Chrome wheel problem?

C

CharlesW

The Rainmaker
An acquaintance has been told that the OEM chrome wheels on his Lincoln LS are peeling on the inside and the tire bead will no longer seal to the rim.
Is this likely/possible or should he get a second opinion?
I have never heard of this before, even with cheap aftermarket wheels and it seems even more unlikely to me for OEM wheels to have the problem.
I think the vehicle is a 2002, but I don't know the year for sure.
I also doubt that it has seen anything but commercial drive-through car washes in its lifetime.

FWIW, A friend of mine says chrome wheels are bad news and he thinks the problem goes with the territory.
 
I had one factory chrome wheel (Lincoln MKZ) that was peeling on the inside (not shiny chrome but plated over base). It was repaired under warranty. The dealer was at first skeptical Ford would cover it.
 
a good thick bead sealer should do the trick.. they should first grind the bead area clean before applying the sealer and then there should be no problems
 
It is a problem that I have seen before on a Buick Rendezvous when I was a service manager. The chrome was peeling around the bead and the tire would go dead flat in about a week. I agree with Steve on the bead sealer option that's also what I used.
 
Charles tell your friend to try Ford they may warranty the wheel but if that fails then like Steve said they make a special product for this problem.

I used bead seal on a rusty wheel on a old garden tractor just wire brush apply the bead sealer and no more problems. :yay
 
The guy isn't exactly a friend even though I have known him for years.
I have not agreed with some of his business practices and have somewhat distanced myself from him because of that.

Back on topic.
I had wondered about any "hidden" warranty program for this type of problem since it seems borderline safety related.
Would they still take care of a vehicle that was 7 or 8 years old?
I guess trying is the only way to find out.

The bead sealer wasn't something I was familiar with and I certainly didn't know they had varying thicknesses of it.

I will pass the information on to a mutual friend and he can tell the guy about at least two options.

:bigups Thanks for all the suggestions.
If I hear the outcome, I will post it.
 
Charles one other thing to tell him is the local dealer may not want to mess with this and tell him it is not covered but that is not the final decision I called Ford years ago when my dealer told me that it was not covered and they took care of my problem.

They don't want to make people go somewhere else to buy their next car so sometimes you will be surprised at what they will do beyond the warranty period.
I had the chrome peel on one of the Corvette wheels it cost me $500.00 to have it stripped and re chromed.
 
Charles the problem you are having is not a scam. Here at my place we change a lot of wheels. The chrome peeling off problem has been around for years. We see this problem a lot with the bigger wheels like 20s, 22s, 24s, and some 26s inch wheels. The problem we see is that people do not know how to take care of their wheels. Many owners use harsh acidic chemicals to clean the wheels. It is only a matter of time before the wheels start to peel. Most of the time the wheels start peeling from the outside before the inside but every once in a while the inside of the wheel peels.

is there a remedy. No not really. why? well if you start grinding the wheel to remove the chrome you expose the aluminum. if you expose aluminum then a white powder begins to from on the exposed aluminum. its kinda like rust on steel. It does not matter what type of lube you use on the aluminum, it will not work. It might work for a few days then after that it will go flat.

what you need to do is find another good used wheel and replace. You could send your wheel to get re-chromed but i think it is expensive. the last thing you could do is buy one from dealer but you are risking that they may not have it. one more option would be to replace all four wheels if you could afford it.
 
It's also possible that there might be a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) on those wheels. Some TSB's work like recalls; the dealer will replace the defective part, but only when the customer actually comes in with the problem. They don't contact you about it.
 
bead sealer is the answer, after the tire is deflated and the tire and inner rim is thoroughly cleaned, it should reseal after that and hold air.
 
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