My landlord backed into my 500E and scraped (with a bit of a gouge) one of my 17" AMG wheels. Does anyone know of a good wheel repair shop in the San Francisco Bay Area? I want to spare him the $400+ replacement cost.
TIA
Tom

There is a place out in campbell that does them...I can't think of the name off the top of my head. I think its something like wheel techinques or something along thoughs lines...

Yep, it's Wheel Techniques. I have not used them, but they have a reputation for doing good work, and I've been in their shop.

They are very busy and hard to get on the phone, and they are not cheap. I had a $175 estimate for a minor curb kiss on an Acura wheel a year ago (I decided to wait on that one).

s/b

Check out Riteway in Walnut Creek. They repaired a set of 17" Stern wheels that were badly bent. My friend also got his 3000 GT 18 inch rims repaired there and polished out to look better than chrome. Hope this helps.

I just took a mildly curbed wheel out to Rite-Way, as I was out that way on other business. They quoted $75 with a repair, repaint, remount and rebalance, but knocked it down to $40 as I indicated that the tire was at the end of life, and that remount was not required.

Will follow up and let you all know how their work turns out!

s/b

Okay, got the wheel back from Rite-Way. Report follows:

They quoted $75 to repair three minor curb rashes on the rim (marks were the fault of the PO, not me -- I'm quite conservative when parking the 500E). That quote included a tire dismount, remount and rebalance.

The owner came down to $40 when I noted that the tire was old and about to be replaced, and didn't need to be put back on. (The $40 price did not include disposal of the old tire -- my local recycling yard will take 'em inexpensively.)

Appears to have been a competent job. All rash spots smoothly filled in. Good paint blending. Quick, too. In on Friday at the close of business, out on Monday by mid-afternoon.

I noted two minor dings in the paint, in areas other than the rim edge, when I was taking delivery of the reworked wheel. At first I thought the shop staff had scuffed the wheel paint while working on the unit, and was alarmed.

After a moment's thought, I realized that one of the dings was located where the original outer clip weight had been sitting when the wheel/tire was dropped off. Can't blame that on the shop. Arrrrrgh, bloody clip weights. Hate the things.

I pointed out the other ding to the owner, and he said that he thought from the appearance that it was an old pre-existing one.

Took a closer look at it myself, and figured that he was probably right and that I'd just overlooked it. I do fault the shop for not catching it on initial acceptance and calling it to my attention. I'd have liked to have it mentioned, and I would have paid a few bucks more to have it seen to. A small slip, but a slip nonetheless.

Three of these four wheels have minor brake dust pitting in the paint anyway. When I've gone through this new set of tires (review coming), I'll have the entire set of wheels removed and refinished, including these two small marks on this wheel.

I'll then have the bunch spray-finished with a supertough nylon clearcoat. That ought to eliminate future pitting issues. It won't stop curb rash, but I almost never have that happen when I'm doing the parking.

All in all, I'd probably use Rite-Way again. But I'd be careful about examining the entire wheel before it goes in, to be sure that they have all flaws pointed out on the work order.

s/b