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diamond cut wheel corrosion

mattyh3

New member
Location
cleethorpes (UK)
i know this is an issue with diamond cut wheels as i had it with my last car at 2 years old corrosion under the lacquer and they replaced the full set.
does anyone know if vw offer this as one had started or will do it otherwise might just end up getting the re-sprayed minus the diamond cut
 

ROBK75

Ready to race!
Location
Liverpool
i know this is an issue with diamond cut wheels as i had it with my last car at 2 years old corrosion under the lacquer and they replaced the full set.
does anyone know if vw offer this as one had started or will do it otherwise might just end up getting the re-sprayed minus the diamond cut

That's what I did, got fed up of spending a fortune on diamond cut refurbishment every time they got scuffed so had them painted, been through a few different colours but currently got them in VW Carbon Steel Metallic Grey.
 

mattyh3

New member
Location
cleethorpes (UK)
yeah i might end up getting mine done a gloss black like my last, looked really nice.
i live on the coast so get a lot of sea salt and its winter now so got all the road salt etc to contend with aswell.
 

Sootchucker

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Cheshire, UK
Car(s)
MK7.5 GTI (2018)
Is this a UK thing?

Not sure its UK per-Se, but the standard of our roads is quite poor and therefore does throw up quite a few stones and other debris. Couple that with our brilliant cold wet climate then any damage to the diamond cut outer lacquer, means water can get below and starts the white work corrosion.

In the UK, is usually not a matter of if the wheel will start to show signs of corrosion, but when.
 

Twincam.222

New member
Location
Ireland
A lot of the time people confuse metal corrosion and lacquer white worm....

Most of the time white diamond cut alloys it's just the lacquer which is starting to react and the aluminium alloy is still perfect!! I just refurbished mine and what I did was:

Remove all lacquer from cut face with 180 rotary bit sand paper.
Sanded with wet and dry 1200 and then moving to 1500.
Metal polish with autosol.
Wash clean and relacquer.

They came out perfect, took about 5 hours per wheel but that's cause I'm picky!!

The only down side is you end up without the diamond cut lines like a cd disc but you'll only notice there gone after sanding if you look really close....pay a bomb to get someone to do it or else spend time yourself and cost ya 20 or 30 Euro!!
 

StevoM81

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Northern Ireland
Car(s)
MK8 GTI
i know this is an issue with diamond cut wheels as i had it with my last car at 2 years old corrosion under the lacquer and they replaced the full set.
does anyone know if vw offer this as one had started or will do it otherwise might just end up getting the re-sprayed minus the diamond cut

I just got mine sprayed one colour as diamond cut wheels in the uk are a nightmare. I got mine done Audi Grey and to be honest it changes the whole look of the car IMO.

 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
I had a 1991 Mazda with alloy wheels that had no lacquer coatings, and I needed to polish them all of the time. Guess I should have had them sprayed with clear, but I'm not sure they did that almost 20 years ago..
 

mattyh3

New member
Location
cleethorpes (UK)
I just got mine sprayed one colour as diamond cut wheels in the uk are a nightmare. I got mine done Audi Grey and to be honest it changes the whole look of the car IMO.


they look good, mine only just started to spider on two wheels at min but i like the colour i had my old car done in high polished black.
it's off in soon for a full paint decontamination to take it back to more less day one paint finish and wheel getting coated aswell keep of the dirt/brake dust from sticking so much
 

soooty

New member
Location
Telford
I actually repaired some damage to my diamond cut alloys this weekend so thought I'd share the result. I've used this process many times.
Never pay to get refurbed as your always getting ripped off- they try to make you believe its hard work and expensive. Theres noting special about this anyone can do this themselves at home and save hundreds! In fact they are easier than a painted alloy.

My pics show the repair after some really bad curbing. no before pics sorry as I didn't know I'd be writing about this. This was the process i used:

I started with a metal file to reshape the outer contour down to the depth of the curbing damage. Not the whole rim. Just 3-4inch where there was damage. 2. various grades of wet and dry paper from 40grit down to 1500grit. Then Autosol metal polish. And finally Autosol protective oil. (You could get clear coat etching paint to finish but that really means painting the whole wheel or messing about trying to blending lacquer- the whole point of my way instead is that there is no painting or skill involved).

You can see from the close up pic where the repaired and polished part of the alloy is actually shinier than the rest of the wheel which will be clear coated. You would have to look closely to spot this this. If your trading in your car the dingbats at the garage would never spot it and so can't find an excuse to knock you down on price. Especially if you had a couple days dust built up on them.

Notes: every wash take care to routinely re-apply Autosol- especially in the winter when we have salt on the roads. If you do this you WON'T get any corrosion- and if you do its only a matter of spotting the surface corrosion and sanding down a bit and polishing again.
 

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