Alloy wheel discolouration

[Peter S]

I have a 15 month old C class 220 Estate Elegance with standard alloy wheels.

The local dealer has already replaced the bolts as they were corroding but now tell me that the corrosion under the laquer on the plastic centre cap and the discolouration (a kind of greyish haze) on the alloys is due to using harsh wheel cleaner.

I have only used a normal car shampoo on all parts of the car and the only other people to wash the car is the dealer themselves - the car was with them quite often for a rattle and they did wash it a quite a few times.

I used wonder wheels several times on my previous 250 cd but never had a problem - as I say above the present car has only had normal shampoo used on it.

Has anybody else had this problem and what was the outcome?

Many thanks for any help.

 

[mercman_1]

Rubbish Wheels

Yes our 51 W203 has the same problem if not worse the Alloys are all bubbling up under the paint, mercedes dealer "NOT INTERESTED",apparently not covered by the paint warranty !.
Bob.T.

 

[television]

My SL wheels were bad after 30k, where as My volvo at 67k with highly polished wheels are like new. Even the wheelbolts are dull and rusty, the Volvo chrome ones are perfect. MB did not want to know.

My sister inlaw took her Toyota in for a normal service when 3 years old. when she picked it up it had 4 new wheels, Toyota said that the corroded wheels gave them a bad imige, and they were free of charge.

Malcolm

 

[Stulc]

Once again.........why is other manufacturer's can do it and MB cant/wont..........what's their problem!?!?......apart from their greed of money!!

 

[davebox]

Once again.........why is other manufacturer's can do it and MB cant/wont..........what's their problem!?!?......apart from their greed of money!!

I think that sometimes we as a nation are not firm enough!
Just be firm but polite and I'm sure that problems can be resolved. If we can find out how many people have problems with wheels/nut's/stud's corroding than maybe I or someone else that is willing can write to Mercedes UK and some of the auto mags/press re the issues raised?

 

[jberks]

All,
I've said this before, but try polishing them. I used wonder wheels on the last car until I noticed them going duller and duller. Eventually they were completely cloudy and dull. After a bit of thought, I twigged that they are just laquered, painted metal like anything else, so treated it the same way I would a body panel. (How would the bonnet respond to be regularly cleaned with acid?). Gentle clean up with Tcut and then a good coat of polish. Took a bit of effort but they came up like new.
I've since bought some proper wheel wax and re-apply every few months. Remember, wheels get corrosive cleaner, corrosive brake dust, kerbed, blasted with road grime and salt etc. Hardly surprising they suffer a bit.

I accept that perhaps they should be more resilient, but they aren't so what you gonna do!

 

[davebox]

I accept that perhaps they should be more resilient, but they aren't so what you gonna do!

Errr Uhhh, Clean um sir? :wink: