Alloy Wheel Corrosion

[olliesgrandad]

I recently noticed that all 4 of my wheels had signs of corrosion (lacquer bubbling) around the centre caps . When the car was serviced in Cheltenham last week they photographed the damage and presented a case to Lexus for rectification. Today I was informed that Lexus UK decided that as I only bought the car in June that the supplying dealer (Derby) should have rectified the wheels before sale. I spoke Lexus UK myself and they confirmed that the wheels should have been sorted before sale and that the issue should be directed to the retail. They transferred my call to Derby who are going to decide on a course of action. I wonder if anyone else here has an issue with wheels on such a new car. 

[Guest]

I had my wheels replaced under warranty due to corrosion, but they are not covered under extended warranty.

The maximum cost of restoring an alloy wheel back to factory fresh (Even machine faced) would be around 100 per wheel so it's not a huge cost.



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[olliesgrandad]

I think that the issue is the car wasn't properly prepared for sale and you don't expect a car 3 months out of warranty to have wheel corrosion (especially one that cost £50k new). Lets face it my wife's £12k fiat 500 has perfect alloys. 

The other crazy thing is that if I'd spent less on a Toyota it would still be under warranty for another 18 months. Oh Cheltenham Lexus reckon £120  corner plus vat to refurbish properly... 

[Shahpor]

If you see my thread about my new GS, you will see that I have a similar problem.  Mine isn't corrosion but a very bad 'refurb' done by the dealer that is now peeling off.  I had the car 6 days before I noticed and it is going back to the dealer next Wednesday to see what they can do about it.

The problem isn't just that it was badly prepared; my thinking is that the proper way to do it now is to strip the wheel back to bare metal, fill the holes and then re-spray.  However, I think the dealer might just try spraying over the current finish, which means that somewhere down the line it will probably start flaking again and at that point the dealer would worm their way of our fixing it.

So, I am curious to know how they are going to deal with your wheels.  Is yours book to go back then?

Thanks.

[Guest]

I think that the issue is the car wasn't properly prepared for sale and you don't expect a car 3 months out of warranty to have wheel corrosion (especially one that cost £50k new). Lets face it my wife's £12k fiat 500 has perfect alloys. 

The other crazy thing is that if I'd spent less on a Toyota it would still be under warranty for another 18 months. Oh Cheltenham Lexus reckon £120  corner plus vat to refurbish properly... 

I agree, I'm suggesting it's a cheap fix and they should get on with it without quibble and without their mark up to 120 plus vat. :) fix It for you for free. I have a wheel specialist near me and I've spoke to them this week about repainting/restorations etc hence getting a price out of interest.

 

 

 

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[rayaans]

The third generation Rx wheels shouldn't corrode. I had mine for 5 years with no bubbles anywhere - original f sport wheels no refurbs and it did pick up a little nick on 1 wheel due to kerb

I'd imagine they've been refurbed in the past. 

£120 +vat is a joke. My dealer charges £80+vat on 19+ wheels. £60+ vat on 18 and below. They're not even diamond cut

[Bob99]

My car was fitted with the nishokku wheels when I bought it, a £3000 option when new. These suffered corrosion after two years and lexus replaced the wheels under warranty. Two years later they were corroding again, this time they were refurbished by lexus as they said they couldn't get hold of any new wheels. They could only put a normal finish on them not the original which was a shame as that was quite a good finish. An independent would probably have done any finish requested. It seems the quality of Lexus wheels doesn't quite match the rest of their cars

[olliesgrandad]

36 minutes ago, rayaans said:

The third generation Rx wheels shouldn't corrode. I had mine for 5 years with no bubbles anywhere - original f sport wheels no refurbs and it did pick up a little nick on 1 wheel due to kerb

I'd imagine they've been refurbed in the past. 

£120 +vat is a joke. My dealer charges £80+vat on 19+ wheels. £60+ vat on 18 and below. They're not even diamond cut

My wheels are diamond cut and I am pretty certain haven't been refurbished. The corrosion is isolated to bubbling around the centre caps and appears to be emanating from the wheel hub rather than externally. Was suggested wheels may have been damaged when new tyres fitted and wheels balanced. This theory is unlikely though as the rear tyres are the original Japanese Dunlops. 

I'm waiting to hear back from Derby. They asked me for pictures but I referred them to the case number at Lexus UK who have pictures already supplied by Cheltenham. 

