Okay to polish alloy wheels?

[Chymerix]

I have alloy wheels, one of which was recently repaired. As part of that process, the repair shop applied new clear coat on the wheel. A few imperfections resulted that look like orange peel/scuffs. See attached photo.

View attachment 63086

I took it back to the shop and they indicated that the scuffs are not under the clear coat and that the underlying finish is fine because you can’t feel anything when you run your finger over the scuffs. The shop also said that reapplying the clear coat might lead to additional imperfections, and polishing the wheel might “burn” through the clear coat. In other words they said it’s best to leave it alone.

Here’s another untouched wheel for reference. You can see that the finish contains some of the same speckling/orange peel in the location pictured.

View attachment 63087

Thoughts? Safe to polish, or leave alone?

 

[JKDesign]

Definitely looks like a bad repair job all the way through- it does not look like they repaired or prepped it properly before painting. IMHO it needs to be redone

 

[Chymerix]

Just to clarify: The curbed edges of the wheel (not pictured) were the only things in need of repair, and they did a great job on that. Perfect color match. They applied a new clear coat (not paint) on the entire wheel just so it would look even. The second photo above is not of the repaired wheel, it's of another one of my wheels which has been untouched just to show that the speckling is present on some parts of the wheel out of the factory.

 

[Desertnate]

Definitely looks like a bad repair job all the way through- it does not look like they repaired or prepped it properly before painting. IMHO it needs to be redone

I agree, something doesn't look right. The top photo looks almost like a couple of runs in the paint or clear they didn't correct properly.

 

[Chymerix]

I just got off the phone with another repair shop. After looking at the photos, they were able to provide a lot of insight into what's happening.

The line pictured is known as "curdling" or "chicken feet". It's a chemical reaction that sometimes happens between newly applied liquid clear coats and the existing finish of the wheel. The shop indicated that for that reason, they treat the wheels they work on with powder primer, liquid paint, and powder clear coat (they essentially repaint the entire wheel regardless of where the damage is).

The gentleman I spoke with indicated that having the original shop redo it would probably result in the same issue. And polishing wouldn't help because the reaction is probably through the full depth of the clear coat, not just the surface. In other words, he said it's best to leave it alone. His shop was the first I went to originally, but they couldn't match the sheen of my wheel with any of the powder clears they have (their stock was either too glossy or too flat).

Looks like I'll be sticking with my current wheel as-is.