Z4MC Alloy corrosion!!

[Smiffack993]

Hi guys. Just a quick question from me. The car is still under warranty but I have noticed the wheel nuts and the centre BMW caps have started to rust somewhat. Does anyone know if BMW would entertain a warranty claim for this if I were to rant and rave enough? Maybe calling customer services first would help...

Has anyone else had this issue?

[fridaypassion]

They should do My old OEM wheels were in good shape after 2.5 years

[flimper]

Definitely worth a go

[mmm-five]

I thought the centre cap was platic, so how is it rusting?

The labels on the centre caps on mine are discolouring a little, but I've got a set on standby to replace them with when I refurb the wheels at some point.

[gmarks1]

For information, there are two types of wheel centres with the BMW logo - one has a tendancy to discolour around the edges (the one with the plastic ledge), whereas the other with rounded edge seems more robust.

Regarding wheel nuts, it may to due to road salt that was not washed off - can play havoc with current model calipers as well. I replaced my wheel bolts recently for this reason. Worth a shot under warranty, but I think you can get a set of bolts and wheel centres for £30.

Gary

[mmm-five]

Just checked my new ones and they are a plastic backing with a 'tin' badge wrapped around - I guess these are in response to the yellowing older style?

[gmarks1]

mmm-five said:

Just checked my new ones and they are a plastic backing with a 'tin' badge wrapped around - I guess these are in response to the yellowing older style?

Yep - those are the ones you want! Take a look at the nearly new BMWs next time you are at a dealership with the other type - after 6-12 months they've already started to deteriorate.

Gary

[athol]

Yup, the "old" centre caps are simply a metal based sticker and the edges lift and trap bubble of water/fluid making it look like they are corroding. In fact their just "$LLOCK$ quality. As MMMFive mentioned, BMW have now replaced these with a much higher quality centre cap. I run CSL wheels and got the new caps on Ebay from Ocean BMW (main dealer in Portsmouth or Plymouth or somewher South Coast!). They were a measly £12.97 for 4 and are soooo much better. Have a search, i'm sure they're still listing them, in fact here they are - damn, they've raised the price. I'd call them and say "what happened to the price".

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Genuine-BMW-Alloy-Wheel-Cent...

[mmm-five]

gmarks1 said:

mmm-five said:

Just checked my new ones and they are a plastic backing with a 'tin' badge wrapped around - I guess these are in response to the yellowing older style?

Yep - those are the ones you want! Take a look at the nearly new BMWs next time you are at a dealership with the other type - after 6-12 months they've already started to deteriorate.

Gary

It's the old style caps that I've got on the Z4MC at the moment - hence the need to replace them.

I notice the others are still available though - I suppose you'd need the old style if you were going to put 'carbon' BMW roundels on or such.

They don't look that bad once I'd removed them - except for the excess of glue and non-matching grey rim.

Edited by mmm-five on Sunday 19th July 13:26