Do rim protectors work?

Q: What do the makers say the piece does?

AlloyGator says the ring sits between the wheel and the tire on wheels from 12 to 24 inches. Rimblades bond a strip to the rim with tape that takes about 72 hours to fully cure. All-Fit sells adhesive trim, 25 feet, for up to four 24 inch wheels, and says to wait at least 24 hours before you drive.

Q: What happened when owners hit a curb?

On Tesla Motors Club, spatterso911 reported one scrape and no rim damage. artsci reported a hit that tore part of a ring off, with less wheel damage than they expected without it. cfOH reported zero damage on the wheel. Ant M3 reported a set that looked bad and often fell out. We didn't run that test.

Q: Did anyone report a pressure or balance change?

AlloyGator says a correct fit does not change inflation, and they want pressures checked an hour later. scaesare reported no pressure loss over about 4,000 miles, and wrote that another member had reported air loss. Saxena wrote that a set threw the balance slightly out and a service center rebalanced the wheels.

A rim protector is a strip or a ring on the outer lip. Whether it stops a scrape is something the makers describe and owners argue about. We haven't fitted a set, and we haven't hit a curb with one on.

What do the makers say the piece does?

AlloyGator says the ring fits between the wheel and the tire, on wheels from 12 to 24 inches. A set has four rings, joining clips, stainless clips, and glue. Their fitting steps deflate the tire, tap the ring in, and leave no more than a 1 mm gap against the wheel. They also say that if the ring is fitted correctly, it will not change the inflation of the tire.

Rimblades bond a strip to the rim with very-high-bond tape. Their fitting page says a usable bond is there within 24 hours, and the full cure takes about 72 hours. They don't recommend the strips on a ceramic-coated wheel unless that coating is removed.

All-Fit's install page says one Rim Trim kit has 25 feet of material, enough for four 24 inch wheels, plus alcohol wipes, adhesive promoter, and clear gap strips. They say to wait at least 24 hours before you wash the car or drive it.

None of those pages is a measurement of how hard a curb can hit before the metal marks. A shorter page on the name itself is Will a rim protector stop curb rash?

What happened when owners hit a curb?

On a Tesla Motors Club thread, spatterso911 wrote that a set had been on for about 6,000 miles with no leak, then: "One scrape, no rim damage."

artsci wrote about scraping a curb hard enough to tear part of the ring off the left rear wheel. The ring had to be replaced, "but there's a lot less damage to the wheel than would have been the case without the Gators."

cfOH wrote about brushing a parking-lot curb "pretty hard." The wheel was "Perfect...zero damage," and a spare ring went back on the next day.

Ant M3, in a 2021 thread about color, wrote the opposite experience: "I had the alloy gators fitted and they're not great … they end up looking terrible and often start to fall out." Read those posts as owner reports. They don't add up to one result.

Did anyone report a pressure or balance change?

AlloyGator's suitability page says a correct fit does not affect inflation, and they want the pressures checked an hour after fitting, then on the schedule in the vehicle handbook.

scaesare wrote that another member, jammerJDC, had reported air loss. On scaesare's own 19 inch wheels, about six weeks and 4,000 miles in, "I've had no issues with pressure loss." Saxena wrote that a set on 21 inch wheels "did throw the wheel balance slightly out" and that a Tesla service center rebalanced them.

AlloyGator · Rimblades · Wheel size · Tire pressure or balance · AlloyGator, Rimblades, or All-Fit? · Check your tire after a curb

Do rim protectors work?

What do the makers say the piece does?

What happened when owners hit a curb?

Did anyone report a pressure or balance change?

Sources