mainly

wow...

thats total BS. no other wheels ive ever seen chip like that. ive put 20-30k km's on other cars, not a single chip on the wheels.

its a design flaw or paint quality issue... period.

Macca

I dont disagree and I stated as much to the dealer. I supplies detailed photos and they also inspected the wheels. Its mentioned either earlier in this thread or another on the subject.

I took the car to a paint specialist I use for my cars and whom I trust before I made the claim. They examined the wheels and their advice to me was that this was a design issue and although they were confident they could do a better job than the factory in preparing and painting the wheels they explained that the "rash" is happening in identical places on each wheel and is a function of the spoke/wheel design - its effectively sucking in the stones. We have one of the most beautiful wheels Porsche ever designed, and Im sure that air is helping cool the brakes but the flip side is they are prone to taking stones. The issue is the edge of the spokes is very narrow and each spoke has very sharp edges - no matter what you put on there to prepare and pain (or even powder coat) the result will be essentially the same. This will apply to RS and GT4 as well.

In total it cost me $700 to have the wheel faces re painted (came out as good as factory). After 18 months, 8000 miles and a number of track days and fast back road driving on our admittedly narrow and tight roads with plenty of loose stones I put it down to a cost of ownership thing. I had new tyres fitted same time as restoration so that the finish wasnt damaged. One thing they were very firm about was that I should leave the car mostly undriven for at least 10 days after the work so the paint cured properly. They told me not to put any nano type protection on or any chemicals till the paint had cured off....

mainly

i think youre probably right. the wheels are about the nicest ive ever seen.

but if the design thats functioning to cool the wheels is at the same time causing chips, and it undoubtedly is, then porsche should stand by the design flaw and cover the cost of repainting. especially with all the instances there have been!

btw, what type of paint did they do? i cant imagine they could possibly repaint them as nice as the factory finish, did they?

did they powder coat ?

Macca

Where would it end? They would be covering the cost for 3500 x GT3 for 3-5 years!

We painted it using the factory paint code, its a matt finish and the paint process was the standard process used to paint alloy wheels. As far as I can tell the colour is spot on, the finish is a little less "granular" than the original factory finish, fractionally less "matt" but this may be down to the process used to lay the paint down by my refurbish guy. The new finish will be better at cleaning the dust down from them after a track day (I change pads to Endless MX72 at the same time as having the wheels done and the new tires mounted and the MX72 make about half the dust of factory pads Ive found on my other 911). The paint coverage looks to be a little thicker than the original, I suspect the wheels supplier paints these in batches with a wand at a fair distance from the wheel and is conservative on paint coverage. Overall they came out better than I expected as the paint tyre and wheel design was not easy to work with and I was afraid of significant build up around the edge of the spoke vanes and where it transitions to the hub but infact there was no more build up here than the factory paint or if there was its was uniform and did not stand out.

ipse dixit

Devil's Advocate, for a minute here.

If chipping on the wheel finish (due to road hazards and typical usage) is a warranty issue, then shouldn't rock chips on the car's front fascia likewise be a warranty claim? Same with the front lip being scraped, etc.?

Wheel Dynamics

Suggestion: Give us a call..





.

Macca

Thisis the kind of logic that had me giving up after I was refused. After all if I only drove at 30mph around car parks rather than ripping up back roads and taking it to the track I guess Id have far fewer stone chips ANYWHERE on the car. I think Id rather have these wheels and a paint bill every few years to keep her looking tidy than some other wheel design IMO...

mainly

well, i mean thats different. you expect those things to chip. and they often do. but wheels dont/shouldnt chip just from normal everyday driving. and if they do, its a problem with the wheel, design flaw, or whatever.

for example ive never heard on another forum, any such complaints of wheels chipping. ive been on several mercedes amg, bmw ///M forums... never heard of it till now, with these particular wheels...

has to be the wheel...

know what im saying?

Macca

I think I found the answer. Should be popular in North America. Cover the wheels with plastic (like in this pre production prototype!) ;-)

ipse dixit

Maybe someone (an American, perhaps?) can come up with a clearbra product for wheels.

ipse dixit

Actually, I don't. Sorry.

Macca

Yeah. I think the answer for all these stone chips has already been invented..car Cocoon. Not sure if the investor was an American tho ;-P

mainly

well, sorry i dont know how to make it any more straightforward, or simpler.

DrJupeman

Has anyone tried clear vinyl on the chipping face of the blades?

mcsmcs1

There is a difference between ordinary and expected wear and tear vs. abnormal and premature wear. The fact that wheels need to be repainted due to a high number of paint chips, on vehicles with a few thousand miles is highly suspect. Add to this the reality, that most wheels do not sustain significant paint damage in the industry even after tens of thousands of miles. All of this points to either a faulty wheel design or a misapplication of paint or the use of defective materials.

And that is exactly what defines a warranty issue vs. wear and tear. Were it my hood that looked beaten to hell after 3,000 miles, it would likewise be a legitimate warranty matter.