Curbed wheels or chip?

[JohnP]

Could a small piece of metal cause this kind of damage if placed on Gently? The gauge has a slight pointed edge but not sure it would cause this damage

The wheel alignment clamps don't usually make contact with face of the wheel as they're designed to clamp down on the lip, close to the bead of the tyre. If the guy was really clumsy, it's possible to scratch the rim when mounting the clamp, but that damage looks more like a scuff to me.

Probably not the garage's fault.

[Am89]

[quote=Am89 post_id=193024 time=<a href="tel:1582572290">1582572290</a> user_id=2306]
Could a small piece of metal cause this kind of damage if placed on Gently? The gauge has a slight pointed edge but not sure it would cause this damage

The wheel alignment clamps don't usually make contact with face of the wheel as they're designed to clamp down on the lip, close to the bead of the tyre. If the guy was really clumsy, it's possible to scratch the rim when mounting the clamp, but that damage looks more like a scuff to me.

Probably not the garage's fault.
[/quote]

I think your right. Thinking about it - it would take serious force and misuse to damage the wheel like this. Will this scrape cause moisture to her behind the lacquer and cause further damage?

[putt4par]

[quote=Am89 post_id=193024 time=<a href="tel:1582572290">1582572290</a> user_id=2306]
Could a small piece of metal cause this kind of damage if placed on Gently? The gauge has a slight pointed edge but not sure it would cause this damage

The wheel alignment clamps don't usually make contact with face of the wheel as they're designed to clamp down on the lip, close to the bead of the tyre. If the guy was really clumsy, it's possible to scratch the rim when mounting the clamp, but that damage looks more like a scuff to me.

Probably not the garage's fault.

I think your right. Thinking about it - it would take serious force and misuse to damage the wheel like this. Will this scrape cause moisture to her behind the lacquer and cause further damage?
[/quote]

Invisible repairs difficult on diamond cut polished rims, you could very lightly abrade the damaged area to take edges off of rash, then either paint on a clear lacquer (like you get with paint touch up ) or mask up and lightly spray lacquer, but be careful of putting on too much and causing a hard line where masking tape sits, if not confident then I am sure chips away can do something.

[Rab J]

Cant see any way alinement equipment would damage a rom like that. If the garage is to blame it would be clipping something maneuvering the car into position in the alinement bay. The damage does look fairly fresh so best to do something with it before the salt gets a chance to make it worse.
I did similar damage to a new Touareg wheel on the way home from picking it up. I touched in the damage using the clear lacquer bottle of a metallic touch up set to stop further damage before refinishing the wheel. It worked a treat, so much so that I sold it that way three years later. The trick with any wheel damage is cover it quickly before the salt corrodes the alloy and makes the damage look ten times worse.

[Am89]

Ordered a clean lacquer kit, should be able to touch up any damage to avoid further salt corrosion etc. Thanks for everyone’s input