clear coat damage on wheel??

R

ReaperHWK

New member
Hi all,



I have a 2006 f150 FX4, it has 20" aluminum wheels that are clear coated. I noticed these "marks" on the lip of my wheel the other day, all four of them have these marks. I took a picture of the worst one.







I'm the original owner, and the wheel weights have never been moved, some ppl suggested it was from improper removal of wheel weights. The only thing I can think of is that I've been using wesley's bleech white, however I'm always careful just to spray on the tire then I hose all that stuff off then wash the wheels with soap and water. But who knows something could have happened.



My question is, how do I "fix" this. I was thinking about polishing or sanding off that small portion of the stain, then spraying clear coat on top of it? Is this the right way to fix it? I don't want to fix the entire wheel for the small area of damage.



Thanks!
 
ReaperHWK said:
.. I noticed these "marks" on the lip of my wheel the other day, all four of them have these marks. ..I'm the original owner, and the wheel weights have never been moved, some ppl suggested it was from improper removal of wheel weights...
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Welcome to Autopia!



Those really do look like weight artifacts. Perhaps something was done prior to delivery, I've had that happen before. Dealers swap wheels/etc. from vehicle to vehicle and do other stuff that you'd never imagine. Even "new wheels" are often "take-offs" or otherwise, uhm...experienced.. and hence imperfect.



Tiny breaches in the clear expose bare aluminum, which reacts to cleaners/etc. and results in what the pic shows.



Sanding and spraying would not, IMO work out as well as you'd like, but perhaps a little touchup clear, applied with a small brush, could be beneficial to keep corrosion at bay.



A good paintshop should be able to make the marks better and a wheel restoration shop could make 'em perfect if you wanted to go through it. Otherwise I'd just touch up the worst spots, then polish the areas lightly and live with it.
 
I think you are right, clear coat definately has a problem. Since the truck is still under the bumper-bumper warranty, I'm going to head to the dealer tomorrow and tell them my clearcoat is coming off of my wheel, see what they say. I know if I came in and said the clear coat on my hood was starting to come off they would fix it, I don't see the difference between that and a wheel.................



If they give me problems I'll write a letter to whoever is in charge, then try and touch up the wheel.
 
ReaperHWK- Sounds like a good plan :xyxthumbs Let us know how things work out. Dealerships can do all sorts of things if they really *want* to ;) OTOH they can blow ya off too, so good luck!
 
Good plan to start with the Dealer. Have you ever heard the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"? When dealing with a dealer just be the squeaky wheel...if they dont respond to your liking get louder. Usually works for me.
 
Thats salt damage..any clear coated aluminum rim will get that. On my new car I got a different set of rims for winter and i dont even have a single spec of that corrosion. No way unfortunately to fix it unless you sand it right down to bare aluminum and re-clearcoat it. Trust me, i tried everything.
 
Downgear said:
Thats salt damage..any clear coated aluminum rim will get that..
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But they shouldn't get that damage if the clearcoat is intact. I have some mighty old clearcoated aluminum wheels that don't have any damage like that even though they get used in the winter/salt. My rims that *do* have such damage only have it where the clear was cut through so that the salt could directly contact the bare aluminum.
 
Accumulator said:
But they shouldn't get that damage if the clearcoat is intact. I have some mighty old clearcoated aluminum wheels that don't have any damage like that even though they get used in the winter/salt. My rims that *do* have such damage only have it where the clear was cut through so that the salt could directly contact the bare aluminum.
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I only have experience with honda methods for clearcoating "polished" aluminum rims. Aluminum rims that are painted are a whole different story. But that polished aluminum lip shown above looks like salt damage. I have seen countless brand new, aluminum rims go into salt and the mystery spots start appearing out of no where.



Here is the type of rim that salt loves to eat most - bare polished aluminum with a clear coat:

330162_81_full.jpg
 
Downgear- Huh...OK, I'm not about to argue with somebody's first-hand experience :D



But I've never had that happen on my polished/cleared aluminum wheels except where the clear got penetrated so it never occurred to me :nixweiss



My latest examples are: my '00 Beater-Blazer, the only damage was from where the weights had bitten through the clearcoat, my '04 Denali XL's polished/cleared wheels (same thing), the polished/cleared wheels on my wife's A8 (same story plus some spots where she's curbed them, and the '04 RX-7's polished/cleared wheels (a few tiny spots where, I suspect, acidic wheel cleaner attacked the aluminum through tiny chips in the clear).
 
UPDATE: I rubbed the marks with my fingernail, chunks of lcear started flaking off.



Went to the dealer, they looked at it(it's on all four wheels the peeling) and took pictures. They told me they have to send the pictures in to Ford and they will tell me what they say within 1 hour. So I'm waiting. I asked them if the dealer can make the decision to replace my wheels he said no, it has to come from Ford to do that for paint/wheel issues. So we'll see.



Seems like the guys at the dealer were agreeing with me that it was a problem, they looked for any signs of abuse(curb rash, chemical corrosion) couldn't find any. If Ford decided to not replace them or fix them I'm going to call them and write a letter, and do the BBB thing. Also I'll go to another dealer just to see whats up. If all else fails I'll send the wheels in to be stripped and re-cleared, I think it's around $150 a wheel.



Hopefully though Ford will replace it, wheels shouldn't have clear coat flaking off after only 2 years, and I take care of my wheels by washing them atelast once a week with soap and water. The rest of my wheel is imacculate.
 
