Heya everyone,

Finally went ahead and got my first Mod, being some 18" ROH vapors. Beautiful rims, love the ride etc.

After about a month every rim has been scratched one quite nastily. This has shocked me rather a lot since i've never so much as scratched a rim in my 12 years driving. Admitedly 3 of the rims were scratched by my father who borrowed the car for a week ;\

Anyone have any recomendations to keep these rims alive? I have to drive anally these days and that bugs my, no kerb hopping, can barely parallel park now and drive throughs can be a pain.

I was wondering about putting on wider rubber but not sure that will really add much protection. I'm getting them fixed in a few weeks but i can't relly afford the upkeep on these tyres as i can see them being damaged easily and across a year i think it will happen.

The larger rim size, low profile tyres, rim profile bends outwards not inwards means the metal meets any kerb before the rubber does.

Still love the look of the rims, just going to have to do something about the rim protection now ;\

Do you have any cut and polish?

how wide are your rims and how wide are your tyres???

i have 18X8.5 on my car with 235 wide tyres. iv had my rims for about 3-4 months now and ye its still good as new. no gutter rash what so ever. when i got my rims first thing i did was i went down to k-mart and got a pair of them small 360 degrees turnnig mirros so when i park i get a really good view of the curb.

this may sound harsh but if you really want to protect your rims dont let ppl drive your car if you know they cant park.

u can get wider tyres but still if you park and you brush the curb your tyres will get damages and also your rims will still get scratched coz its only rubber so it will kinda get pushed back and the rims will scrape.

this may sound harsh but if you really want to protect your rims dont let ppl drive your car if you know they cant park.

Best Advice ever!!

yeh dude, if you've spent a heap of coin on new rims ya gotta lay down some ground rules for yourself, for me well, no parralel parking, i dont park next to kurbs, tight corners/roundabouts i generally by-pass, no one drives my car except my mate regan cos he knows the ground rules haha but yeh, iv had mine about a month now and they still brand new condition.... and if any one else scratched my rims theyd be gettin fixed with theyre money

Ya going to have to be way anal now which is not in my style but ya get that. Didn't expect changing rims to do that.

tyhe Mirrors sound a damn good idea. I've turned the left mirror to point down pretty much but I will certainly get some turning mirrors to go with.

Wider tyres will only add half a cm on each side so decided still wouldnt' really help. but tis a tad annoying.

I'll see what the rim repair guy does. Its probably some filler and putty (the tyre os so damn soft its damn easy to do damage to) which i can probably fix myself.

rim repaires will weld the lip of the rim and grind/polish it back

yeh dude, if you've spent a heap of coin on new rims ya gotta lay down some ground rules for yourself, for me well, no parralel parking, i dont park next to kurbs, tight corners/roundabouts i generally by-pass, no one drives my car except my mate regan cos he knows the ground rules haha but yeh, iv had mine about a month now and they still brand new condition.... and if any one else scratched my rims theyd be gettin fixed with theyre money

So in other words, with your 20" chromies, you now have a car so inpractical you might as well be useing public transport?

If you're scratching your rims, you need to learn how to park properly. However, getting at least one scratch on a rim at some point is probably almost inevitable..yet anothe reason to avoid chromies. I parralel park and park alongside kerbs probably at least half a dozen times a day, I've yet to scratch my rims (although I've only had em for a few months). I know people who've had the same rims for years and still havn't scratched them at all. Not because they avoid parking, because they learnt how to park properly :)

Most tyres these days have 'rim protector' for this exact reason.

For eg - Bridgestone GIII have it



Rim Guard- Protects wheels from damage by kerbs and other objects. A tough, raised rubber ridge that encircles the entire sidewall acts like a bumper, placing a barrier between your rims and the kerb.

+ i hunted around for people who could repair damaged chrome rims... and yea.. you wont have any luck. Most other materials can actually be repaired and isnt that expensive... so it might be better to repair if you really like them :)

Oh i scratched one of my 20's the same afternoon i got them... :( Chrome too :( It wasnt from parking, but from a kerb when i was trying to squish past traffic that was stuck at lights lol

Most tyres these days have 'rim protector' for this exact reason.

