Alloy wheel damage in everyday driving around Perth is a pretty predictable affair. You get more kerb scrapes on painted bits than anything else and that’s followed by chipped coats and fading or peeling paint. Then at the other end of the scale, you’ve got buckled or cracked rims from hitting potholes. It’s a whole different story, needing a workshop job to sort it out rather than some mobile bloke with a spray gun.
Each kind of damage needs to be treated a bit differently. Kerb scrapes on painted bits and clear coats can all be fixed with a mobile repair outfit using some colour match tech and a bit of spray painting. But where the rim is buckled or cracked from a pothole smash you’re looking at needing someone to pull out their CNC lathe to sort it. More often than not it’s safer to just replace the thing if it’s got structural cracks. Before you even start getting quotes its worth figuring out what category your damage falls into so you don’t go getting some mobile bloke to look at it and then getting told they can’t sort it. Mag wheel repairs can range from quick cosmetic fixes to major structural work, depending on the extent of the damage.
Mobile Repair vs Workshop, What Each Can Do
Mobile repair services come to you, either to your driveway or workplace, and can do most of the painted alloy wheel repairs in 90 minutes or less per wheel without even taking the tyre off, let alone the wheel from the car. There are a couple of outfits that do this model around Perth, Touch Up Guys and Car Clinic WA for example. The process is pretty straightforward, sanding to get the surface nice and rough, priming, colour matching, painting and clear coat all done on site.
Mobile Alloy Wheel Repairs are pretty upfront about the limitations of what they can do. If your rims were originally diamond cut or machine faced there’s just no way to replicate that on site and it needs a CNC lathe. Which most of the time, especially if you’ve got one of those high-end cars, means taking it into a workshop.
Perth-Specific Operators Worth Knowing
Alloy Magic in Wangara are pretty proud of what they do. They reckon they’re the top alloy wheel refurbishment company in Perth and cover the metro and south-west areas. Rim Clinic in Fremantle do the standard repairs and custom work and will do a scrape repair for as little as $189 a wheel. Swan Tyre Service in Osborne Park do the repairs and also sells and fits tyres.
The Real Cost and What Affects the Price
Perth wheel repair choices vary depending on the type of damage, the wheel’s finish and how many wheels are involved. Most operators will charge you anywhere from $189 to $350 to fix the basics on a single painted alloy wheel that’s just suffered from some kerb rash. But if you’ve got a diamond cut or machine-faced wheel the bill is going to be a lot higher, it’s the machine work that’s the expensive bit. And if you compare the price of just fixing a painted alloy wheel versus totally restoring one that’s got a machine face, the difference is massive.
Colour Changes and Custom Finishes
There’s a whole other crowd of people in Perth who aren’t just looking to get their wheels repaired, they want to do a colour change or maybe get a finish upgrade. And the most popular thing at the moment is taking cheap silver or gunmetal wheels and turning them into gloss black powder coat, it’s that blacked out look that’s all over the place on modern utes and SUVs.
Alloy Magic has access to thousands of different colours and has loads of experience matching those tricky factory finishes. They’ve even managed to perfect the art of replicating silver metallic, which is way harder than it looks. Rim Clinic Fremantle is good for pretty much any alloy work you need doing, standard or custom, it’s all good. Just take a colour reference with you when you go for a quote, whether it’s a RAL chart or a photo, that way you can make sure you get a quote that’s actually what you’re after and not just a wild guess.
