Rim Corrosion Help!

[carlyr34gtauto]

hey guys,

so im having a massive drama with my koya Endless machine faced rims i got a few years ago, literally just after the warranty ran out i found that...... after storing them for about 6 months they formed little off white squiggly lines all over the polished alloy parts of the rims. I have spoken to a rim doctor and they explained that the clear coat has eroded. basically there is no way of fixing it short of getting it painted a different colour... which sucks after paying $350 each! FYI NEVER buy koya rims people!!!!!!!!!!!! I also spoke to a mechanic and he thought using auto sol (aluminium polish) would do the trick, didnt even make a difference although he was pretty certain it would work! im not sure if its because its polished.... so if any of use have any idea what i could try before getting them painted a boring colour... i would much appreciate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited July 1, 2011 by carlyr34gtauto

[Craved]

rim docter was right that its corrosion under the clear coat.

you could try and find a place that can machine off the clearcoat, then you'll need to keep polishing the bare alloy after that point.

if you are keen, you could mask up the rim centres and use a paint stripper to remove the clear yourself then polish it.

[carlyr34gtauto]

oh really, after stripping off the clear coat could i then get someone to re spray a new layer of clear coat? I still cant believe i even have to do this, there was no reason for it to do it in the first place.... waist of some nice looking rims i say! a mate of mine has had the same issue with his, but it was ALL over his rims that had been sitting doing nothing for a few years i think. he actually tried a few different strengths of sand paper, it did the trick, but i would be worried that it would look a little funny in the end, doesnt have that nice finish on it. I live in Townsville, they dont seem to have any sand blasting machines, at one stage i was thinking of getting them chrome dipped, but no surprise again no one here does that.... what would be a good paint stripper to use?

[Victory]

There is a rim repair shop in my area that uses a diamond tip in a lathe to remove the clear coat back to a perfect metal finish. They then spray it again in clear coat to seal it and it comes up like new.

The issue is that the clear coat receives very small stone chips when you use the rims and then water etc gets in under the clear coat to produce the affect that your rims have. This is normal for a clear coated rim and this sort of repair/maintenance should be factored in to every 2 or 3 years if you use the rims on a regular basis.

[conan7772]

I had the same problem with my Stern rims.

I used normal paint stripper - 3 coats then rubbed it off with steel wool.

Took me days and I still couldn't get right in to the corners.

Then I polished them to almost mirror with Autosol metal polish.

However, every time they got wet, they had spots/ corrosion again on the bare alloy.

To get them back to a fully restored condition means pulling the rims off the spokes, send them off for machining and recoating, then put them back together, fit tyres and balance.

I had this option priced for mine and it was over $1200 for all four which included respray of spokes too.

My advise : Sell them

If you're still lookin at affordable rims : go some full coloured Rotas.

[carlyr34gtauto]

thanks charles and alex, very handy information! but yer i think it sounds like a little to much work! for $400 i can get the polished alloy parts any colour i want, im thinking black or a normal alloy colour, gonna photoshop a few ideas to see what it would look like. it is a shame though that anyone would even have to think about any of this stuff.... really they shouldnt do it to begin with after spending a heap of money on them.... guess i know for next time, just a warning to anyone buying polished alloy rims........ DONT! haha

[conan7772]

Don't forget if you paint your rims with normal 2 pac or enamel, they'll still chip quite easily from stones.

Go silver or alloy colour so the chips won't stand out.

Powdercoat is the go, but the spokes will have to come off.

[carlyr34gtauto]

thanks for the advice, the chrome inserts come off, so i will be taking off all the nuts as well. you make a good point thought about the black chipping away, do you think if enough clear coat was applied it would happen less, because i am thinking the black would look so mean on my dark purple/blue r34.... what do use think of my photoshopped idea with my rims painted black with the chrome inserts? not sure what basic alloy would look like...

[carlyr34gtauto]

ive decided the best way to keep the rims but have them look good is to get them power coated, pretty cheap for $88 each rim! im now just hoping that the place have metalic power coating colours so i can get an awesome purple colour :-)

[Ghostrider]

There is an alternative IF?

If the little bolts around your wheels actually do something, that is hold the centres to the rims, or are they just decoration??

If the wheels come apart, like Victory said, a good wheel man/place will strip the rims, re polish & re lacquer and after reassembly, they will look like new, but it will be at a cost. There must be someone up your neck of the woods that can do this for you.

Hope everything works out for you.

Cheers, D

[adamskill]

hey guys,

so im having a massive drama with my koya Endless machine faced rims i got a few years ago, literally just after the warranty ran out i found that...... after storing them for about 6 months they formed little off white squiggly lines all over the polished alloy parts of the rims. I have spoken to a rim doctor and they explained that the clear coat has eroded. basically there is no way of fixing it short of getting it painted a different colour... which sucks after paying $350 each! FYI NEVER buy koya rims people!!!!!!!!!!!! I also spoke to a mechanic and he thought using auto sol (aluminium polish) would do the trick, didnt even make a difference although he was pretty certain it would work! im not sure if its because its polished.... so if any of use have any idea what i could try before getting them painted a boring colour... i would much appreciate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

are you implying that $350 per rim is expensive???? that is DIRT and i mean DIRT CHEAP!

[boiracer]

the other alternative is just rub the clear off with realy find sand papers. the finer you go the better the alloy will shine.

then polish them with solvol. Solvol will do nothing to a clear coated metal...other than grind the clear coat dirty.

Ive had/have 3 different cars where ive polished the wheels from a terrible corroded mess to bling (within reason) by hand, just a quick rub and polish with solvol occasionally and they will stay shiny ...it's alot of elbow grease but alot better than forking out for new wheels.

lol...old post....