I had the same problem with my truck...after the wheel weights were removed for new tires I seen these areas like your....I had the wieights put on the back this time..



any ways I cleaned the corrision area with a dremel tool ...then wet sanded the area with 3000 grit paper ..polished it with a dremel and felt bobbin and the rouge they have with it...wipe it down whit prep sol...and resprayed the area with some Wurths wheel clear ..came out nice..only can be noticed if your right on top of it...but you need to get all the oxidation off or it creeps into the clear on the wheel face and starts to lift it...



AL
 
Reaper.. I am having the same problem with my wife's 2007 Edge. Her's are the "chrome clad" wheels. The clear coat is chipping and the aluminum is staining right at the edge of the rim. :grrr



I noticed it the other day when I was washign it at the firehouse. It is at the dealership right now getting that evaluated and the sunroof switch replaced under warranty.



I went on a Ford Edge forum and found that I am not the only person having this problem. :hairpull
 
DaGonz said:
Reaper.. I am having the same problem with my wife's 2007 Edge. Her's are the "chrome clad" wheels. The clear coat is chipping and the aluminaum is taining right at the edge of the rim...
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Wonder if it's from some kind of abrasion when the tires are mounted :think:



When Chuck Mallett mounted my 'vette's tires on the HRE rims, he used plastic tools to seat the bead and he spent forever doing it because he was being so gentle. I've *never* seen anybody else do this.



AL-53 said:
..I had the same problem with my truck...[I prepped and then].. resprayed the area with some Wurths wheel clear ..came out nice..
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Glad to hear the Wurth paint worked out so well. I'm always recommending that stuff for people who want to try the spraycan route.



ReaperHWK said:
...I asked them if the dealer can make the decision to replace my wheels he said no, it has to come from Ford to do that for paint/wheel issues. So we'll see.
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Well, I'm almost glad to hear the clear is flaking off because now you have an obvious, verifiable problem.



But they're BSing you about the "dealer can't" stuff. The dealer can swallow any expense he wants to if he doesn't mind it coming out of his bottom line (I've had dealerships give up *big* bucks to keep me as a customer, and I've also had other dealerships blow off my patronage to save a few bucks). It's all a question of how badly they want to keep you happy ;)
 
Well... you can't keep a wheel perfect forever, though it'd sure be nice.



It appears to me I see an obvious impact mark on the painted gray area about 1/2-inch above and to the right? Looks like a rock or something hard gouged it.



I'd say something hit your wheel and knocked it in one or two places on impact, and corrosion has set-in on your lip as that's where water would tend to collect.



I'd keep it waxed and live with it.
 
dealer said the same thing, that it got chipped and that it's not a "defect" from the factory. I'm not going to pursue it so I decided to try and fix it myself. This is the same spot int he first post "fixed" by my amateur work.







It's not done yet tomorrow when it dries totally I'm going to polish all the clear smooth, it's pretty thick now.....



I just wetsanded the clear off, smoothing it out with rubbing compound, then spraying over a coat of clear. I think I'm screwed trying to make it "match" because when I polish it down the aluminum gets really shiney, can't make it match.



So this is the best it gets. Not sure if it's actually better than it was before, lol. Oh well, I think I'm going to just clear over the other spots to make sure it doesn't get worse, and when it does I'll jsut have to get them all refinished or get new wheels. I don't want to polish down all the spots because I'll have this real shiney areas of the lip. I was thinking I can polish the ENTIRE lip of the wheel, but that would be hard work.......... :faint:



Anyone have a suggestion how to make it match better without polishing the whole lip all the way around???
 
ReaperHWK said:
Anyone have a suggestion how to make it match better without polishing the whole lip all the way around???
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IMO nothing will turn out *perfect*, including many pro refinishing jobs. I'd get some very small artist's brushes (which I use for touchups) and apply the clear to the damaged areas with those. I figure that the least amount of work you do on the areas the less likely it'll be to show.
 
Accumulator said:
IMO nothing will turn out *perfect*, including many pro refinishing jobs. I'd get some very small artist's brushes (which I use for touchups) and apply the clear to the damaged areas with those. I figure that the least amount of work you do on the areas the less likely it'll be to show.
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Thanks my thoughts exactly, thanks for all your help on this topic appreciate it.



:2thumbs:
 
If these weights were installed at the factory, it sounds like it's a warranty problem? But, I see the dealer throwing a curve ball and denying this if you haven't followed your normal factory suggested maintenance regiment of rotating & balancing. They could say because you were deliquent with your mainenance, the weights were left on too long and caused the clear on the wheel to deteriorate/fail prematurely. If you push hard enough and the rest of your truck appears to be kept perfect, you could get it covered by the regional rep. I've met several of these people and they tend to favor the customer if you complain loud enough and have a leg to stand on.



Other than this, I seriously doubt this is a DIY job. You could *maybe* make it better, but ultimately the repair will fail. You can send these wheel out to be reconditioned and the cost is usually $120 per wheel and takes 24-48 hrs to have them done.
 
David Fermani said:
... If you push hard enough and the rest of your truck appears to be kept perfect, you could get it covered by the regional rep. I've met several of these people and they tend to favor the customer if you complain loud enough and have a leg to stand on..
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Sounds like ReaperHWK's dealer would run the risk of alienating him over swapping out a set of wheels...pretty short-term thinking IMO :think: Maybe a regional rep would see it differently, maybe not.



IME you just never know...I've had regional reps and dealers who simply blew me off, "nope, we won't cover that..do whatever you want, I don't care", even though they lost all my future business over peanuts. I've had other reps offer to repaint entire vehicles and other dealers who ate *huge* amounts of money to keep me happy, and yep, they made that money back many times over. Individuals are, well, different.
 
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