Wheel Polishing Service

[wood]

So I have an employee who is new and is encouraging me to consider adding wheel/rim polishing. Our market has a high pct of vehicles with nice rims.

I am not interested in 'dipping" technique, nor do i want to turn my place in to a garage shop atmosphere. I am a car wash and detail.

I had him buy a matching set at the junk yard and perform his process on one of them. It took about 40 min on the one wheel and the comparison to the un-touched one is night and day.

My plan is to have the customer drop off their wheels, and us to return them in 24-48 hours. Most people in my market who have these rims have a second set, and I am told they are used to trading them out.

Like anything I am investigating products, pricing, technique, marketing, and so on. In surfing the net I don't find many washes with information.

Any thoughts, ideas, direction would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Wood

 

[under pressure]

If they will have to leave their actual wheels you might offer a service taking them off and installing them back on?

 

[robert roman]

The real money is made with polishing and not low margin work like changing and balancing tires.

My brother polishes aluminum motorcycle engine cases and the like as a side business. He generally charges about $400 for a Harley case. His customers deliver the cases to him disassembled.

Given the popularity and willingness of people to spend money on rim candy, I would charge at least $2.00 a minute.

 

[wood]

Robert:

Thanks for the response. The "rim candy" term rings true to me. Based on the amount of nice rims, wheel brite and tire shine sales I have, I think it's a natural.

We detail like many folks, but no one seems to offer this. Based on little forum response, and coming up empty surfing the net for washes offering this service it looks like I hold a minority point of view.

However, I believe I can make money at it. The issues of removing the wheels (buying a nice jack and impact wrench, etc..) vs them bringing them in, rate of charge, identifying wheel type and using the correct method are all variables I need to plan for. I am willing to educate myself on this and then decide if I will go forward.

Any input is much appreciated.

Wood