Hello all,

So, I have officially done the first bit of accidental damage to my Accord... whew, glad that's over. More specifically, I was parked next to a curb, pulled out and cut the wheel a little too hard and really gouged my driver's side front tire and 17" factory rim.

I was really quite sick over the whole thing, but decided to try my hand at repairing it. Unfortunately, Honda has a neat little etched pattern on these wheels that would be impossible to match using a Dremel, so I did my best with some coarse, medium and fine sanding discs as well as a cotton buffing wheel to try to smooth it out. It's much less noticeable, but it's certainly not perfect.

My question now is whether I need to worry about clear-coating the damaged area. I haven't noticed any evidence of rust, and AFAIK, these are supposed to be aluminum alloy wheels. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to replace this wheel, so I just need to know if I can trust it for the long run as is.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide,

cwa107