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By Matt Gage

In the spring of 2024, I had a mishap with my wheel and a curb. After getting over the shock, I calmed down and was eventually connected with Ryan from Wheel Revivers, who proved to me that it is possible to restore something as devastating as curb-rash back to pristine condition in most instances.

So impressed with this, I invited Ryan to do a tech session with the club so he could show us his craft in-person. As Ryan is a mobile wheel repair specialist, and does cosmetic repairs at customers' home or office, we hosted the event in the parking lot in Oceanside Motorsports while the sun was bright and all of the details of the damage could be seen.

We brought in a few demo cars from our members who graciously volunteered to pay Ryan a discounted price for his service for the demo. We watched him as he meticulously worked on each wheel to restore them back to the best possible condition. Some wheels had been previously worked on and other factors affected how the final result would look. But make no mistake, the final results were nothing short of amazing.

Ryan starts by jacking the vehicle up so that he can freely rotate the wheel as he works. Using various degrees of grit, he’ll grind and sand the damaged areas, smoothing out and feathering the damage so there are no hard dips. The damaged area is replaced with a smooth and gradual reduction of the material. This can be time consuming depending on how deep and extensive the damage is.

Next up, Ryan preps the wheel for painting which includes cleaning up the tire and blowing away all the dust. He then tapes off the wheel from the tire and, if applicable, any other tones of the wheel he doesn’t want to paint. The color matching is pretty simple as, especially for BMWs, there are usually only a handful of colors that are always the same. He then spray paints the wheel ensuring the colors are all blended. He even has all kinds of different processes for other textures, including matte or satin finished wheels.

Then it’s just a matter of applying the clear coat, waiting 10 minutes to dry and you’re off! When I had my wheel repaired in the spring, he was able to do it in a crowded parking lot as all he needed was a spot next to me and a level surface. There is no danger of overspraying so he can accommodate any location.

I was surprised to hear that he doesn’t use any bondo material to fill in repairs. The enormous amount of vibration the wheel experiences will cause the bondo to crack loose and pull away the clear coat. Sure, it may look great for a day, a month, or even a few years, but eventually the damage could be revealed again. Anything requiring a very deep correction should be solved with welds.

When you call Ryan, he’ll ask for pictures of the entire wheel and of the damage. These are easy enough to provide via text. He’ll then send you an estimate and you’re off! With my experience, I went from just getting to my calmed down state and making the first phone call to a perfectly corrected and drivable vehicle in a little over an hour including Ryan’s drive time to my location. Incredible!

He can also repair bent or cracked wheels, but in those cases he would need to pick-up and drop off the wheels because they can not be repaired correctly with mobile equipment. This repair is usually able to be done by the following business day. If you can’t get the wheel off and have it ready for pick up, he can remove it and leave it on a jack, then put it back on after the repair is complete for an additional charge. Repairing alloy, magnesium, aluminum, and high-polished wheels are all part of his toolkit.

Ryan has been in this business for over 20 years and the creator of Wheel Revivers for almost just as long. Starting out with BMWs and Mercedes, he was the main contractor for a lot of dealerships seeking customer repairs. Now he gets customers from all of San Diego and serves them out of his mobile truck.

Thanks to Ryan for providing the demo and discounting our volunteers for his services! Stephen and Kenton provided the demo vehicles and Neil served coffee and donuts at Oceanside Motorsports.