When it comes to custom parts on your car, typically a lot of time, money, and thought have gone into acquiring them. If you’ve purchased custom rims, you probably spent a good deal of money on them, and you’re probably also very interested in maintaining their quality appearance for as long as you can. What exactly can you do to keep your custom rims looking and working their best for as long as you own them? Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to protect them, and the various methods are listed below.
Protective Skins
The most common type of damage to rims is scratches or dents that are caused by their coming in contact with curbs. Wheel rim protection using this type of skin can prevent these concrete curbs from ever coming in contact with your rims. They are applied directly to the wheel around the rim where it meets the tire. When you think of a skin, you might imagine that these skins are very thin and flexible like one that you’d put on your phone, however, these skins are not like that at all. They’re thick enough to protect your rims from serious bumps.
Depending on the look you’re hoping to achieve, they could actually add a bit of additional styling to your car as well. If you’re going for a more aggressively sporty look, you might be interested in red or blue accents. On the other hand, if you don’t want to detract from the high-quality wheels you’ve purchased, you could get skins that are completely invisible.
Proper Cleaning
Besides bumps and scrapes, there are other causes of corrosive damage to rims over time. For that reason, other types of wheel rim protection should be used to keep you rims in their best shape. Proper cleaning is one of the best ways to keep your rims looking great, and is absolutely necessary to keep them from gradually becoming damaged beyond repair. Because of their location on the car, they are likely to accumulate brake dust, which can be very bad for their appearance. Brake dust comes from the material on your brake pads being worn off. This dust is highly corrosive when it comes in contact with many types of metal, so it’s important to rinse your rims occasionally. If you live in an area where snow is common, you may also have to contend with road salt. Salt is also very abrasive and can harm your rims over time, especially if it’s allowed to sit on the rims for some time. To prevent this, regular rinsing and washing of your rims is a great solution. There are many additional products available that will help you to clean and shine your rims and to get them looking the way they did when you first purchased them. These products vary based on the type of metal your rims are made from.