Curbed wheels - ownership observation

[Turbo Tony]

I used to drive trucks, so I consider myself reasonably adept with large vehicles but that didn't stop me kerbing my wheel a couple of weeks after I bought the car!

It was a tight single-lane Cambridge street and I was parallel parking on the offside, which meant I didn't benefit from the dipping wing mirror (which is a Godsend!). I only just touched the kerb, but it was enough to leave an inch-long mark on my wheel.

...Still, it's a good excuse to get the lot recoloured to something a little more OEM.

[tintin]

Alloygators - or rimprotecs -are a good investment if you're seriously worried about kerbing, though you have to live with a slight tradeoff in terms of looks. They do the job, and in the case of rimprotecs, you can fit them yourself.

[Audidothat]

Cannot believe you have mentioned those, I saw a silver D3 A8 (4.2 Diesel I think) with them fitted only this morning and wondered what they were called!

The reason I noticed them is they were bright red and really didn't suit the car.

[tintin]

Originally Posted by Audidothat

Cannot believe you have mentioned those, I saw a silver D3 A8 (4.2 Diesel I think) with them fitted only this morning and wondered what they were called!

The reason I noticed them is they were bright red and really didn't suit the car.

If they were red then they'd be Rimprotecs, which come in many "matching" colours, including Red/Blue/Green etc and which personally I think look cheap and tacky.
However, many people - some with pretty expensive cars - swear by them, so in the interests of fairness/completeness, I thought I'd mention them. They're also less chunky than Alloygators, which again, people either swear by or hate - in pretty equal measure, in my experience.

[ainarssems]

They both look just as bad as kerbed wheels, better to invest in sufficient width tyres with rim protector edge and take more care.

[Architex_mA8tey]

Originally Posted by ainarssems

They both look just as bad as kerbed wheels, better to invest in sufficient width tyres with rim protector edge and take more care.

+1 (although it doesnt help if some elderly gent pushes you into the kerb lol

[tc4332]

As an Old Fogey I could take umbrage at that Neil

Could be a "young" racer that puts you in the kerb. But could that be called "chicking out"

[David's8]

Originally Posted by tc4332

......But could that be called "chicking out"

"Chicking out" sounds like some sort of deviant practice to me Ray!

Could have sworn I mentioned Alloygators at post 6 in this thread

[Architex_mA8tey]

Originally Posted by tc4332

As an Old Fogey I could take umbrage at that Neil

Could be a "young" racer that puts you in the kerb. But could that be called "chicking out"

Totally agree it could indeed be Ray - but in my case it wasn't, it was an old guy that didn't have the spatial awareness when driving to realise that he was cutting across my lane at the roundabout and forced me into the kerb, so I was speaking purely from bitter experience!!

[mcs]

My wheels were stuffed from a combination of slightly cambered tyre walls, and the tyre lever abuse from the wheel alignment changes.

When the clear coat of the wheels started to fail, I gave up and had them all restored to OEM finish. New tyres with a protective lip have prevented the **** roads from making the damage repeat.