108 wheel corrosion issue

Z

Zedster

Member
 Kent
Just about to go into battle with the Dealer. I have discovered that corrosion has started to develope on all four 108's on the inner of the rims. I know this has been reported before, just wanted to ask for some advise on how to approach this issue with BMW. The car is still under warranty and the wheels are clean apart from one small piece of kerb damage which has been repaired and is unrelated to the inner of the rim. I have read that some members have had wheels replaced under their warranty.
Are BMW routinely replacing these wheels with this type of fault, and therefore class it as a known issue with the 108?

Any advise would be appreciate
 
Zedster had all mine done about 1 month ago

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9891&hilit=corrosion#p147140

I would suggest yo remove all wheels and take photos so when you take to the dealer they know what you are talking about.

Mine was checked at end of Dec when dealer advised photos (I had taken) were sent to BMW for authorisation. After a month or so and no response Service Manager asked for car again to re inspect to make a decision themselves. The reported they couldnt find any corossion. I asked if they had removed the wheels to which they replied no, so I advised it was hardly surprising they didnt see it. They rechecked again and found three with corossion, I didnt want three odd wheels so told them to do nothing until I had checked myself. I Rmoved the wheel thought it was OK as it was pretty clean, but gave a quick wipe there was the corossion, the lazy sod hadnt cleaned it.

So I now have four new wheels with turned and lacquered inners, one other member has had his replaced since and got painted inners, as did breaker a few months ago when he had his rears replaced. Again I would point out to BMW that you are aware there are two types and insist they are all the same, doubt you will get a choice, it's pot luck.

From the attached post you can see mine were not very bad at all and as said you had to remove them to see any signs of corrosion, good luck and if you want any more info just let me know.
 
srhutch thanks for reply. I did indeed take pictures of all four wheels (date stamped) in order to produce for evidence. The corrosion is very simular to yours and has only developed since the last time I removed the wheels for cleaning and polishing in Dec 08. The winter Salt seems to be the culprit. I fully expect to get the run around as per normal with main Dealers, but if others like yourself have been successful then no reason I cant get the same result.
 
Zedster said:
srhutch thanks for reply. I did indeed take pictures of all four wheels (date stamped) in order to produce for evidence. The corrosion is very simular to yours and has only developed since the last time I removed the wheels for cleaning and polishing in Dec 08. The winter Salt seems to be the culprit. I fully expect to get the run around as per normal with main Dealers, but if others like yourself have been successful then no reason I cant get the same result.
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To be honest my dealer has been OK, the biggest issue most find is the Dealer says you have to wait for the guy from BMW to take a look, just keep the pressure up and remind them it's a known fault.
 
The car is still under warranty and the wheels are clean apart from one small piece of kerb damage which has been repaired and is unrelated to the inner of the rim
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Be careful, any repair will void the warranty, thats what happened to me. Im still negotiating with them after buying my car with wheels already refub, been offered £200 towards a refurb.
 
jan_tekin said:
The car is still under warranty and the wheels are clean apart from one small piece of kerb damage which has been repaired and is unrelated to the inner of the rim
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Be careful, any repair will void the warranty, thats what happened to me. Im still negotiating with them after buying my car with wheels already refub, been offered £200 towards a refurb.
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I disagree, as I had put some lacquer on the outer edge of the inner rim of mine where I guess a stone chip had remove the lacquer down to the rim. Luckily no water penetration so dealer may not have spotted, but I would argue as long as that damage has not resulted in corossion at that part it shouldnt be an issue.

Wheels already having been refurbed is a different issue though.
 
As I said before I have some minor damage that has been repaired on one of the wheels, but that is not a refurb. The other three are clear of damage but all have corrosion started on the inner of the wheel which has no connection to the outer lip and looks like is caused by salt penertration.I fully expect them (BM's) to try and wriggle out of it but I intend to give it a go anyway.
 
I had the wheels inspected today. The Dealer agreed to replace all four wheels, no ifs or buts, which is great news. I should get them replaced next week, just got to agree a date.

Any ideas as to what I can do to help prevent this issue happening again, apart from the usual clean polish and protect. I would be interested to see what if any other products members use that can help prevent this type of problem in the future, bearing in mind the warranty doesn't last forever?
 
Zedster said:
I had the wheels inspected today. The Dealer agreed to replace all four wheels, no ifs or buts, which is great news. I should get them replaced next week, just got to agree a date.

Any ideas as to what I can do to help prevent this issue happening again, apart from the usual clean polish and protect. I would be interested to see what if any other products members use that can help prevent this type of problem in the future, bearing in mind the warranty doesn't last forever?
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Just keep them clean and waxed.