[rayaans]

1 minute ago, olliesgrandad said:

My wheels are diamond cut and I am pretty certain haven't been refurbished. The corrosion is isolated to bubbling around the centre caps and appears to be emanating from the wheel hub rather than externally. Was suggested wheels may have been damaged when new tyres fitted and wheels balanced. This theory is unlikely though as the rear tyres are the original Japanese Dunlops. 

I'm waiting to hear back from Derby. They asked me for pictures but I referred them to the case number at Lexus UK who have pictures already supplied by Cheltenham. 

Ohhhh yes my mistake. Yours are the newer advance wheels aren't they? 

Yes they're diamond cut. Unfortunately corrosion and diamond cut go hand in hand. No manufacturer can solve that problem. The finish just isn't made for the UK.

25 minutes ago, Bob99 said:

My car was fitted with the nishokku wheels when I bought it, a £3000 option when new. These suffered corrosion after two years and lexus replaced the wheels under warranty. Two years later they were corroding again, this time they were refurbished by lexus as they said they couldn't get hold of any new wheels. They could only put a normal finish on them not the original which was a shame as that was quite a good finish. An independent would probably have done any finish requested. It seems the quality of Lexus wheels doesn't quite match the rest of their cars

Were these not black chrome plated? I believe they do need special care as well. Again not a finish for the UK climate.

I'd disagree with quality of the wheel finish. All my Lexus vehicles since 2012 have had no wheel issues. The original IS F Sport, 3RX and 4RX finishes providing they aren't diamond cut are corrosion free

[olliesgrandad]

I've religiously avoided diamond cut wheels because of worrying about lacquer issues. Sadly every manufacturer seems currently to feel the need to fit them. The only other car I had them on was a 2012 fiat punto, but I bought it 9 months old with 1500 miles and sold it for an Alfa 9 months later with 20000 +miles on it. Very little depreciation too. No wheel issues either. 

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, olliesgrandad said:

The corrosion is isolated to bubbling around the centre caps and appears to be emanating from the wheel hub rather than externally. Was suggested wheels may have been damaged when new tyres fitted and wheels balanced.

Sounds to me more like wheel cleaning chemicals under the hub cap not rinsed out well enough. Strictly speaking should only use normal soap and water on machine faced alloys. I use a watered down solution of wheel cleaner, I buy it concentrated, water it down heavily 95% water and do one wheel at a time, not leaving it on for more than 1-2 minutes as I agitate it. 

A wheel specialist can refurb the machine face back to as new but you may want to do what @Big Rat did and have the wheels painted to remove that issue, later on that paint can easily be removed should you or the next owners wish to do that.

[Jaystar77]

I deal with spider corrosion on diamond cut alloys through work.

For anyone that doesn't know the effect is created by painting the rim black then putting it on a lathe and milling the outer surface with a diamond bit which gives you that cool grooved silver finish.  To save us all the maintenance required (imagine how much work is involved in polishing every week) the whole rim is then given a clear coat of lacquer to protect it.  This layer allows a more lenient cleaning process.

If for any reason the clear coat is compromised moisture can creep in below the lacquer and it gives a white, milky spidering effect which generally only gets worse the longer you leave it. Whilst external influences (impacts/environment/handling/lack of maintenance) can cause this, a poorly applied clear coat can also be at work (hence all the warranty claims). 

Remember that the wheels of a car get possibly the roughest time when you consider what they are subjected to.  In my own opinion I don't think these finishes are worth it.  A regular silver or gun metal painted coating will weather the same punishment for longer.  

Anyway, to remedy this sort of corrosion properly the alloy must first be stripped of it's lacquer layer and paint then the wheel surface machined again.  As this milling removes material it's worth noting that alloys should only be milled a certain amount before you weaken the overall structure of the rim.  

It's not surprising the manufacturer has put the onus on the retailer, vehicles should be put right before being sold, they should have allowed for the costs as part of the resale process.  I'd certainly expect the seller to have them refurbished for you.  Locally I'd be working with around £130 plus vat a wheel so your quote looks in the right ballpark for a proper job.

Good luck with getting it sorted 👍

[Jaystar77]

I've used these guys for refurbishment before, they have a very good explanation of the proper process for anyone interested:

https://www.nulukwheels.co.uk/the-process-2/

 

[Big Rat]

As @Comedianmentioned my philosophy was simply that preserving the machine face under the easily removed matt black paint I like the black but accept it’s a personal decision.

Im not convinced about machine faced wheels and lacquer in our climate and agree with @olliesgrandad observations on it.

