Wheel refurb - "heat damage"

[Marcus-RS4]

Hi Guys, I had my wheels refurbished by a dealer back in November (I wont name them yet as I am still in discussions).

Things started to go wrong when the coating started to literally flake off the wheel, leaving the original paint behind, obviously this wasnt acceptable and they very kindly agreed to rectify the situation.

Now, after only a matter of 2 months after the rectification this is what they look like:







Having gone back to them (again) as clearly I am not happy with the workmanship, they have consulted the contractor and..

In his professional opinion the lacquer has lifted through heat damage and therefore, would not be covered under the 6 month guarantee

I have obviously asked for clarification on "heat damage" as the picture you see isnt from a front wheel, which I could almost accept but this is on the rear wheel!

What are your thoughts gents?

[paulslacey]

Looks like an 'On-Site' re-furb a crafty, charge you the full price and Dents Away does a quick fill and blow over. Insist that the wheel is returned to Pristine Wheels for a decent job with a strip powder coat.

[crispy]

Looks like a poor quality repair to me. The new paint hasn't adhered to the base properly.

I'm no paint expert, but I would have thought heat would have helped bake the paint on. Anyway, I think this is a red herring - comes down to the repair not being fit for purpose imho

[drcarrera]

Poor excuse! No way should heat cause this. And even if it did, that simply means the dealer got the wheels refurbed to a standard that isn't suitable for the car.
Don't know how much you paid for the original refurb, but they'll have to do it again - and properly this time!

[P_G]

If they are referring to heat damage then surely that is the heat generated by the discs which means the paint / lacquer they are using is not up to specification to withstand temperature ranges associated with the RS4's braking system? Like said it looks like either the lacquer or the paint is not bonding properly to the alloy or primer so either it is poor quality workmanship or poor quality paint and / or lacquer.

That's not your fault, that is their fault. I have had my wheels properly refurbished and never have I had the paint do that.

The wheel refurbishment company I use have said that the layer of paint and lacquer in those areas of the alloy do have to be thin because of the design and evenly coating that section without over spraying is a PITA.

The effect though is very similar to what I have on my front bumper where the lacquer has lifted off quite literarly for a third time and my car is booked in again next week to have the whole bumper repsrayed and they are sending paint samples back to the paint manufacturer to analyse why it is happening. If they are claiming heat damage the least they should be doing is this.

[otterolly]

I had exactly the same thing on a 2007 RS4 that I bought privately, took them to my local dealers as car still in warranty they basically told me to fcuk off and would do nothing about them !! The prep of the wheel before the refinishing has not been carried out correctly and they will just get worse.............not good

[P_G]

The only other time I have seen damage like that is if WD-40 has been spilt on an alloy. This happened to me when my locking wheel nut seized and a garage used WD-40 on it to loosen it, the bolt hole like on your picture lost all of its lacquer.

[Marcus-RS4]

Thanks guys, useful to know! Its crazy how you start to question yourself - "was it something I did?", I am certain not!

I have asked for a clarification on "heat damage" and got..

In general terms heat damage may arise through a number of different causes, this can be attributed to anyone of the following:-
• Application of chemical cleaning agents other than normal car shampoo.
• High pressure washing of the alloy wheels.
• High exposure of heat transmitting through the alloy wheels from the brake discs, normally associated with track day events where brakes can heat up beyond normal road conditions.

I am not sure how the first two even relate to heat?? Anyway, I havent used anything harsher than probably one of the most expensive wash products (CG wash and gloss). I am not a novice cleaner, I take great pride in the condition of my car and select products that are proven to not damaging to paint and plastics, to great expense!

As for the last point, it hasnt been on track (you can see from the tires, they still have the nobbles on and the rears cant surely create that much heat even if I was doing vmax's all day long?? (obviously, I havent)

Trouble is, how can I prove this? I cant... should I have to? Should it be them proving that I have been on a track / not cared for the wheels sufficiently?

Marcus

[gmk666]

They're clutching at straws now, aren't they? Can't wait for the next excuses.
Heat damage may also arise from:

Centrifugal forces acting upon the wheel when rotating
Depletion of the ozone layer
Dog urine with unusually high levels of chlorine
Death ray laser beams from passing UFOs

Good luck mate.

[P_G]

I'm sorry but high pressure washing of alloy wheels shouldn't even inflict that sort of damage. If you were pressure washing your car along with the wheels then surely yur body work would be suffering the same?

Cleaning products fair enough but even leaving on wonder wheels etc for hours won't do that, it will make it matt in finish.

a dn as for track days, heavy uaseg of brakes on the roads would cause the same effect and if you were tracking, the effects wouold not only be shown on your tyres but the brake discs.

The long and the short of it is that unless they took the wheel back to alloy and rebuilt the whole thing, primered it, painted, lacquered and baked it this is the only way a refurb should be done. Sanding it down, spray painting it and drying it with a heat lamp and applying lacquer in the same way is never going to have the same finish which is painfully obvious in your circumstances.