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Paint chipping on wheels

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On a related note, is it normal to paint aluminum wheels like this? Can't they just be left aluminum?

They're not all aluminum, though, they're an alloy. Almost all manufacturers paint their alloy wheels these days. I'm not familiar enough to know the reasoning the change was made, but I'd guess it's either due to cost (alloys that are nice to look at are more expensive) or strength (strong alloys look ugly) concerns.

The last car I had with raw finish alloy wheels was a 1998.
 
On a related note, is it normal to paint aluminum wheels like this? Can't they just be left aluminum?


I am not sure when the last time a manufacturer provided bare aluminum wheels on a new car was but it was probably a very long time ago. Mill finish aluminum would look really bad very fast if not constantly polished. The metal is somewhat porous and it would age horribly for how modern people care for their cars.

Painted alloy/aluminum is very very common and it's not typical that the paint just starts chipping. The wheels are normally primed, base coated(painted the color of the paint) and then clear coated. Modern thermoset clear coat is very resilient and should not fail for many years.

I hope this helps answer your question. ;)
 
Painted alloy/aluminum is very very common and it's not typical that the paint just starts chipping. The wheels are normally primed, base coated(painted the color of the paint) and then clear coated. Modern thermoset clear coat is very resilient and should not fail for many years.

Maybe clarification from OP is required, but I took the post to mean he was getting [rock] chips in his wheels, which is normal. They spin, and anything that hits them is going to do a bit of damage. As you mentioned, if the paint seems to be chipping/flaking off seemingly without cause, that'd be a bigger concern.
 
Maybe clarification from OP is required, but I took the post to mean he was getting [rock] chips in his wheels, which is normal. They spin, and anything that hits them is going to do a bit of damage. As you mentioned, if the paint seems to be chipping/flaking off seemingly without cause, that'd be a bigger concern.


We look at a lot of wheels from many manufacturers and the most common form of wear is going to be from lack of cleaning where pitting occurs and then curbing.

But rocks hitting the wheels regularly shouldn't be a thing. Exposure to rocks would be from tires(outside the wheel and throwing them away from wheels with little opportunity to hit front wheels to back) and cars on the road ahead of a driver(again, little exposure to wheels).

I agree that clarification would help isolating what he/she is looking at.
 
I've got quite a few chips on my wheels. I've presumed they're from rock chips. I live in an area with a lot of rocks. I can't say I agree with the theory that rocks come from the wheels so you shouldn't get hit in the wheels. Other cars throw rocks. They can and do hit all over the place.