Rim corrosion

sbatzold · August 22, 2006

Cleaning the aluminum rims on my '05 silvy that has around 13,000 miles on it and noticed a small spot of corrosion under the clear coat. Are the rims covered in GM's warranty?

TEE · August 22, 2006

Cleaning the aluminum rims on my '05 silvy that has around 13,000 miles on it and noticed a small spot of corrosion under the clear coat. Are the rims covered in GM's warranty?

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They'll tell you it's NORMAL!

dancar81 · August 22, 2006

Cleaning the aluminum rims on my '05 silvy that has around 13,000 miles on it and noticed a small spot of corrosion under the clear coat. Are the rims covered in GM's warranty?

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I was at the dealer the other day and the service people were talking about someone who had a similar problem. He had aluminium chrome dipped wheels and they were starting to corrode as well. They said they would not do anything to fix...he could pay to replace the rims at $600/ea. That pretty much the only option they gave him. I know wouldn't be too happy about that.

95Sierra2500 · August 22, 2006

at that price, I can just have them stripped and re-chromed.

larry arizona · August 22, 2006

You can get them repaired relatively cheap Less that $100 per rim.

It is normal and usually occurs from a rock chip in the clear coat or behind the wheel weight because the wheel weight scrapes away the clear coat when the weight is hammered on.

pm26 · August 22, 2006

This is my favorite subject because I live in coastal Floraida and practically park on the beach at work. The air around the beach is loaded with salt and is very corrosive.

I had a set of polished clearcoated wheels on my Mazda that started spider webbing under the clearcoat after several months. Like somebody said above, carelessly hammering wheel weights on will nick the clearcoat and cause corrosion underneath. Also, using wrong wheel weights will cause the same thing. Mazda replaced all four wheels under warranty.

I hate these clearcoated polished wheels. Rough cast unpolished alloy wheels painted silver are the best and the most troublefree. Scratches or nicks, or salt spray do not bother them at all. I wanted alloy wheels, but had no choice with this Silverado. It was either these stupid clearcoated wheels or chromed steel wheels. GMC Sierras used to have polished, non-coated aluminum wheels, which do not corrode easily. GM quit using these.

The best way to prevent corrosion on your polished clearcoated aluminum wheels is to touch up all nicks and scratches as soon as you see them with a small artist brush using clearcoat automotive paint. Do not spray it on, or you'll make a mess. A very tiny brush is all you need. Just spray some paint on the brush. Alternately, clear nail polish might work too. If the spot is already corroding, use medium grit sandpaper to remove the corroded spot, then clearcoat.

The correct wheel weights for the '06 Silverado with factory aluminum wheels are MC series coated wheel weights. They come in 1/4 ounce increments. Most tire shops have these. Do not use uncoated universal aluminum wheel weights on these wheels!

I believe GM will replace corroded wheels under warranty if corrosion is due to something else than mechanical damage to the clearcoat (nicking, scratching, etc), i.e. defective clearcoat from the factory, cuasing corosion underneath.