For eg - Bridgestone GIII have it



Rim Guard- Protects wheels from damage by kerbs and other objects. A tough, raised rubber ridge that encircles the entire sidewall acts like a bumper, placing a barrier between your rims and the kerb.


very well worth it, i had G3s on my old VRX rims and saved them a couple of times!

also helps make the tyres look a little wider too :D

+ i hunted around for people who could repair damaged chrome rims... and yea.. you wont have any luck. Most other materials can actually be repaired and isnt that expensive... so it might be better to repair if you really like them :)

Oh i scratched one of my 20's the same afternoon i got them... :( Chrome too :( It wasnt from parking, but from a kerb when i was trying to squish past traffic that was stuck at lights lol

MAN! Did you mean to say "squish"?! I haven't heard that for years.... Squish.... squish......SQUISH........sqUIsh...... Doesn't matter how you say it, that's a word that makes me chortle!

Chortle!.....Now there's another word that makes me..... well, chortle!:bowrofl:

SquisH.......YEP, still funny in red!!!!

very well worth it, i had G3s on my old VRX rims and saved them a couple of times!

also helps make the tyres look a little wider too :D
can you post up a pic of what these G3s look like please? very interested :D

+ i hunted around for people who could repair damaged chrome rims... and yea.. you wont have any luck. Most other materials can actually be repaired and isnt that expensive... so it might be better to repair if you really like them :)

Oh i scratched one of my 20's the same afternoon i got them... :( Chrome too :( It wasnt from parking, but from a kerb when i was trying to squish past traffic that was stuck at lights lol

how about polished alloy?

can you post up a pic of what these G3s look like please? very interested :D

http://www.bridgestone.com.au/tyres/products/car/tyre_pics/gridiii.jpg

You can see the lip around the edge.

This picture prolly shows it a bit better. You can see the rim actually sits a little under the rubber. (these are faulkens)

http://www.tempetyres.com.au/content/products/615.JPG

ye my maxis tyre has a lip.

yours should have a lip to mic

ye my maxis tyre has a lip.

yours should have a lip to mic

who is that weapon in your avatar?

So in other words, with your 20" chromies, you now have a car so inpractical you might as well be useing public transport?

ummm.....no..... you see jisom if you spent as much money as i have its usually in my best interest to keep them in good condition, if it means spending an extra 2 minutes to find a park at a shopping center not next to a kurb so be it, but hey, that may not be an option for you... i know how ruthless those other ladies can be at a hand bag sale ;)

after giggling like a small child at the thread title...

yeah im with those above... tyres with 'rim protector' features...
(ive got the Brigestone potenza gIII's too...) are good...

ive guttered my uselless ugly rims that i hate with a passion, several times... and not so much as a scratch....

(and i park anywhere and lend my car, etc... i cant really see the point of having a car u cant 'use' fully)

ummm.....no..... you see jisom if you spent as much money as i have its usually in my best interest to keep them in good condition, if it means spending an extra 2 minutes to find a park at a shopping center not next to a kurb so be it, but hey, that may not be an option for you... i know how ruthless those other ladies can be at a hand bag sale ;)

That's completely ridiculous.

This might sound a bit harsh but if you can't park next to a kerb without hitting it, you don't deserve to be on the road.

i dont deserve to be on the road cos i dont wanna scratch my wheels? you sir, are a freak, i think you need to turn you passion down a few notches and realise what your posting about, your saying i dont deserve to be on the road, because i take some precautions so i dont scratch up a set of 3000 dollar rims?..... apart from that i think you people have taken it way out of context.... say if im going to garden city shopping center, i know theres a dodgy corner if i turn left to go park under ground, so i go right, it may take 1 or 2 minutes longer but who gives a ****, and i dont parralel park, i didnt say i couldnt, i just preffer not to cos i "might" misjudge it.... i mean yeh its all well and good for those of you who have side walls twice the size of a kurb but theres a few of us who dont.... so for all those getting all worked pls :gtfo:

oh and any one here with scratched rims pls speak up..... cos tl-r doesnt think you should be on the road

your saying i dont deserve to be on the road, because i take some precautions so i dont scratch up a set of 3000 dollar rims?.....

