Alloy wheel corrosion

[Michael 38]

I worked in/ran the parts dept of a local dealer, replacement wheels on ‘diamond cut’ alloys was a weekly thing, poor lacquer application seemed to be the biggest cause, lacquer was only applied across the face of the wheels meaning corrosion started at the edge of the spoke or centre cap area where lacquer met the powder coated area, very rarely did we not get warranty approval, only those obviously kerbed or chipped were knocked back, in some cases we set up the warranty claim without owners request as the techs might see problems starting before owners who didn’t wash the car themselves wouldn’t notice.
Refurbed wheels were often better as they were done by smaller companies rather than factories making 10s of thousands with little thought to quality or weather in selling markets.

It’s started on the spoke edges on mine on all four wheels 3 months ago there wasn’t sign of it funny as the silver painted alloys on my mrs 17 plate fiesta are spotless

[Toddy]

Same happened to me on a Mercedes. Got them sorted under warranty even though the car was used when I bought it.

[Mouse]

Diamond cuts look great in the showroom, but are virtually impossible to maintain perfectly on a daily driver on UK roads, unless they have been painted/laquered to a very high standard at the factory.

After struggling - and failing - with our last but one car, I vowed never to have another car with such wheels. Once moisture has got underneath the laquer there is nothing you can do other than have them refinished at some point.