But I do like the the look of the wheels as standard if...... I lived in Miami 

🐀

[Rabbers]

Lexus replaced my alloys under warranty, no questions asked, a few months from new on an IS200, because of discolouration due to incipient corrosion,

and on each of two IS250s (MYs 2008 and 2011), because of corrosion-related bubbling and flaking.   I had no such issues with the 18" rims on an IS300h

(MY2013) and the diamond-cuts on my 2013 RC are also still looking like new.   Regardless of whether or not they were to blame and despite claims of

harmlessness I stopped using specific wheel-cleaning products (I latterly favoured Meguiars Ultimate) after my experiences with the 250s, and have 

since used normal shampoo or sometimes just plain water over protective wax applied every three months or so.

[Passerby]

You might find some info on this site helpful

http://www.lepsons.com/

 

[Rabbers]

21 hours ago, Comedian said:

........

How do you tell someone your hot cakes are selling well? .............

I just saw this invitation to stray totally OT when re-reading the thread, and apologise for not ignoring it.   I believe the question, or something like it,  

is often addressed and earnestly discussed on advertising courses because, uniquely in the case of a product like cakes (and bread), the normally

conflicting concepts of "hotness" and "freshness" are actually synonymous, i.e. hot cakes are fresh cakes.  Therefore, the advice given to aspiring 

copywriters is to describe products as "oven-fresh"  rather than merely "hot", thus confirming to customers what they already know.

 

 

[olliesgrandad]

Well I eventually spoke to the supplying dealer today about my wheels. They confirmed that the wheels have never been repaired as they maintained the car from new . Lexus UK have apparently rejected the claim on the basis that the car was out of warranty. Warranty expired end of March and I bought it in June. 

I pointed out that if I'd bought a used Toyota Aygo for £12000 it would be covered and it is ridiculous that a car costing nearly £50000 with low miles less than 3.5 years old needs all the wheels repairing. 

The dealer is  going to go back to Lexus UK to find out the reasoning when other claims in the past have succeeded. 

I await the next installment... 

[GSLV6]

This does seem to be a long standing issue with Lexus.  I've lost count of the number of complaints I've read about Lexus wheels corroding due to poor coatings or similar. I had all four of my 2007 GS wheels re-furb'd due to extensive corrosion.  Three years ago that cost about £340 all in, so well worth the hassle but to see this on new-ish cars is disheartening.  Such finish and corrosion issues Lexus suffers from seems all too often to be swept under the carpet, and too many people seem to put Lexus on a pedestal about how great the finish and build quality is.  Truth is, unpalatable or not, that they are nothing special in some respects and bank on too much smoke and mirrors marketing about how good they are.  Sure, the paintwork is pretty decent, interiors also very good...thought to cable routing good, engines good but lack of attention to the underside protection and joke wheel finishes are not what you expect from a premium brand and it's things like this that would make me think twice about shelling out more than average money for one again.

[Rabbers]

On 1/14/2019 at 9:51 PM, olliesgrandad said:

Well I eventually spoke to the supplying dealer today about my wheels....  Lexus UK have apparently rejected the claim on the basis that the car was out of warranty.... etc. 

On 1/15/2019 at 1:01 AM, GSLV6 said:

This does seem to be a long standing issue with Lexus.  I've lost count of the number of complaints I've read about Lexus wheels corroding....   to see this on new-ish cars is disheartening..... etc.

 

Having experienced corrosion in at least one wheel of each of three of my first four Lexus'es, all pre-2011 and bought new, I can understand Paul's

thinking.  However, having seen no similar issues with a 2013 IS300h and a 2016 RC300h, I thought, wrongly to judge by Les' experience, that Lexus

had finally fixed what had become an embarrassingly serious quality problem.  Strange though it may sound, despite my irritation every time the

corrosion appeared, Lexus' unvarying promptness in honouring the warranty and replacing the alloys ultimately had the effect of strengthening my

loyalty to the marque.   Maybe I was lucky with the two dealerships involved - in fact I'm sure I was - but, measured in terms of courtesy and

decisiveness, Lexus' behaviour in warranty situations could not have been more favourable when compared to BMW, Audi and Lancia - which were

the houses with which I had most recently had dealings, usually with a lot of hassle over even the smallest issues.

 

That Lexus, with its reputation for quality and reliability, should offer a warranty of only three years is absurd, especially when every dealer I have

spoken to claims that the number of issues seen during the fourth and fifth years of a car's life is very rarely higher than during the first three.  

