[Tango Charlie]

A quick heads-up to check your wheels.

Had a good clean of our Note today, 59 Reg 1.4 N-Tech. (so, 2.5 years old, 13800 miles) Noticed that on all four wheels there is very slight bubbling around the centre badge, worse on the two fronts for some reason.
Took it to our local dealer from where it was bought from new and serviced.
A few photos later and they will approach Nissan for replacements. Will let you know the results.

 

[flash22]

Its a common fault as the paint on some wheels is very thin, i give mine a coat of polish a few days after i got the car and thay have been fine
reason the fronts bubble up is thay get hotter than the rears due to the discs and the pad dust doesnt help, throw on some cleaner when the cars is being cleaned and it soon corrodes

 

[alfisto]

As my wheels have just been replaced I hope you don't mind me adding this.


The 15" alloys suffer the same. Before Ibought my 1.5 dCi Acenta this January I'd looked at lots of Notes at dealerships since the cars were first lauched, and almost every car had corrosion bubbles on the wheels after only 1-3 years and low mileage.



My Acenta is a 2009 car with the 15" Sakura wheels, and had only 8000 miles recorded when I bought it. The wheels seemed perfect. But on very close inspection after its 2nd hand wash I noticed the corrosion had started on the front wheels (in the leading edge of the spokes, facing forward). The rears are fine.



The Nissan dealer inspected them, and as you say, took photos for Nissan's warranty approval process which followed without question. The two front wheels were replaced under warranty three weeks ago and I polished them usingZymol and a coat of Autoglym Gloss Protection (liquid hardwax) the following day. I'll try to stick with that regime every few months. It's a great car and worth looking after.



This is evidently a known warranty issue and you'd think that the wheel manufacturer would improve their process in the light of Nissan's replacement costs! Alfa's alloys are produced by Speedline and corrode even faster! The rear face has no silver colour coat, only primer. The corrosion starts on the inneredges and works itself around the front, and then they're doomed!

 

[mnl]

I just bought an 08 Note, 15000 miles and 19 months old.

It came with a puncture, and when I had the wheel off, the corrosion on the inner face is worse than the 15 year old wheels on my Toyota.

I spent a day cleaning off the corrosion on all 4 wheels and daubing the inside with metal paint.

I shall have to budget for a refurb on the wheels in the near future.

I just put it down to the "Made in Britain" tag, nothing much seems to have changed in the 30 years since my old Maestro

 

[Tango Charlie]

Have had a phone call from my local dealer today...booked in for replacement of wheels. Pretty good service I think as only reported to the dealer on Monday. Will treat the new wheels as suggested.

 

[alfisto]

I've used Hammerite's smooth silver spray paint on the inner surfaces of alloy wheels before. Obviously the surface must be very clean and dry before painting. The paint takes some time to go off, even in warm weather (and creates more messy overspray than any paint I know!). But the result is superb and very robust. I've never seen anycorrosion bubbles subsequently on any wheels I'd painted.


On refurbs, I recommend Lap Tab in Birmingham - see their website.I had numerous Alfa alloys refurbished there with fantastic results at a reasonable cost.

 

[Tango Charlie]

The result...
Took the car in today, all four wheels have been replaced even though the two rears had only minimal bubbling. Although not very impressed with the standard of protection on the wheels,the response from the dealer and Nissan was very good.