Weird etching on my wheels
- Thread starter bcmike
- Start date
Sizzle Chest
Well-known member
It appears as if it is the beginning of the clear coat failing. Nothing to be done except refinish the wheels unfortunately.
PoisonTheWell
Member
Yeah, once it starts it creeps. Spent a couple days removing the clear and polishing mine.
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
That looks to me like salt getting under the clear. Do you live in the rust belt?
Accumulator
Well-known member
Or something similarly nasty. Once the finish gets compromised, if it`s not kept *VERY* well LSPed/coated/etc. stuff like salt finds its way to the bare aluminum, and you get what bcmike is asking about.
bcmike- Welcome to Autopia! Sorry that your first post results in bad-news responses, but sigh...that salt (or whatever it was) can really be destructive. Refinishing, or buying ones that`re already redone, is really the solution here...sorry to say
FWIW, refinished wheels from Wheels Tires and More dot com (something like that, forget what it is exactly..haven`t used them for years though) have always been OK when I got `em, and I`m *VERY* particular.
Desertnate
Active member
Agree with everything mentioned so far. Those look just like the wheels on my wife`s car when the clearcoat starts to fail.
So far I`m 4 - 4 with machined wheels and clear coat failure. Like Accumulator mentions, they always seem to get some tiny/microscopic failure in the finish which leads to moisture and other nastiness getting between the wheel and he clear coat. From there it`s all down-hill. I hope to never own other vehicle finished like that, and I`ll certainly never buy a wheel like that on my own.
So far I`m 4 - 4 with machined wheels and clear coat failure. Like Accumulator mentions, they always seem to get some tiny/microscopic failure in the finish which leads to moisture and other nastiness getting between the wheel and he clear coat. From there it`s all down-hill. I hope to never own other vehicle finished like that, and I`ll certainly never buy a wheel like that on my own.
Accumulator
Well-known member
IME it *is* possible to keep compromised-finish wheels OK, or at least I can keep them from getting worse (even despite continued winter/salty use), but it`s a bit of work.
Desertnate
Active member
What is your secret? From what I`ve experienced, it appears that once there is a compromise in the clearcoat, moisture seems to get between the clear and the metal surface causing it to bubble and spread.
Accumulator
Well-known member
I guess it`s just my, uhm...Autopian nature
Seiously, all I do is polish them up as best I can and then keep `em (*very*) well-LSPed with FK1000P. This is my wife`s A8, which, yeah..has some curb-rash. They`re far from perfect, but they do stay OK enough that I`m not tempted to have them redone/replaced. There`s some similar damage to the Tahoe`s winter wheels (take-offs from my old Yukon XLD, which I fitted with new ones) and those stay about the same (well, close enough for winter use) with just very frequent cleanings. That`s "very frequent" as in "if they get salty I do something quick/easy just to get the worst of it off. And yeah, that`s still a big PIA.