So some shmuck drove up beside me in a parking lot and damaged my passenger side rim (1 spoke dented and chipped/scraped lip) and scraped up the side of the bumper. ****-off aside, insurance has approved my claim and I drop her off next week, except my insurance wants to repair the rim instead of replacing it.

My concern is its going to come back an off-grey with the branding removed. My assumption was that the finish on the RP03's is a "factory" finish, kind of like windshields and paint, its very hard to get the "factory" quality again.

Anyone have experience with this? Should I be concerned or should I have words with my insurance company?

 

I would try to get it replaced... getting it to match the others perfectly if it gets repaired is pretty tough.

 

A good wheel repair shop can color match and get it nearly perfect.

Branding? if it has stickers, Enkei can send you new ones.

 

Well I just got some good news. My insurance company got back to me and they're going to do a replacement. Phew, that's a headache avoided.

 

that always happens, they send out a guy who thinks they can repair it and then they go look at the wheel and are like **** that it can't be repaired.

My RP03s in sec are finished so i can't even get a replacement anymore

 

So did you declare to your insurance company that you have after market wheels. I am from the UK and there they typically only repair to stock parts. Not sure how it works here. I have Mazdaspeed wheels and they are over $600 a corner.

 

I'm not entirely sure how it works, but they payed the $550 to get the new rim here. It's double cool cuz I accidentally curbed that rim a while back.

But anyway, I did call my insurance company and after explaining that it probably wouldn't be able to be repaired my adjuster stopped for a second and was like "..wait... these aren't stock are they." Then told me that they had actually already given the go-ahead to order the new rim.

Got the car back now, new rim, new paint on the bumper and a 4-wheel alignment! Woohoo!

 

Nice one glad it all worked out for you.

 

Glad it all worked out for you. I can't even begin to imagine the complications I would have with my insurance company if this sort of thing happened to me.

 

My insurance has replaced my wheels plenty of times no problem

 

Sounds like you need a new insurance company.

I had a custom splitter on my mazdaspeed bumper and bumped it on my trailer loading it after a track day. Because of the tow hook installed, the bumper wouldnt flex and it got cracked in the process. Not only did my insunace company pay for a new mazdaspeed bumper, but they paid for a new custom splitter.

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with my insurance policy, but rather the confusion that would arise from such a claim.

The reason for confusion would be that my wheels cannot be purchased new, nor can *any* information be found on them whatsoever. There is only one shop that can take care of the work required for my wheels and the cost for parts only on replacing a single wheel would hit around $1500 if everything were purchased new. I just imagine this would raise some eyebrows on their end as it is a bit higher cost for a single replacement than usual.