XF wheel damage

[Paulprior]

Hi, on my recently bought XF sportbrake there is some damage from curbing, these are the wheels

They are 20 inch wheels in some type of grey with a polished rim, are these standard?, I haven't seen another like it.
I tried tonight to polish the rims with some autusol, but I see there is an outer layer to the polished rim as shown below

Is this a layer of lacquer?
So how do I repair or at least prevent the damage getting worse, the corrosion appears to be under this layer

[Bat28]

Outer rim is "diamond cut" and then lacquered, quite fashionable these days .. but sadly it often results in corrosion and lacquer lifting off as you can see on your wheels ....

You can't really stop it once it started ... so you either live with it or get them done !

You can ask for the same finish (that will probably end up in the same state after a few years), or get them repainted (but you'll loose the nice shine on the rim !)

EDIT : lovely wheels by the way !

[Simpo Two]

Many alloys wheels these days seem designed to keep the refurbishers in business.

I managed to scrape one of the newly-done 19" wheels on my XF just three days into ownership. No comfy protective sidewalls in today's cars.

[Orcadian]

As the others say, they are diamond cut on a lathe and then lacquered. It's a hole or chip in this lacquer that starts the problem and then it acts as a 'bag' to keep the water and salt up against your lovely shiny alloy. You can get a very presentable 'copy' of the finish with grit embedded blocks by hand - it's better with the wheel off and sitting flat on a workmate. You need a few grades of block starting at about 60 grit (depending on how bad they are, you might even need to resort to a fine file) and finishing with a finer grade, and only then with Solvol. It's a painstaking job, but well worth it ( probably about an hour a wheel). I use this method on motorcycle engine cases too. I don't re-lacquer afterwards for the same reason as others have said - it only goes bad again but prefer to just keep them clean regularly and a coat of wax in the winter. You'll need to carefully mask the painted bit next to where you are working.
The blocks used to be called Loyblox but the ones I'm using at present were off t'internet under the name Garryflex. They can be cut to special shapes for awkward bits.


Ian

Forgot to say, there is a piece on my website about the process and although it's a motorcycle part, you can see the results

http://www.stallard-engineering.co.uk/stories/Bike...

Edited by Orcadian on Monday 29th May 13:48

[Paulprior]

Hi
Thanks for the thoughts, so in general a nice look but hard work to keep, i think for the moment i will keep them going a bit longer rather than a full strip down now, so i guess the lacquer coating is on all of the wheel, not just the polished rim, what would be the easiest way to remove the laquer in the damaged ares and just keep them polished for the moment and what are the advantages of Garryflex against scotchbrite or similar?, any thoughts on starting and finishing grades?
Thanks
Paul

[carlpea]

You shouldn't have used Autosol on the wheels to be honest as it's a metal polish.

I can't tell from the pictures but the previous owner / dealer may hove gone the cheap route and had the diamond cut painted over rather than having them re-cut (My car had this done but I didn't noticed when purchased!).

Oh do you know that those are winter tyres you have on currently?

[Paulprior]

Hi, yes I noticed the winter tyres, but they are virtually worn out so decided they weren't worth removing for next year.
I would say the rim is polished rather than painted, is there an easy way to check?

[Orcadian]

Yes, the whole wheel is lacquered after the base coating in grey, then diamond cutting has been done. The Garryflex blocks will remove the lacquer slowly as you rub and you will see when it's gone as at first it will turn dull - don't attempt to use any chemical lacquer remover as you will spoil the paint finish next to the diamond cut. The Solvol will never remove the lacquer, it's just not coarse enough but can be used after the blocks and this helps seal the tiny pores in the surface of the alloy and once done it only takes minutes every now and then to bring up the shine. The Alloy wheels on my 1500 GoldWing are diamond turned all over and I only ever polish those with Solvol and they look like new on a 26 year old bike.
Ian

[MrC986]

Diamond cut finishes are very susceptible to stone chipping & road salt can then work its way into the lacquer to munch away, as can wheel cleaner. If you have them refinished to a diamond cut finish, you might get 2-3 refurbs depending on whether its corrosion or kerbing though a painted/powder coated finish should be more durable ( though it'll depend whose doing the refurb for you). Your wheels are a rare version for the XF & I think were used on some of the Sport Black limited edition models when they ran out of the original design they were using!

[Paulprior]

So why is it that the diamond cut ones are an issue?, is it because otherwise the complete wheel would be painted and then lacquered so that there are 2 layers of barrier compared to the diamond cut single layer?
The lacquer seems very thick, i measured it at 0.2mm, its just like it has a plastic layer.
So it sounds like i will rub down the corroding area until i reach the metal, rub it down and redo once in a while until it seems reasonable to completely refurb them, i do like the look and they actually look very nice from a few feet away.

One last question, why do my photos from my i phone come out at 90 deg to how i took them?

[Orcadian]

Yes, you are right, the diamond cut part is much more difficult to get good adhesion for the lacquer, the painted part can have a good etch primer before the grey, then it's lacquered, so that's 3 coats to the diamond cut covering of one.
Worth a bit of elbow grease rather than regular expensive refurbs but it's your call - I was born in Yorkshire, now saving hard to become a Scotsman!
Ian

[liner33]

I had Dracos on my XFR when i bought it , i assume that the previous owner had them refurbed a single colour (which is an option for you) in my case silver



For what 20" wheels cost to refurbish plus the premium for diamond cut ones it can be cheaper just to get a second hand set off ebay or a forum

[carlpea]

You mean like the set off my old car I currently have for sale?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122518490055

Sorry for the blatant plug...