OEM Alloys on 135i - Paint Peeling

[Timbola]

This is a curious one.

Front offside OEM style 261 alloy has a layer of paint coming off - a strip about 3 inches square - which I peeled off.

I didn't think OEM alloys were painted, that they were just alloy metal?

I went to a different car cleaner as my usual one had shut down. I'm thinking they've used a cheap acidic alloy cleaner which has corroded away the surface or similar.

Any ideas?

[LocoBlade]

261s are painted and lacquered like most alloys, the only wheels where you see the alloy metal is with wheels like the 313s below where the face is left bare (sometimes referred to as machined face), but even those have lacquer over the alloy metal, bare alloy would corrode to buggery in no time at all!

It only takes a stone chip or a bit of kerbing to go through the lacquer and then its just a matter of time before salt, water and acidic wheel cleaners etc works its way underneath the surrounding lacquer.

Edited by LocoBlade on Saturday 18th May 19:36