Diamond cut alloys - clearcoat/lacquer failing - warranty?
- Thread starter Haggisman
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Soldato
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This could well be due to the wheels not having been de burred on the edges of the diamond cut face.
What happens is the lacquer is thinner on the edges due to the ridges of material which has been pushed aside during the cutting process (like how clearcoat is thinner on crease lines on the body of a car).
Over time, it weakens AND gets blasted by dirt on the road (where it sticks out ever so slightly), causing micro fractures for water ingress, resulting in the staining and failure you see here.
It’s a common reason why the lacquer on diamond cut wheels fail even if you haven’t curbed them.
What happens is the lacquer is thinner on the edges due to the ridges of material which has been pushed aside during the cutting process (like how clearcoat is thinner on crease lines on the body of a car).
Over time, it weakens AND gets blasted by dirt on the road (where it sticks out ever so slightly), causing micro fractures for water ingress, resulting in the staining and failure you see here.
It’s a common reason why the lacquer on diamond cut wheels fail even if you haven’t curbed them.
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Yeah, almost all of the patches appear to have originated in the areas along the sharp edges of the spokes - as you say, water has then gotten underneath and spread.
There are a couple of sections which look like they are potentially from stone chips, but surely any finish applied to a wheel should be able to deal with that? Localised damage I can understand - you're never going to get a finish which is completely indestructible, and a few chips here and there are to be expected from the part of the car closest to the road surface, but it's ridiculous that those tiny chips then result in failure of the finish across the entire wheel.
The bits which look like kerbing along the rim aren't - they feel completely smooth other than the flaking lacquer and corrosion
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Soldato
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It’s unfortunately common. The lacquer is so thin on those edges if they haven’t been de burred properly, and therefore takes very little for it to start going. As soon as the moisture reacts with the exposed metal it’s game over.
Hence why many people don’t bother with the diamond cut finish.
Yeah, I wouldn’t buy another car with diamond cut alloys.
I actually think manufacturers deliberately fit them as it’s easy to take cheap alloys and diamond cut them. They look great in the showroom but like trash after a few years of driving.
That then continually generate revenue for the garage/dealer having them refurbished every few years!
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Please god no, I realise taste is personal, but silver looks best on the vast majority of cars!
nah black m8 black tints black tinted lights black wheels black windows black tinted number pl8s
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Yeah, I've never had any diamond cut alloys last more than 2 years before the first small signs of corrosion starts.. and by 3-4 years, they are ready for being refinished..
Luckily, my Mustang was a special edition that had gloss black wheels, and I've just bought an i3s which was also optioned with gloss black versions..
The cars are 4 and 5 years old respectively and aside from one tiny kerb rash on the i3s, they are holding up really well.. no thoughts of a refurb on either..
Luckily, my Mustang was a special edition that had gloss black wheels, and I've just bought an i3s which was also optioned with gloss black versions..
The cars are 4 and 5 years old respectively and aside from one tiny kerb rash on the i3s, they are holding up really well.. no thoughts of a refurb on either..
Soldato
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Pictures are looking like a bit of harsh cleaners aswell though to be fair?
All I've used on it is cheap and cheerful triplewax wash and wax, turtle wax snow foam, or autoglym polar wash, (afaik none of those are particularly harsh) washed with a sponge and rinsed with a pressure washer, also seems odd that the 4th wheel is pristine if that were the case, as I wouldn't have treated it any differently
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I agree on the looks but for a utility car I'm converted to the idea of running black wheels. I've never given the wheels on the company motor anything more than a glancing blow with a wash mitt in over 15000 miles and they look fine. Well, as fine as they ever did
Diamond cut finish doesn't belong on any car that actually sees daily use. It's the only material less fit for purpose on a car than piano black plastic.
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Personally I’m not a fan of black alloys. I’ve also seen a few folk paint their diamond cut alloys black or powder coat them silver. Both look terrible to my eye.
Black looks better but you run the risk of the silver metal underneath showing if you ever kerb them or the coating gets scuffed. A kerbed black alloy looks horrific.
Most diamond cut alloys tend to be quite simple flat designs so without the high polish diamond cut sheen they often look like cheap Halfords jobs.
I can see why they’ve become so popular, As they look lovely when new, but It’s a fashion trend that needs killed off imo.
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Soldato
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I think I'd just them powder coated I. Silver.
Not sure it's a particularly nice design for that as it's be a solid slab of silver almost, but it'd certainly be much more durable.
Some places can paint the black parts too to maintain the two tone effect but not sure how easy that would be to get a good finish
Not sure it's a particularly nice design for that as it's be a solid slab of silver almost, but it'd certainly be much more durable.
Some places can paint the black parts too to maintain the two tone effect but not sure how easy that would be to get a good finish
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I would do if it was my car, but as it's a lease, they want it back as standard
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Not much you can do other than get them refurbed and cut again then. If you've still got a while to go on your lease I'd leave them as long as you can so they're as recently refurbished as possible when you hand the car back over... they'll inevitably need doing again in a year or two!
