just had my tires changed today and when the tire technician was putting the tire on the rim he scraped a thick plastic film off of the rim. what is the coating and what is it for? has the rim been damaged by this coating being removed? when it happened the shop boss stopped using the tire machine that scrape the rim. any help would be good. thanks

Aluminum rims are very suspetible to the elements. The will corrode and pit from road salt, magnesium chloride and other enemys. The will look horrible in a year or less. If you want them to continue to look good, they require constant polishing.


So alcoa makes life easy and applies a clearcoat. This gives you a silmilar look of a polished aluminum rim but without all of the maintenance.

I have a few nicks and scrapes on mine and the damage never seems to spread,run or get any larger then the intial incident.

So is there anything we can put over the nicks ans scrapes:confused:


Cosgr:D ve

The company POR-15 does make a 2 part clear coat for wheels. I am thinking about applying it to a brand new set of polished alum wheels.

As far a repair? Kinda seems like a quart can of 2 part is a waste for just a few scracthes. You might try a spray can of polycrlyic from the local hardware store.

As a matter of fact I have some from Lowes ( Minwax polycrylic) for a coffee table I am refinishing. I will try it on some of my scratches and let you know how it turns out.

I just keep a small bottle of clearcoat touch up paint handy and touch up any nicks on the wheels when I spot them.