Also make sure they replace with four wheels that are all the same finish, you dont want one odd style one. :wink:
 
srhutch said:
just keep the pressure up and remind them it's a known fault.
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It's not just a 'known fault', it is a guaranteed problem from what I have seen. It happens to every single set of these wheels I have ever seen... crazy really that BMW keep making wheels like this... hey ho, their money :D

Dave
 
We've just had all 4 of them replaced on my wifes' coupe.....the new ones appear to have a much thicker laquer on them, car looks fantastic again.

We bought the car at about 14 months old and the previous owner had kerbed the 2 nearside rims; they still replaced them as the laquer had failed elsewhere on the alloy. I couldn't believe just how excellent a job they did when refitting. The person who did it even lined the M of BMW up on the centre caps up perfectly with the valve on all 4 wheels!

I'm quite lucky that our local dealer really seem to have upped their game!
 
Mission accomplished. Four new wheels fitted today. The inner finish appears at first glance to have a thicker coating of paint and lacquer. First job is to polish and apply a few coats of Wheel Sealant.
 
Zedster said:
Mission accomplished. Four new wheels fitted today. The inner finish appears at first glance to have a thicker coating of paint and lacquer. First job is to polish and apply a few coats of Wheel Sealant.
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you appear to have the revised wheels then if they are painted on the inners.
 
srhutch said:
Zedster said:
Mission accomplished. Four new wheels fitted today. The inner finish appears at first glance to have a thicker coating of paint and lacquer. First job is to polish and apply a few coats of Wheel Sealant.
Click to expand...

you appear to have the revised wheels then if they are painted on the inners.
Click to expand...

From talking with my dealer they are all now revised....which is why they replace all four and not just part thereof.
 
dasherdiablo1 said:
srhutch said:
Zedster said:
Mission accomplished. Four new wheels fitted today. The inner finish appears at first glance to have a thicker coating of paint and lacquer. First job is to polish and apply a few coats of Wheel Sealant.
Click to expand...

you appear to have the revised wheels then if they are painted on the inners.
Click to expand...

From talking with my dealer they are all now revised....which is why they replace all four and not just part thereof.
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no this is not the case, mine were recently replaced, they only wnated to change 3 and the new wheels are the same as the original ones, in the end they changed all four though.

BMW will only ever change wheels that need changing, BREAKER has 2 odd wheels, 2 old style 2 new style.
 
srhutch said:
dasherdiablo1 said:
From talking with my dealer they are all now revised....which is why they replace all four and not just part thereof.
Click to expand...

no this is not the case, mine were recently replaced, they only wnated to change 3 and the new wheels are the same as the original ones, in the end they changed all four though.

BMW will only ever change wheels that need changing, BREAKER has 2 odd wheels, 2 old style 2 new style.
Click to expand...


One of the 4 new ones was finished poorly so they left the old on for a few days until the new one came in. The finish was similar, but definitely not the same. There is a much thicker laquer to the new ones.
 
dasher the two styles being mentioned are with lacquered inners and painted inners, BMW/BBS may well have put a thicker coat of lacquer down but some wheels have grey inners and some just turned and lacquered.

I have the turned & lacquered style
ksher had the painted & lacquered style

and it would appear you have the turned & lacquered style so both styels are in the system still.
 
I have now taken my new wheels off to check. They are the turned and lacquered style as you describe Srhutch. It appears though a thicker coat of lacquer has been applied to these ones. Time will tell if the corrosion re appears on he inner where the two parts of the wheel meet.
 
After having my 3.0 Z4 for 6 years this month. I am now on my third set of 5 spoke alloys. I had the first four all replaced FOC because of bubbling on the alloys which meant that there was moisture in the atmosphere when they were lacquered, this occured just before owning the vehicle for 3 years and so was within warranty.

I then took the car back after 5 years when the same thing was happening. As I had kurbed the front off side they offered to replace them for me but would only provide 70% of the cost. I believe I had to pay £250 towards the three being replaced although I disputed this but they wouldn't provide any more than 70%.

One of the main problems with the split rims is that the one part is laquered straight on the base metal and not painted first which makes them more vulnerable to bubbling. Apparently some wheel refurb specialists will not work with these alloys as the bolts shear when attempting to take them apart.

At present I would expect to have to replace the alloys again at my own cost in two years time.

To be quite honest I am getting hacked off with the build quality of my Z4, in the past 3 months I have had a lock stop working which meant I paid £400 to get into the car (remove seats etc), alloys, air adjusted unit valve broke £200 to replace and now I have a roof that will not work and is set down at the moment. I hope it doesn't rain tonight!!!

Your hacked off
Tasty :headbang:
 
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