I have a 2013 Skoda Superb 4x4 with 18" Sirius Alloy wheels. They are fitted with low profile tyres and have suffered mild scrapping from kerbs and pot holes, For the last twelve months or so I have had to add air to the tyres on a regular basis, i.e every few days. Recently my front nearside tyre deflated totally. I reinflated the tyre and took the car to my local garage, a specialist in Audi-VW vehicles. He has told me that the alloys have started to loose their powder coating covering, and the are areas of bubling on all the road wheels. It seems that the alloy wheels have become perforated allowing air to escape. The only solution seems to be to have the wheels cleaned off and re-powder coated, at a cost of around £300.00. I am interested to know is any other Skoda owners with allo wheels have had similar problems and if this is a common fault with alloy wheels once water and road salt can get at the uncovered alloy material?

3 hours ago, NickShaw said:

if this is a common fault with alloy wheels

 Yes.

 

If you can remove the tyres from the rim then:-

A wizz with a wire brush ( attached to an angle grinder is my preferred weapon ) around both bead seating areas.

A couple of layers of alloy wheel spray paint and your done for several years.

 

A good tyre shop could do this when they fit any new tyre if you can supply the paint.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

On 07/12/2021 at 18:16, NickShaw said:

I have a 2013 Skoda Superb 4x4 with 18" Sirius Alloy wheels. They are fitted with low profile tyres and have suffered mild scrapping from kerbs and pot holes, For the last twelve months or so I have had to add air to the tyres on a regular basis, i.e every few days. Recently my front nearside tyre deflated totally. I reinflated the tyre and took the car to my local garage, a specialist in Audi-VW vehicles. He has told me that the alloys have started to loose their powder coating covering, and the are areas of bubling on all the road wheels. It seems that the alloy wheels have become perforated allowing air to escape. The only solution seems to be to have the wheels cleaned off and re-powder coated, at a cost of around £300.00. I am interested to know is any other Skoda owners with allo wheels have had similar problems and if this is a common fault with alloy wheels once water and road salt can get at the uncovered alloy material?

My own experience with almost identical set up (4x4 170 elegance registered November 2013) is the issue arises from corrosion where the the tyre bead seats and seals on the barrel of the rim rather than than the loss of powder coat from the parts of the rim you can see which is purely cosmetic.  No good taking them to Kwikfit and their ilk, they'll randomly spray some leak detect solution on the bits they can easily reach which the wheel still on the car and then tell you there isn't a problem as it doesn't sell them any tyres.  Proper solution is full refurb' as you describe (which also deals with cosmetic issues) but cheapest solution is to find yourself a proper old school back street tyre shop and get them to sort it.   All mine have ended up needing sorting in turn, three have been sorted already and the air loss on the fourth and final one is now getting annoying enough that I will be sorting in near future.  All my guys do is locate where the air is coming from by immersing the wheel and tyre in water tank (the air loss is minuscule, tiny bubble every few seconds which is why quick squirt of leak detect spray will never work), remove the tyre and then clean up the corrosion where the tyre bead seats with wire brush / fine sanding disc (as AG Falco describes) and they then refit the tyre using some specfic gunk designed to help in with these sort of sealing problems (believe it's basically a thicker version of the lubricant they routinely use when fitting a tyre).  For first two was charged 20 quid the pair, cash of course 😉 , the third one was 15 quid (all including new valve and re-balancing).  The first two were done about 18 months ago and had no problem with any of those three since (even after new tyres have been fitted by Kwikfit mobile).  So whilst it likely isn't a permanent fix as fresh corrosion will eventually appear elsewhere on the circumference where tyre bead seals, from my experience it isn't something that will need to be done regularly.

Thanks for your detailed reply. I have spoken to a workmate who has recommended one of your 'back street' wheel restoration guys charging the sort of amount you mention so in the new year that will be where I shall be headed. This is obviously a common problem, Has your vehicle got low profile tyres? I suspected that was part of the problem.

6 hours ago, NickShaw said:

Has your vehicle got low profile tyres? I suspected that was part of the problem.

It's alloy wheels and age not low profile tyres.

