Rims: galvanic corrosion

M

MirellaBoo

New member
Just bought a 2000 Nissan Path Finder and one of the rims has some galvanic corrosion starting(its under the rim's clear coat from my first inspection of it). Is there any way to stop it, repair it or make it look better other then having a professional shop refinish it?





Thanks
 
Welcome to Autopia CRV-03! :wavey



Sorry I don't have much idea on how to tackle your problem, but are you sure it's under the clear coat? If it's something under the paint and you're sure the paint on top is okay, it doesn't sound like you'd be able to do much for it. You could always try a mild/moderate polish or scratch remover (for paint) and see if that improves anything.
 
Yeah its under the clear finish on the rims, its smooth on top of the black stains and it almost looks like a splinter under skin. I am going to try the compounds and what not and maybe even spot trip the clear coat and clean it and see if i can patch it back.
 
CRV-03 - Welcome to Autopia. I'm not sure your problem is actually GALVANIC corrosion, but I DO think you're right about how serious it is. Spot-stripping/refinishing (use a GOOD clear, designed for wheels!!) might work, but if you're not satisfied, then yeah, you'll have to have a pro redo it. There ARE shops that specialize in this, so it CAN be done.



This makes me think of how adhesive wheel weights, mounted on the BACK of the wheels, are the way to go. Clamp/crimp-on weights are where a lot of these problems start.
 
I think what you are actually seeing is road salt or some other chemical made its way through a crack or break in the clearcoat and started to react with the aluminum. Being as its trapped under the clear it will continue to spider out and eventualy pop through somewhere else. You can use a dremel to take care of it with a little spot repair without doing much damage to the surrounding area. Galvanic corrosion is actually something that happens mostly on boats and has to to with conductive properties of dissimilar metals in salt water.
 
Have not had the time to refinish the job but I did take off the clearcoat from some of the really bad spots. To discribe it I would say take a piece of steel, some salt and a few drops of water and then laminate them. That is what the wheels looked like. I used a sharp pick to peel off the lose clear and used some aluminum polish to get rid of most of the black discolouration. I am going to get a metal polishing bit for my dremel and finish polishing and then get some auto wheel clear from NAPA and try to do it spot by spot.
 
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