As per my previous thread about swapping my 19" wheels for a set of 18" purely because I already have a set of tyres, I purchased these wheels yesterday......

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic42428.html

My car came with style 11 in polished and lacquered finish, very shiny and not what I would have specified. This finish has proved vulnerable to corrosion. Stones hit the wheels (the dishes seem especially badly affected, the outer face less so) and lines of corrosion then spread under the lacquer. The first set was replaced under the paintwork warranty, the second set was as bad, but with the warranty expired they have not been replaced. The dealer confirmed that this was typical of this finish and that the only solution they could offer would be to paint the wheels. My winter wheels are style 15 and they seem much more durable, even though winter use might be more likely to cause corrosion. Their dishes seem to be powder coated or have some other more durable finish and the paint on the faces is less shiny but more durable. If you are doing it yourself I suppose it would not be that costly to re-polish and lacquer every year, but I would find that a bit of a hassle. Only Range Rovers since 1988

Presumably one would need to apply some kind of paint stripper to get the lacquer off and then polish out the corroded run marks that have eaten into the wheel surface underneath. They would otherwise remain visible under the new lacquer. Only Range Rovers since 1988

Lacquer needs removed, marks polished from the wheel surface, and relacquered to repair

The only way to prevent future damage is regular cleaning and wax/sealing

Thanks for the replies, there often seems to be an issue sealing bare aluminium.

On my last car the wheels were diamond cut...which had gone horrible under the lacquer...so I removed the diamond cut and polished them...no lacquer afterwards... 6 years on and they still looked like new with the occasional application of Autosol...

Thanks for that Zeb, I think I might go down that route myself.

Many people seem to have an issue with corrosion under the lacquer.

I think I'll strip the paint off the entire face of the wheel and polish the flat surface and see what it comes up like and leave it for a while to see how it lasts, won't cost anything, just time and some elbow grease, I'd rather give them a quick polish with the machine every few months that have to completely strip them, polish then and them re lacquer them every year or two.

Once I see how they come up and look I'll make a decision on perhaps painting the sides of the spokes a darker silver/grey or perhaps go black to give it some contrast.

Zeb wrote:

On my last car the wheels were diamond cut...which had gone horrible under the lacquer...so I removed the diamond cut and polished them...no lacquer afterwards... 6 years on and they still looked like new with the occasional application of Autosol...

I would also agree that this is the best way, as long as you don't mind breaking the polish out occasionally.

The problem with the lacquer is that, like all finishes, it needs a decent key to adhere to which a polished surface by it's nature cannot give it so it starts to split. Add in the odd stone chip and the "spider legging" starts to appear, which then means the lot has to come off again. I just paint mine now as I can't be bothered polishing them all the time but they don't look as good as polished alloy.  Dave
2010 5.0 Autobiography

Any opinions on this?

I haven't stripped, polished or painted it yet, just put black tape on the areas I'm thinking of painting, the rest I'm planning on stripping and polishing, all the face or flat surface.

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I like that...

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, apologies if so....Does anyone know a good wheel refurb place (tyres off and full strip etc) near Sheffield/Donny way?

Try arefurbs in Doncaster.

Highly recommended from another forum I'm on. Current Family:
2012 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Westminster
2013 Jaguar XFs 3.0d Sportbrake
2008 FFRR 3.6 TDV8 VSE (Gone)
2008 Ford Mondeo mk4 2.2tdci (Gone)
2006 S Class 320 CDI (Gone)
1998 P38a 4.6 VSE Oxford Blue 98k (Gone)
Vx Vectra C Estate 1.9cdti 150 (with a few twists) (Gone)

Other LR's in Family (2019 4.4 TDV8 AB)

First wheel stripped and polished, but not painted.

Any opinions on this before I make a hames of the rest?

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