Steel wheels also suffer, but from rust in the bead areas, especially wheels / vehicles that hardly move.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

Make sure you don't inject water when you add air to your tyres, as this might be what's causing the corrosion on the inside of the rims where the tyre beads sit.

 

If you've ever owned an air compressor with tank, you will know that water builds up inside the tank...so the tank has to be drained every day when in use.

 

Unfortunately, garages won't always drain their air tanks every day, resulting in water coming out with the compressed air when used to pump up your tyres.

 

It's best to use a bicycle track pump or foot pump, or an air compressor that doesn't have a tank, ie. pumps the tyres up directly rather than via a tank...water builds up in tanks.

 

Edited 16 December, 20214 yr by Carlston

On 16/12/2021 at 11:34, NickShaw said:

Thanks for your detailed reply. I have spoken to a workmate who has recommended one of your 'back street' wheel restoration guys charging the sort of amount you mention so in the new year that will be where I shall be headed. This is obviously a common problem, Has your vehicle got low profile tyres? I suspected that was part of the problem.

Have exactly the same sirius alloys and 40 profile tyres as you but, as AG Falco says, it's not the tyre that's causing the issues, it's corrosion of what is a poor quality finish on the alloy wheels.  The 40 profile tyres certainly don't help to prevent external cosmetic damage which in turn causes external corrosion but prior to my current Superb had a Mondeo for 7 years and 130K miles When I part exed it for the current superb it was almost 8 years old and had 137K miles on the clock but as it was on 205/55/16s, the higher side walls ensured that I never put a mark on the alloys in the 7 years, finish was still immaculate and never had any slow leaks from corrosion .  Contrast that to the superb where as well as countless scuffs from potholes (and possibly a few kerbs but would never admit that 😉 loads of the finish is flaking off from undamaged sections, they simply don't seem to cope as well with UK conditions as the Ford alloys did.  Suspect it's same internally, corrosion (possibly exacerbated by wet air, never thought of that before) happening because of poor quality finish.  That said the 40 profile 18s suit the superb both in looks and, more importantly, in matching the performance of the car, only time I've ever had traction control kick in is when purposely provoking it in snow whereas the old mondeo with 40HP less would spin front wheels at every opportunity.  Obviously the 4 wheel drive is a big part of that but so is running appropriate wheels and tyres to suit the performance, especially the torque  of 170 diesel.

3 hours ago, DrCorbyLee said:

Contrast that to the superb where as well as countless scuffs from potholes (and possibly a few kerbs but would never admit that 😉

 

A lot of modern alloy wheels are wider than the tyre so any close encounter with a kerb will hit the alloy first.

They are also more likely to have many spokes and / or sharp edges. ( Fussy Styling. )

 

Thanks. AG Falco

 

The Sirius alloy wheels are partially diamond cut / polished, an inherently weaker finish compared to painting or powder coating.

 

At 8 years old you've done well to last this long. The polished finish is achieved by polishing the bare alloy to an almost mirror finish and simply applying lacquer i.e. completely missing out the protective paint.

 

Stone chips, kerbing, tyre replacement, UV etc. all weaken the lacquer, water get's behind it, but without the protective paint the lacquer is quickly compromised and the bare alloy exposed, resulting in corrosion, a term often referred to as white-worm.

 

Skoda in their infinite wisdom decided to extend the polished finish around the area where the tyre bead sits on the rims...

 

 

Edited 21 December, 20214 yr by silver1011

I got peed with Skoda Dealers when there was an agreement to have new rims provided under warranty and they wanted the car in and not just the wheels for them or their handy tyre fitters to change the tyres.

Then they came with tyres fitted and already the lacquer marked and the alloys ready to go just the same way again.

 

I took a pair off as soon as i got home, prepped them to be stored and without any use other than the 15 miles from the dealer they were both ruined by white worm.

There were actually some of the Dark Chrome Gigaro that stood up well to use on a car which really is the point of wheels. 

Generally they were crap though.

They were fitted with Low Profile tyres  205/40 R 17 is properly low profile.

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/464539-problems-with-vega-alloys