Corrosion on Alloy Wheels - How do we treat it?

[Frelon]

Hi all forum readers

I have a two year old Golf Plus with alloy wheels and despite cleaning them regularly I find one or two spots of corrosion, about 5mm in diameter, which if left untreated will get worse:1zhelp:.

Are there any forumites out there who have experience of removing/treating these small corrosion areas?

Thanks in advance.

[zf44]

No need to repair them, they should be replaced under warranty. I have a Golf Plus with the 16" Imola alloys which are prone to corrosion. The dealer replaced them all under warranty without any questions asked.

[maisbitt]

Depends upon the dealer - try another if you get no luck. I had imola's on my old GT and they were corroding, with the corrosion propagating from under the lip of the tyre. Silverlink VW said that I must have had a stone chip. I asked how I could get a stone chip from inside the tyre - you could clearly see the directionality of the source of the corrosion. The warranty manager couldn't back up his claims - there were no stone chips on the lacquer, nor had there been any scratches or scrapes on the alloy. He basically bottled putting in a claim under warranty, in case they didn't get reimbursed by VW - he was a total plank. I showed him that all the used GT's in the dealership also had similar corrosion patterns. I asked him if they thought all those previos drivers had been careless also and got stonechips penetrating the lacquer.

Went to a different dealership group 9 miles away and he replaced them straight away as it is a common problem on the imolas (also corrosion on the foil detailing of the plastic wheelnut cap in the centre of the wheel - he replaced those too).

[Frelon]

Well after much toing and froing with my dealer (in France) I have a new set of wheels!!

When I first complained to the dealer in January (two months after the end of the warranty) they took some pictures and sent them to VW France. I then had a meeting with the rep from VW France who took some more pictures. A couple of weeks the dealer came back and said they would change them (and the centre caps) with VW picking up half of the tab and the local dealer paying the other half.

So that was a result then! And do not believe all you read about dealers and their lack of after sales service!! Get a good dealer and build a relationship with them - even if it is only getting the service done once a year!