Alloymoney

Some 2 years ago you gave us very useful advise on the purchase of an April 2007 1.6 Fiesta Auto Ghia for my father-in-law. It proved a great success and prompted my wife to buy the 1.4 manual version which, sadly, isn’t as smooth or as pleasant to drive, but is more economical on fuel, cheaper to road tax and still serves us well. The auto was kept in a garage until August 2008 when father passed away and has been living on our drive ever since. We recently noticed that all the alloy wheels are showing ‘bubbling’ which appears to be under the surface lacquer. The car has only done 9,800 miles. The local Ford dealer tells us that the wheels are only covered for 1 year under warranty and we’re on our own. My local independent garage tells me that this is a known problem with the Fiesta and Focus. Having previously had great problems when trying to get a Mondeo heater control system fixed when reported in warranty I’m very wary about approaching Ford customer services. Are you aware of this problem? How do I take this forward if Ford shows no interest? It’s a great shame to find this on an otherwise great little car.

Asked on 15 August 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
It is common on alloy wheels due to chips in the lacquer, metallic
particles in brake dust and saline solution from winter road salt getting under the lacquer and forming corrosion batteries. Brake dust is highly corrosive and needs to be cleaned off alloy wheels regularly. Alloy refurbs cost £30 to £60 a wheel. Best to have them painted with high temperature paint, then lacquered as that protects the alloy. Lacquered polished alloys are the most vulnerable.
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