No.

I'm saying "if you can't park next to a kerb without hitting it, you don't deserve to be on the road."

Nothing wrong with taking precautions.

i dont deserve to be on the road...
Dude... I don't think he meant it as a personal attack, more or less it was a 'learn to park, lest you whine about your scratched 20 inch chromes' We should all know how to park properly anyway, we all passed our drivers tests, didn't we?

Well actually parallel parking against something you can't see is bloody hard. The only way is to drive past while stareing at the kerb to make sure nothing is sticking out etc.

Anyhow i have rim protection on my wheels (maxis) and it doesn't do a thing against these rims. I think its the lip that is pushed out and then the rim actually bends out from that slightly. I can push with my finger the rim guard in till i touch metal so that's not going to do anything versus a kerb.

Anyhow i'm getting them fixed and i'll let you all know how it turns out and what they used to fix them in case its possible to purchase elsewhere as i've done panel work on my car before and the rims should be similar with the right equipment.

ohh in case you think its hard to scratch rims and you dont' own 18" plus rims then you will probably be surprised how damn easy it is. I have never scratched a rim in 12' years of driving, kerb jumping and going off road. Within a month of these rims they and looking pretty shabby ;\ Its is a massive difference i can assure you.

i dont deserve to be on the road cos i dont wanna scratch my wheels? you sir, are a freak, i think you need to turn you passion down a few notches and realise what your posting about, your saying i dont deserve to be on the road, because i take some precautions so i dont scratch up a set of 3000 dollar rims?..... apart from that i think you people have taken it way out of context.... say if im going to garden city shopping center, i know theres a dodgy corner if i turn left to go park under ground, so i go right, it may take 1 or 2 minutes longer but who gives a ****, and i dont parralel park, i didnt say i couldnt, i just preffer not to cos i "might" misjudge it.... i mean yeh its all well and good for those of you who have side walls twice the size of a kurb but theres a few of us who dont.... so for all those getting all worked pls :gtfo:

oh and any one here with scratched rims pls speak up..... cos tl-r doesnt think you should be on the road
Hey Bob. You know, writing is an emotionless medium. It's hard to decypher whether or not someone is being sarcastic. I'm pretty sure from past postings, that TL-R is not making a personal attack. It's hard to tell sometimes, but I'm pretty sure it was a harmless general statement.

Squish.....YEP, still funny in Green!!!!!:bowrofl:

ummm.....no..... you see jisom if you spent as much money as i have its usually in my best interest to keep them in good condition, if it means spending an extra 2 minutes to find a park at a shopping center not next to a kurb so be it, but hey, that may not be an option for you... i know how ruthless those other ladies can be at a hand bag sale ;)

Whoa easy tiger :)
So what happens if you aren't at a shopping centre, somewhere where there isn't a carpark? Do you also chuck a U-turn everytime you see a sharp roundabout? I just don't understand how you could justify spending 3k on a set of rims that make your car inpractical to dive. I could also go on about a whole variety of problems associated with having inpractically large/shiny rims, not to mention how people are likely to percieve you with them. But Im sure I wouldn't be saying anything you don't already know :)

I'm pretty sure from past postings, that TL-R is not making a personal attack.

Correct.


Well actually parallel parking against something you can't see is bloody hard. The only way is to drive past while stareing at the kerb to make sure nothing is sticking out etc.

Use your mirrors!

not to mention how people are likely to percieve you with them. But Im sure I wouldn't be saying anything you don't already know :)

alot of people probably think im a complete w*nker.... and alot of people think theyre the be all and end all of wheels... personally i love em' thats all that count at the end of the day, and it doesnt make my car impractical to drive... just interesting lol anyway, less hate more love guys, peace