I think I know what this is - what do I do about it? - Ducati.ms

Johnny · Feb 6th, 2012, 11:00 am

This is corrosion of some sort. I am not sure how it got there and why it appears under the metal. I keep my wheels very clean IMHO. I hope FFS it is not comming from the inside out !

I have it in a number of places

Comments and Suggestions welcome

DuckMan · Feb 6th, 2012, 11:38 am

I'd be tempted to pick at one of the less obvious spots to better see what it is. That pretty unusual for aluminum.

stryder · Feb 6th, 2012, 11:43 am

I can't tell if those spots are blisters or dents. If dents, probably road debris. If blisters, scap away the paint and see how far down they go.

crisan · Feb 6th, 2012, 11:56 am

In my opinion, if it is not corrosion under the paint, and it shouldn't be on a marchesini well with the quality they claim ... then could it be from brake fluid drops or some kind of paint thinner accidentally dropped on paint? I think you could only find out by scratching the paint away and see what's under.
If it is corrosion, then you should scratch the paint away, sand the area and repaint. That's sucks ... on some well mentenainted marchesini weels

**Gearbox** · Feb 6th, 2012, 12:37 pm

John , I cant tell from the photo but is it possible its some sort of resin that has attached onto the rim ?
Only other way is , as others have suggested , find a discreet area and scrape it away to see whats is going on.

Johnny · Feb 6th, 2012, 1:33 pm

Its a bubble/blisster really. I did not think these wheels had paint on them and thought the colour was the natural colour of the alloy

Socaldiablo · Feb 6th, 2012, 1:49 pm

This same thing is happening on all four wheels of one of my Infiniti cars. It appears to be a flaw in the finish of the wheels. I plan to have my wheels stripped and powder coated to correct this so if your wheels have this bubbling in multiple spots, it might not be a bad idea to look into this. From what I could find, powder coating is not all that expensive (~$125/wheel) and provides a long-lasting durable finish.

Stick · Feb 6th, 2012, 4:00 pm

What are you using to clean the wheels with? I hear that some of these "wheel/brake dust cleaners" can have caustic crappola in them, and that if that stuff is used,
you need to rinse the wheels THOUROUGHLY.

Duc2Be · Feb 6th, 2012, 8:50 pm

Leave them alone until they get so bad you hate them. Then consider powder coating. Just make sure the coating company has a good resume when it comes to doing aluminum wheels. If the corrosion is not fully removed down to bare aluminum, the problem will just re-appear at a later date. Then you get to hate them all over again!

Good luck.....

Joris · Feb 7th, 2012, 2:26 pm

It is corrosion under the coating system. The coating has most probably been damaged due to grit hitting the rim and leaving a tiny hole in the coating. This can be invisible to the huiman eye. Dirt and/or salt enters and starts corrosion underneath the coating resulting in the blister you noted. It will not stop but grow unless you do something about it.

Get the coating off locally and apply a repair coat. Your local car paintshop can advise you, most probably you can even find the right color cannister. If there are multiple damages go the full monty with a powder coat repaint. Note that this type of coating damage can lead to pitting corrosion, if left very very long it may puncture the rim eventually.

Hope this helps