Wheel rim protectors - yay or nay?

[stevebear]

Afternoon one and all

Anyone fitted rim protectors to their pride and joy? Any particular brands that you found worked better than others?
How much of a faff are they to fit? I'd assumed you bought 4 hoops but appears it comes in lengths and cut to size.

Cheers folks

[roadsmash]

Serious question... if it really is your pride and joy, why not take a bit of care and attention when driving it and don’t hit any kerbs?

[d_a_n1979]

stevebear said:

Afternoon one and all

Anyone fitted rim protectors to their pride and joy? Any particular brands that you found worked better than others?
How much of a faff are they to fit? I'd assumed you bought 4 hoops but appears it comes in lengths and cut to size.

Cheers folks

No; stay away.... PLEASE!

a) they look hideous, b) it shows folk that you can't park your car properly and tend to kerb your alloys, a lot and c) when fitting them, you only need to chip the lacquer/paint on the alloy and then you'll get water ingress, which will eat into said alloy leaving you with a wheel that you still need to refurb...!

All IMO of course, but if I see a car that I'm looking at to buy and it has those fitted; I tend to skip by and keep looking

[Chubbyross]

Just buy tyres with rim protection.

[RDMcG]

While it seems sensible in principle ,the execution looks terrible on every car I have seen. This is not like (say) PPF or ceramic coatings that add protection with no downside. Ruins the loom of your expensive wheels.

[Bigwod]

when they fail and come off and they do ,they do some serious damage to bodywork stay clear.

[iphonedyou]

Just don't drive into kerbs.

It is actually that simple.

[dunc69]

No. For all the reasons above.

Buy tyres with decent rim protection and avoid kerbs.

[swisstoni]

They are bits of plastic trying to protect something with a ton of weight behind it, scraping granite.
How successful is that going to be?

[750turbo]

I thought these would be a good idea on my 2015 Civic Type R as there already was a red pinstripe and they really did not stick out that much...

£100 wasted!

[WJNB]

Classic Barry Boy/Chav if you fit bright colours. Black or silver can be almost invisible, in fact black IS invisible unless you glue your eyes to the wheel. Choosing tyres with a protective moulding simply reduces your choice.
Smug comments about avoiding curbs by those who are perfect is all very well but sadly 99.999999% of us is not perfect.
Alloygators are an easy fit except for the dumb & inept. Can be trimmed should God forbid the less than perfect do scrape them (rather than an exposed non-protected expensive wheel). Some tyre fitters moan about them & some wheel refurbishers claim the plastic holds water & speeds up the ingress of water beneath the lacquer on alloy wheel rim edges. Given the crap quality of alloys on a series of Alloygator equipped Mercedes I've owned there may be some truth in that.
BTW the sticky-on versions that are not secured by the tyre ARE CRAP.

[Pica-Pica]

Chubbyross said:

Just buy tyres with rim protection.

..and these are different for each tyre. Pirelli just mould a bit of triangle out, whereas with Goodyear, the rim protector is more vertical and starts further out.

[roadsmash]

WJNB said:

Classic Barry Boy/Chav if you fit bright colours. Black or silver can be almost invisible, in fact black IS invisible unless you glue your eyes to the wheel. Choosing tyres with a protective moulding simply reduces your choice.
Smug comments about avoiding curbs by those who are perfect is all very well but sadly 99.999999% of us is not perfect.
Alloygators are an easy fit except for the dumb & inept. Can be trimmed should God forbid the less than perfect do scrape them (rather than an exposed non-protected expensive wheel). Some tyre fitters moan about them & some wheel refurbishers claim the plastic holds water & speeds up the ingress of water beneath the lacquer on alloy wheel rim edges. Given the crap quality of alloys on a series of Alloygator equipped Mercedes I've owned there may be some truth in that.
BTW the sticky-on versions that are not secured by the tyre ARE CRAP.

I have to disagree.

You really don’t have to be perfect to never kerb your “pride and joy”. It’s your pride and joy for heaven’s sake. Take an extra level of care when parking near kerbs.

Doesn’t mean I have never kerbed a car, of course I have, but it would have been when I was driving a car that I care less about.

If it really is your pride and joy; treat it as such and stay clear of any apparatus that could easily fly off and damage the bodywork.

If, on the odd chance you do hit an unavoidable kerb or other stationary obstacle, you can always get them repaired at a reasonable cost.

Rim protectors are crap at worst and simply naff at best.

[sxmwht]

Bigwod said:

when they fail and come off and they do ,they do some serious damage to bodywork stay clear.

bks

[legless]

sxmwht said:

Bigwod said:

when they fail and come off and they do ,they do some serious damage to bodywork stay clear.

bks

It does happen, albeit I don't know how often. Here's the result of a wheel rim protector that became half detached around a roundabout and whipped the bodywork.

[Alex_225]

It's all well and good saying, 'don't drive near kerbs' but accidents happen and even for the piece of mind I can see the appeal. you can get kerb protectors in black, it just so happens many go for coloured ones which do usually look utterly pants.

That said, I have heard stories of the glue on ones coming off similar to the one shown above. Also heard that the ones that go under the tyre bead, can still get grit underneath and scratch your alloys when taken off.

As said tyres with a bit of rim protection are your best option!

[Chubbyross]

Pica-Pica said:

Chubbyross said:

Just buy tyres with rim protection.

..and these are different for each tyre. Pirelli just mould a bit of triangle out, whereas with Goodyear, the rim protector is more vertical and starts further out.

Good point. On my vRS I have P Zeros and the rim protection is hopeless to be honest. Saying that my 911 P Zero protection lip is much greater - not that I’ve ever gone near a kerb with that.

[Burgerbob]

I fitted some rimblades on my last car. I wouldn't bother again.

One came partly unstuck during a lap at donington leaving marks difficult to remove as it whipped the paintwork.

I kerbed a wheel with one on and it was just pushed out of the way, wheel still damaged.

I then removed them but failed to ever totally remove the glue used.

[g.huBgerford]

Hi, I agree with the general sentiment that these things are to be avoided,BUT Kerbing Rims is not necessarily a sign of poor driveing,with the greatest respect ! Those who "Track" their cars are 99% certain to get the "Lines" wrong now and then if they are driveing a car like a "MCLAREN/FERARRI." Some keep a set of spare wheels purely for Track Days,but not all of us have deep,deep pockets. I used to ride superbikes.We also used to laugh at those with perfect Tread on the outer portion of the tyres,and also did not have nicely scraped "footpegs". With some of the massive and insideous DEEP potholes in my part of The UK,Lady Luck plays a significant part.(especially at night ! )

[AlexRS2782]

g.huBgerford said:

Hi, I agree with the general sentiment that these things are to be avoided,BUT Kerbing Rims is not necessarily a sign of poor driveing,with the greatest respect ! Those who "Track" their cars are 99% certain to get the "Lines" wrong now and then if they are driveing a car like a "MCLAREN/FERARRI." Some keep a set of spare wheels purely for Track Days,but not all of us have deep,deep pockets. I used to ride superbikes.We also used to laugh at those with perfect Tread on the outer portion of the tyres,and also did not have nicely scraped "footpegs". With some of the massive and insideous DEEP potholes in my part of The UK,Lady Luck plays a significant part.(especially at night ! )

Well that mash of text was really worth bumping a 4 year dead thread for