Help: Is a warranty claim for wheels possible?

[JimboM3]

I bought a 53 plate e46 about 8 months ago from a main dealer with the 12 month BMW warranty.

The alloys have started to corrode badly. The Laquer is peeling of in places and they are starting to look quite bad. This has not been casued by curbing as it is happening on all 4 wheels (hubs and towards the rims to varying amounts) and so far I have only slightly curbed one (damn it).

Anyway... the warranty specifically excludes wheels (and other "consumables"), but has anyone had any experience of BMW on this kind of issue? The damage is clearly not wear and tear, but then again the car IS 5 years old so I don't not know how far I can realistically push it when I give them a call.

Any ideas / experiences appreciated!

Alternatively does any one know any good wheel refurbishers in the Salisbury / Southampton Area? Or should I just splash out on some CSL alloys.....

Thanks in advance

Jim

[MitchT]

It's been mentioned on here a few times. "They all do that sir" seems to be the stock response. Try borrowing an old Skoda and taking it to your BMW dealer and pointing out that, "actually, they don't all do that sir". They still won't do anything about it but it might embarrass them a bit.

[ohidunno]

Not BMW wheels but got the local Toyota garage to replace a full set of alloys on my girlfriends MR2 and my late fathers RAV4. Both vehicles were a couple of years old, and neither had been bought from the dealer in question. You could ask BMW why they can't do the same.

[Vixpy1]

Its a known problem with the E46 M3 wheels, some people have got it down under warranty.

[Webber3]

Were the wheels perfect when you picked the car up? If so they may have refurbed the wheels themselves as part of their prep service. If they pay a 3rd party to do this prep work then they should be able to get them to put it right.

[JimboM3]

I hadn't thought about that, they were perfect when I got it so you are probably right that they have already been refurbed when the car was prepped! I will ask them.

Cheers for the advice so far.

[DavidLScott]

FWIW all four of my 52plate 330ci SE original wheels started de-lacquering but outside the warranty period so I never bothered.
surely if they haven't been kerbed they should show some interest in helping out.

The finish of them since I had them refurbished is superb - way better than original.