Lexus supposedly bases its three years on the fact that the majority of its customers outside the US (where I believe you get four) are corporate

and not private and therefore less worried about longer-term reliability.  Its main competitors, moreover, don't offer longer warranties, though

we can be sure that if any one of the big Germans were to break ranks and extend theirs, Lexus would quickly follow suit.  Conversely, the

majority of Toyota customers are private and not corporate and, for this reason - and despite the company's good reputation for reliability -

there must be growing pressure to bring the present five-year warranty closer to the seven or eight years offered by some Japanese competitors,

notably Honda, but most enticingly by the Koreans, who seem to be basing much of their promotional activity on it.

 

year warranty 

 

[Tom Fearon]

Anyone interested. I have just purchased a 2005 Rx300 in excellent condition apart from severe corrosion on all wheels.

     Managed to negotiate a good.rebate on the purchase price because of this. Had them refurbished at Birkenhead Powder coatings at a cost of £250 for the four. An excellent job and transforms the car . I took the to them at 8.30am and it was ready at 1630pm theext day.

[GSLV6]

16 hours ago, Rabbers said:

Having experienced corrosion in at least one wheel of each of three of my first four Lexus'es, all pre-2011 and bought new, I can understand Paul's

thinking.  However, having seen no similar issues with a 2013 IS300h and a 2016 RC300h, I thought, wrongly to judge by Les' experience, that Lexus

had finally fixed what had become an embarrassingly serious quality problem.  Strange though it may sound, despite my irritation every time the

corrosion appeared, Lexus' unvarying promptness in honouring the warranty and replacing the alloys ultimately had the effect of strengthening my

loyalty to the marque.   Maybe I was lucky with the two dealerships involved - in fact I'm sure I was - but, measured in terms of courtesy and

decisiveness, Lexus' behaviour in warranty situations could not have been more favourable when compared to BMW, Audi and Lancia - which were

the houses with which I had most recently had dealings, usually with a lot of hassle over even the smallest issues.

 

That Lexus, with its reputation for quality and reliability, should offer a warranty of only three years is absurd, especially when every dealer I have

spoken to claims that the number of issues seen during the fourth and fifth years of a car's life is very rarely higher than during the first three.  

Lexus supposedly bases its three years on the fact that the majority of its customers outside the US (where I believe you get four) are corporate

and not private and therefore less worried about longer-term reliability.  Its main competitors, moreover, don't offer longer warranties, though

we can be sure that if any one of the big Germans were to break ranks and extend theirs, Lexus would quickly follow suit.  Conversely, the

majority of Toyota customers are private and not corporate and, for this reason - and despite the company's good reputation for reliability -

there must be growing pressure to bring the present five-year warranty closer to the seven or eight years offered by some Japanese competitors,

notably Honda, but most enticingly by the Koreans, who seem to be basing much of their promotional activity on it.

 

year warranty 

 

That's interesting but i'm a little confused here...are you saying Renato, that Honda (UK) offer a 7 year warranty because I'm pretty sure that's not the case (except maybe for corrosion).  We have a 2016 Honda and it's just out of warranty which extends (like Lexus) to 3 years.  If you want to extend it you can.  We bought it used a few months ago and were given a one year extended warranty with it.

I can't think of any other manufacturer except perhaps Hyundai or Kia that offer much more than 3 years.  Merc are 3 years, BMW 3 years and most other luxury cars are the same, including Lexus.

[Rabbers]

3 hours ago, GSLV6 said:

....i'm a little confused here...

Paul:   Thanks for pointing out my mistake relative to the Honda warranty, for which I apologise.  I really don't recall where it came from, but 

suspect my superficial reading of an ad or review.  Please scrub the reference from my post ....   Fortunately, the Koreans were more important

to the gist.

 

 

[GSLV6]

No apology necessary!  It'd be great if it were true as we'd have a considerable life left in our warranty LoL!  Yes, Kia and Hyundai have won a lot of brownie points for offering such good warranties and for supplying cars kitted out with all the creature comforts as standard.  They're showing the way.  I think that a lot of this specification lark is driven by fleet markets where when you order your new company/pcp car, ticking the options list just allows loads more profit from the greed driven marketeers of the vehicles.  As Kia and Hyundai are not really part of the fleet scene, they've adopted a smart strategy with both car specifications and warranty to attract cash paying punters and good on them.  

[mikes5]

Had my iS250 2005 wheels refurbished, they were badly corroded and curbed.

To save cost removed wheels myself, Refurbished by A1 Bromley.  fanfastic results, like new, 17in wheels £180.