Curb rash (I'm an idiot)

[MerlintheMad]

Like an idiot I nicked the left rear wheel on a little curb in my apartment's parking . Yeah I'm an idiot .

Us there anyway I can use sandpaper to rub it away to a more presentable look?
What grit sandpaper do I use?

I have answered "my que".
I use a very heavy grit, take out the scrape, then use 220 grit to take out the scratches of the heavy grit; then finally use 2000 grit wet sandpaper to polish the alloy back up. Use lots of water; even soak the wet sandpaper for ten or so minutes first.

Do try to stay off the gun metal, and also stay on the immediate area as much as humanly possible; no reason to make the damaged area bigger than it already is. (That is a doodle scrape.) The clear coat will be gone. But it mimics the color of the alloy, so polished alloy looks a lot like clear coated alloy. If you avoid making the area of damage bigger by your fix, you'll be avoiding "clouding/hazing" the surrounding clear coat. The wet 2000 grit can bring back some of the sheen of the clear coat.

That's all I can tell you. There has to be a better way. But I found "five feet away" satisfaction doing it this way.

You either backed in carelessly, or you barely clipped the corner: give yourself more room rounding curbs, especially on the opposite rear. I do "wagon wheel" turns in this car: no reason to cut it close and come to grief.

 

[Bharat]

Thank you for the detailed reply mate! I'll try it out over the weekend and present the results here.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Don’t feel bad. Powder coated my OEM rims. I literally took them off the truck and while bringing inside my garage, I was talking to the driver not paying attention, and somehow managed to bang the lip against the 1/4 inch edge from my garage/driveway. Like not even on the car yet. Not in my possession for like 30 seconds.

I’ve already touched it up. Likely need to re-powder coat this one wheel in a year if it starts bubbling.

I do more dumb shit in my 40’s than I’ve ever done to any car in my life. Like getting old sucks.

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At least glossy black nicks can be hit with Pactra or Testors or any other high gloss black enamel or lacquer model paint and it won't show. And even before you go that far, you can hit it with a Sharpie until you can get to it! Hah!

Wait till you get to your 60s. There's a reason why older guys move slower, and it hasn't got much if anything to do with physically slowing down.

 

[MerlintheMad]

You know, I am liking the idea of the easy fix approach of black powder coating. I am imagining going to a hand wash car wash only; never again paralleling any guide rails into a "tunnel" for the rest of my life (and only using those hand wash guys when I need the undercarriage washed out during the winter: I'd rather wash my own outside, thank you). Any nicks that appear, I'd resort to my ^^^ suggestion. This would solve all my problems with rashing and having to sand everything down every damned, thrice-bepoxed time. Grr. Glossy black OEM GT rims look good on everything. I'm not in love with the OEM two tone finish: I can easily give that up. And nothing is easier to find than glossy black enamel/lacquer in tiny bottles; any hobby shop has a selection of brands of glossy black. In fact, the shop that blacks the rims can provide a nice touch up bottle with its own brush.