Thin clearcoat on sport wheels?
 

Whats up everyone, I was cleaning my wheels this week and I noticed that on each wheel I have a few chips that are about the size of a pin head. I clean my wheels fairly often and don't neglect them. Is this normal for the sport wheels?

i have the same problem but they dont look like chips they look like painted black specs for some reason.

Yes! That's exactly what I'm seeing, black specks. I guess this is normal then?

I was told by a wheel repair guy that repaired my 350 wheels, that the way they get the "hyper silver" is to paint a black coat first under the silver, then the top coat. It is a staged process. If we chip our wheels, this may be why it shows black underneath..... makes sense to me.

I have a few too, I'm pretty sure it's normal.

I prob have a total over about 8 of them between all four wheels, so it's not too bad. I'm guessing it wouldn't be a bad idea to put some wax on my wheels from here on out though?

Waxing the wheels is a great idea for several reasons. Helps keep the brake dust off.

+1

Has anyone actually taken a meter to the paint/clearcoat and determined what thickness it really is?

Poorboy's wheel sealant is pretty awesome.

^^^ +1

So thin clearcoat is the reason for these spots? You would think that they shouldn't be as prone as they are to these nicks/specks.

It can be a compilation of dirty silver paint or/and clearcoat.

I'm right with you on that, you would think they'd put a few extra coats of clear on from the factory to prevent this kind of stuff.

I'm pretty sure someone posted about a similar problem a few months ago. They ended up finding a match for the paint and put it in a syringe and they were injecting it into the little nicks or specks. I could be wrong though.

More info would be nice! I have some damage that I need to repair.

+1

Has this been happening to anyone else? If it is widespread, I wonder if it could be fixed under warranty.

Nah, it's from normal wear and tear so no warranty fixes. It's just one of those things we have to deal with.

Yeah, I gues you are right. It's just frustrating, because I take such good care of my wheels, yet I still get these little imperfections, lol.

Yeah, it blows. Sometimes, though, the little black specs might just be caked on brake dust instead of an actual chip. Make sure you use a good wheel sealant (like Poorboy's wheel sealant) to protect the rims from brake dust and make it easy to clean. Depending on where you live and how much you drive, one application can last up to 3 months (more likely 1 month for people who use their Zs as daily drivers).

Waxing the wheels will certainly help your cause, but it's not going to prevent a rock or pebble that is flung at your wheel from chipping it. It's just one of those things where if you don't want little things like this to happen, then you litteraly have to keep your car off the road. Just be happy that this is the most of your worries, lol.