11 February 2026 · 6 min read
Kerbed Your Alloy? Refurb vs Crack Welding Explained
A scuff and a crack are not the same job. One is a refurb, one is a welding job, and a kerbed alloy with a slow leak might need both.
Hit a pothole on the A4 or kissed the kerb pulling up to school. The wheel looks a mess. The question is whether it is a cosmetic refurb job or whether the wheel is actually cracked and leaking air. Two very different jobs, two very different prices.
Cosmetic kerb damage: refurbishment
Scuffs, scrapes, gouges in the lacquer, paint chipped off the spoke. The wheel is structurally fine, it just looks rough. This is a refurb. We strip the old lacquer and paint, repair the gouged metal, prime, paint to the correct factory colour, and lacquer. On a diamond-cut wheel we put the rim back on the lathe and re-cut the polished face, then lacquer over the top. Done properly, you cannot tell the wheel was ever damaged.
Structural damage: crack welding
A pothole strike can crack the inside of the rim where the tyre seats. Sometimes you can see it, often you cannot. The first symptom is usually a slow puncture that nobody can find. Refurb on a cracked wheel is pointless because the crack will keep leaking air. The fix is TIG welding. We strip the tyre, machine the area back to clean metal, weld the crack from both sides, dress the weld back to profile, pressure test, then refurbish the cosmetic side of the wheel.
When a wheel is genuinely scrap
Cracks across the spoke, cracks at the hub, distortion you can feel with a straight edge. We will not weld those. The wheel has lost its structural integrity and the welding will just hide the problem until the next big pothole. We will tell you honestly when a wheel is finished and a replacement is the only safe answer.
How to tell which one you need
- Wheel looks bad but the tyre holds pressure for weeks: cosmetic refurb.
- Wheel looks fine but the tyre keeps losing air: crack welding likely, refurb optional.
- Wheel looks bad and the tyre will not hold pressure: both, in that order.
- Wheel is visibly buckled or vibrates above 40mph: bring it in, do not refurb yet.
Drop the car at our workshop on St Mary's Road, or send us a photo of the wheel on WhatsApp and we will tell you which one of the two jobs you are looking at, no guessing.