Painted Wheels are Half Painted, Half 'Polished', fully Clear Coated

[Steverino]

I have the stock painted wheels. While washing the car I noticed a very slight curb rash on one wheel. My wife and I have no idea whose watch this happened on, though we each suspect the other, haha. I suppose it could even have been something on the road. In preparation to repairing the curb rash, I took a closer look at the painted wheel.

The outer "flat" surface of the wheel is actually bright machined aluminum with a finely grooved surface like a vinyl record or CD. The grooves (you need to be near sighted or may need a magnifying glass to see them) actually produce a slight rainbow effect when the sunlight is at the right angle.

In contrast, the inner, rounded surfaces are painted (powder coated?) with a fine metallic silver, similar to Testors #1146 Aluminum enamel. The attached photos were enhanced in Photoshop a bit to make the machined grooves more easily visible. It stands out from the sparkly painted areas.

The entire wheel has a clear coat of course. So rather than needing silver paint, it looks like the curb rash needs a polish, a careful replication of the grooving (if possible), a vinegar/water etch, a clear coat, and likely some extremely fine wet & dry sanding.
PaintedandMachinedWheel1.jpgPaintedandMachinedWheel0.jpgPaintedandMachinedWheel2.jpg

[Noel Park]

In the first 6000 miles I have experienced 2 incidents of "curb rash" with my Volt, as many as I have had with all of my other cars in my life. I think it's because the Volt's sidewalls don't bulge out past the rim and hit the curb first. I have tried to be extremely careful after the first one, and the second one really upset me. It's tiny, but it's irritating! Watch the curbs guys. There's no room for error.

[voltage692]

FYI, that "fine grain / machined grooves" look is what had another Volt owner on here in an outrage because the wheels did not have a mirror finish polish like he expected.

He was ready to take it to the Supreme Court, but we never heard back from him on his thread.

If you want to try a DIY project, get some varying levels of sand paper (200 up to 2000 grit) to smooth out the scratches by working your way up. Once you get to 2000 grit, just use some paint polish to finish the shine. It's much easier to do with the wheel off the car. I was able to do that with several previous cars, and the results made the scratches undetectable.

I believe the tires don't stick out much as part of the goal to keep wind resistance down. Another thing I noticed: The "green" tires have a tread width that is about 1" narrower than the equivalently sized non-green tire. I guess that's another way to keep rolling resistance down while not making the tires look too skinny like on a Prius.

If the DIY project fails, it's still worth a try because you haven't made things any worse since you're going to have to take it a wheel repair place or buy a new one anyway to get rid of the scratches.

[Noel Park]

My body shop guys made the first one disappear in about an hour. The second one is so small that I don't think I'm going to mess with it. Hopefully it will remind me to be more careful. And I agree with you on the reason for the tire configuration. It's jut that it doesn't give dummies like me any margin of safety, LOL.

[Steverino]

After a careful polish, my curb rash is invisible to all but me.

Regarding the painted vs polished wheels, I took a close look at the polished wheels on a dealer lot. I could see some very, very fine hairline buff marks, but you really had to look hard (and close). The concentric machining grooves on the painted wheels on the other hand are a bit different, and a little easier to see. I think the wheels where painted, the flat surfaces machined (removing the paint in the process), and the entire rim clear coated. It is subtle, but I like the result.

[Noel Park]

steverino,

Yeah, I like the painted wheels better. Subtle is the word.