durability of painted / black wheels?

I am looking at replacing my wheels, but my experience with my current wheels has me shy on anything that has black or other painted surfaces.

A little background:

• I currently have MB VDrive wheels. They are mostly machined with some black rectangles (picture below)

• After 8 months, I noticed flaking of the clear coat on the black (two wheels only). Discount replaced the wheels for me and warned that the car wash I go to probably uses a harsh cleaner. I wasn't buying it because I had been taking my previous '91 Toyota truck to that car wash for almost nine years and its wheels looked great (they were all machined finish).
• Almost a year later and a third wheel is flaking bad. Again, this is just over the black. The machined finish looks perfect.
• No snow here. 30+ miles from the ocean, she is parked in the garage and I keep her very clean

They are offering me a good deal on two new ones, but I don't want to have to keep doing this every 8-12 months. At least this time Discount Tire admitted that the black clear coat is probably somehow different than the clear coat on the machined part. I believe them that the car wash is causing the problem, but my last wheels lasted 9 years at the same car wash and I can't always wash my truck myself.

I am looking at replacement wheels that are 100% machined or chrome (no black or other type of painted surfaces). Do I really need to do this or did this problem happen because the wheels are inexpensive? I think some black on a wheel looks good, but I don't want to go there if it compromises the durability of the wheel. I tend to hang on to my vehicles for awhile so I want something that will look decent still in 10 years.

Matt

 

I used to have some Axis Supermesh 19" wheels on an IS300 I onced owned that did the exact same thing. The problem is the clear coat starts chipping and flaking with any kind of harsh wheel cleaner, gasoline, brake fluid, pretty much anything like that. I will tell you that it is only going to get worse. The reason they they put the clear coat over the machined metal is so that you don't have to continuously polish them. One of the solutions someone once gave me was to go ahead and strip away all the clear coat and just keep polishing the bare metal. I didn't want to deal with any of that so I cut my losses and got rid of them as soon as possible. The good thing is that most of the new wheels use teflon, powdercoat etc. and are generally much more durable and maintenance free. Just look for any wheel that doesn't have a machined or chrome finish mixed into the wheel design.

 

I wouldn't go chrome either. Chrome is such a soft metal that ALL chrome wheels are coated. Over time, they will pit and flake, and you will need to either re-chrome the wheels if you're that in love with them (wheels are only produced 2-3 years at the most, then discontinued), or replace the wheels. This typically happens every 3-5 years. I work for Discount Tire, and I have seen the clearcoat issues on the MB V-drives up close on other wheels that the OP. If you like the Black/Machined combination, avoid the V-drive. For whatever reason (I think the design of the wheel creates the problem), that wheel seems to have clearcoat issues. MB wheels as a whole are excellent quality wheels, it just seems that this is the only wheel that they seem to have clear coat issues. Hope the info helps, and feel free to PM with any questions. One more thing, Discount Tire has either a 1 or 2 year finish warranty. Handy piece of info for future purchases.

 

Thanks for the post Yamaha Dave. In my case, the clear coat is only peeling off the black sections. The clear coat on the machined areas looks brand new. This happened on three of four wheels. The wheels on my '91 were all machined and no problems with clear coat. So what I am wondering is there something about paint/black that keeps the clear coat from adhering as well as the machined metal section? Is the clear coat peeling on the black a problem just on these wheels or is it common across brands?

Matt

 

Thanks. That is exactly the info I was looking for. It sounds like the problem is not across the board, but a problem with the V-drives. I had a 1 year finish warranty on the Vdrives which is up. My local Discount Tire said they would give me a good deal on any MB Motor wheel and no mounting charge so I decided to go with the MB Torque wheels (16"), but they called me out to the work bay to show me that the wheel wouldn't quite fit over my hub. It was just a bit too tight. Too bad. I liked that wheel. I may take you up on your offer Archangel and PM you some questions.

Matt

 

I have the exact wheels and have had no problems with mine from discount tire.
I run mine thru the car wash atleast once per month.

 

hmmm... though I'm sorry to hear of your problem OP, definitely good info to come by as I am STILL planning on picking up a set of these exact wheels sometime either later today or no later than Friday.

I know of the concerns now and hardships possibly about to face, but as of now, I cannnot find a wheel that fully catches my eye in design style as this V-Drive. Sporty, rugged, yet conservative all in one in my opinion.

Here's a thought OP, upon getting set up with another set of the same, couldn't some sort of local rim shop provide an additional coating or restrengthening of the black areas of the wheels with a better quality black gloss paint? I hear of shops that powder coat and respray wheels left and right, and if some shops could fix up a bent up and busted wheel to the point of making it look brand new again, couldn't someone have that "super" black paint and coating to prolong the life of this issue?

Just throwing thoughts out there... hopefully it can trigger some other ideas from some savvy members since I really like the way this wheel flows with your truck's color.

Best of luck OP!!!

 

^ I'm sure they could but the the point of the everything is that as a customer buying a new wheel you shouldn't have to put more money into because the quality of the coat may very well start flaking. Make sense?

 

Exactly. I was like a beaten wife and the V-Drive was my husband. He told me he wouldn’t flake on me again, but 3 out of 4 times in the past he did. I ditched him for a new man.... wheel that will hopefully treat me right I understand that he is good looking so hopefully he has changed his way for you Member1115
The new wheel in my life is the MB Chaos 6. Here is a picture of one off the Discount Tire web page.



Here it is on.


Matt

 

All the people I have talked to have been very pleased with Teflon coated ATX wheels after years of exposure.