Hello everyone, I want to share my recent experience with you all a small misadventure that turned into a little DIY triumph.
After a long day at the office, I headed to my Terramar, which had been parked under the scorching sun all day. This summer has been brutally hot on that day, temperatures even reached 41°C. As I was driving away, I accidentally brushed the tire against a roadside edge, not a sidewalk, more like a curb shoulder. Possibly due to the heat or because the tire was already vulnerable, it got sliced… and the rim got scratched too.
To make matters worse, I realized no spare tire! Seems that nowadays many cars are sold that way. So, I tried calling Cupra Connect Service, the included first-level support service… and after an hour of waiting, no one picked up. Frustrated, I asked Siri for the nearest tire shop and lucky me a local tire guy showed up with his van, took the wheel, mounted a used tire, and brought it back. He didn’t charge me anything on the spot; just asked me to stop by his garage the next day since it was already past 8 p.m. Honestly, compared to Cupra’s official support… no contest!
But now I was left with a damaged rim and a little itch to fix it myself.
I work in an office and have zero experience as a mechanic, but with a bit of help from ChatGPT (yes, seriously), I followed step-by-step instructions on what to buy and how to proceed.
So here we are: I’m posting photos of the curb that caused the scratch, the rim before the fix, and after. Just a heads-up you’ll see some white specks near the rim edge… that’s where I still need to touch up with the right black paint.
The paint I used is the original Cupra color (L27A), though it looks slightly lighter because I don’t have diamond-cutting tools, of course. I used the official spray paint and a clear coat to finish it up. I’m obviously not a professional.
I'm now at the final step polishing everything to make the color transition more uniform and hide the difference between the repair and the original finish. I’ll also be touching up the black line along the outer edge of the rim for a cleaner look. It’s not quite done yet, but I’m hoping this final stage will make everything blend in even better.
The imperfections are only visible if you look at the rim from about 20 centimeters away and hey, for a DIY job by a complete newbie, I’m actually kind of proud.
I’d love to hear what you think!
see all photos:
The Curb
The Damage
this below is not a damage, but dirt water made by the tire guy
yes, that one is the spare tire, the day after I bought a new PIRELLI SCORPION tire (same as the others)
Another damage made by the tire guy, didn't have the courage to tell him, but HEY he did a lot for me, and he doesn't even know me at all
first work
ready to be painted
ending one
ending two
final result
this is the white that I have to finish withblack paint
After a long day at the office, I headed to my Terramar, which had been parked under the scorching sun all day. This summer has been brutally hot on that day, temperatures even reached 41°C. As I was driving away, I accidentally brushed the tire against a roadside edge, not a sidewalk, more like a curb shoulder. Possibly due to the heat or because the tire was already vulnerable, it got sliced… and the rim got scratched too.
To make matters worse, I realized no spare tire! Seems that nowadays many cars are sold that way. So, I tried calling Cupra Connect Service, the included first-level support service… and after an hour of waiting, no one picked up. Frustrated, I asked Siri for the nearest tire shop and lucky me a local tire guy showed up with his van, took the wheel, mounted a used tire, and brought it back. He didn’t charge me anything on the spot; just asked me to stop by his garage the next day since it was already past 8 p.m. Honestly, compared to Cupra’s official support… no contest!
But now I was left with a damaged rim and a little itch to fix it myself.
I work in an office and have zero experience as a mechanic, but with a bit of help from ChatGPT (yes, seriously), I followed step-by-step instructions on what to buy and how to proceed.
So here we are: I’m posting photos of the curb that caused the scratch, the rim before the fix, and after. Just a heads-up you’ll see some white specks near the rim edge… that’s where I still need to touch up with the right black paint.
The paint I used is the original Cupra color (L27A), though it looks slightly lighter because I don’t have diamond-cutting tools, of course. I used the official spray paint and a clear coat to finish it up. I’m obviously not a professional.
I'm now at the final step polishing everything to make the color transition more uniform and hide the difference between the repair and the original finish. I’ll also be touching up the black line along the outer edge of the rim for a cleaner look. It’s not quite done yet, but I’m hoping this final stage will make everything blend in even better.
The imperfections are only visible if you look at the rim from about 20 centimeters away and hey, for a DIY job by a complete newbie, I’m actually kind of proud.
I’d love to hear what you think!
see all photos:
The Curb
The Damage
this below is not a damage, but dirt water made by the tire guy
yes, that one is the spare tire, the day after I bought a new PIRELLI SCORPION tire (same as the others)
Another damage made by the tire guy, didn't have the courage to tell him, but HEY he did a lot for me, and he doesn't even know me at all
first work
ready to be painted
ending one
ending two
final result
this is the white that I have to finish withblack paint
i wouldn't even know where to start!