If I recall you can only recut the surface so many times as they're essentially removing material and compromising the wheel - I imagine it takes a few refurba to get to that point though.
If I recall you can only recut the surface so many times as they're essentially removing material and compromising the wheel - I imagine it takes a few refurba to get to that point though.
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I noticed when washing the car over the weekend that the clearcoat on 3 of the 4 alloys is peeling quite badly.
Interestingly, I got the car used, and when I got it, I noticed that one of the wheels had a little yellow sticker on it (which incidentally I've found impossible to remove!). This is the only one which is not peeling (and in fact basically looks brand new).
Coincidence? Or as I suspect, a hint that this particular wheel was refurbished/replaced in the past...
The wheels have no physical damage to them, never been kerbed, and only been washed with normal car shampoo, no harsh acidic cleaners, the failure looks like it's started from the centre cap.
It's a 4.5 year old Kia, so this should be covered under the 5 year paintwork warranty right? (is this classed as paintwork) Going to speak to them later/over the weekend, but if anyone can give me some ammo to back up my argument in case they decline it, that would be handy!
Failing that - any ideas roughly what I would be looking at in terms of charges when returning the car at end of lease? Looking at the BVRLA guidelines, any damage where there is bare metal exposed is outside of wear and tear
Kia diamond cut wheels are literally the worst quality on the planet.
You could try them doing it under warranty, did you buy the car new?
They will probably blame stone chips to wiggle out of the wheels.
Also refurbished diamond cuts rarely last, and few places appear to be able to refurbish them to a high standard.
A lot of the cause is the aluminium oxidising below the clear coat, it doesn't seem to be such an issue with painted wheels but diamond cut with clear coat over the top it's really common to fail prematurely, especially on Kia wheels
If Kia refuse the warranty claim then I'll just leave them and pay the fee to the lease company, at £80/wheel it's cheaper than I can find any diamond cut refurb place locally.
Depending what excuse Kia comes back with I might try to claim that back from them as "not fit for purpose" however
No, it was ~2.5 years old when I got it, I didn't notice any issues with the wheels at the time, which leaves the following causes (in order of [IMO] probability):
- It was already on it's way out but not yet visible.
- The wheels were refurbed or replaced shortly before I got it.
- The previous driver only ever drove it on pristine roads and managed to never get a single stone chip in 16k miles.
- The normal car washing shampoo I have used to wash it have done something to the lacquer and apparently the wheels should only be washed in plain water (except for the 4th wheel which has been washed exactly the same way but somehow isn't damaged).
- I have kerbed it, but somehow managed to do so on 3 of the wheels in multiple places so precisely that it only damaged the lacquer and not touched the metal at all.
That's fine, if I get that in writing then I can use that in any subsequent complaint/court claim - if the BVRLA guidelines allow that small stone chips are acceptable wear and tear, then it stands to reason that the parts of a car closest to the road (i.e. extremely likely to get small stone chips) should be able to withstand them without complete failure of the finish.
Yeah, this is what I suspect has happened, they've picked up some minor damage which has allowed water ingress, and it's just worked it's way under the clearcoat, pushing it off in the process.
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If Kia refuse the warranty claim then I'll just leave them and pay the fee to the lease company, at £80/wheel it's cheaper than I can find any diamond cut refurb place locally.
Depending what excuse Kia comes back with I might try to claim that back from them as "not fit for purpose" however
No, it was ~2.5 years old when I got it, I didn't notice any issues with the wheels at the time, which leaves the following causes (in order of [IMO] probability):
- It was already on it's way out but not yet visible.
- The wheels were refurbed or replaced shortly before I got it.
- The previous driver only ever drove it on pristine roads and managed to never get a single stone chip in 16k miles.
- The normal car washing shampoo I have used to wash it have done something to the lacquer and apparently the wheels should only be washed in plain water (except for the 4th wheel which has been washed exactly the same way but somehow isn't damaged).
- I have kerbed it, but somehow managed to do so on 3 of the wheels in multiple places so precisely that it only damaged the lacquer and not touched the metal at all.
That's fine, if I get that in writing then I can use that in any subsequent complaint/court claim - if the BVRLA guidelines allow that small stone chips are acceptable wear and tear, then it stands to reason that the parts of a car closest to the road (i.e. extremely likely to get small stone chips) should be able to withstand them without complete failure of the finish.
Yeah, this is what I suspect has happened, they've picked up some minor damage which has allowed water ingress, and it's just worked it's way under the clearcoat, pushing it off in the process.
As the wheels have been refurbished before you bought the car they won't do anything under warranty.
I had the same with mine, they refurbished them they done them really badly aswell taking away too much material, they lasted less than 12 months, but they refused to accept any warranty claim, I tried everything bar going small claims court but they wouldn't budge
I don't know if they have been, just me guessing why they might have failed in the last 12 months when they were fine before