts would just be polish then clear.
If you don't break through the clear, just hit it with some wet 1200 or so, then do some hand polishing.
I had one of my Excursion wheels (polished/clearcoated) that had the clearcoat stripped from getting it stuck in sand (long story). I took the wheel off, hand polished it, prepped with alcohol, then sprayed a generic clear over top, not the wheel clear coat. In that case, it dried to a nice finish, but not the same degree of shine as the originals. The gloss clear coat didn't look high gloss. Those wheels are stored in the garage now and no longer on the truck, so I haven't tried improving the finish.
