UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Has anyone had their alloys refurbished and kept them on through the winter? I'm asking because despite my alloys being only one year old having had them replaced under warranty, they are corroding already!
They have never been kerbed, and they are washed at least once a week and coated with wheel wax every 2 weeks in the winter!
I'm now thinking about having them refurbed and wondered if once refurbed they are more resistant to the road salt problem or will I have to take them off every winter to keep them mint?

It sounds like the No1 problem with them. To get corrosion you need oxygen, water and some impurity like salt to really get it eating away. Perhaps the problem is the laq of laquer on the rims at manufacture that leads to the problem being so bad. In which case a refurb with a clear coat could last much longer.

But I have a sneaky feeling that the corrosion if cause by the fact that they are dissimilar metals bolted together which makes a battery and which accelerates corrosion dramatically. In which case there isn't much you can do.

See http://www.assda.asn.au/asp/index.asp?pgid=18533

As you can see - magnesium and ally are probably the worst combination!

Just a thought - but I think this is why the BBS rims are desperate to return to the ore from which they came.