[roundincircles]

I'm becoming concerned about the damage occurring to my cars wheels after 3000 miles.

It seems the surface finish is flaking off and the wheels have deep 'pot holes' appearing. At this time it is confined to the rear wheels on the face of the spokes. I have standard wheels.

My guess is that the front wheels are machine gunning debris at the rears, thus causing the damage but I have never had this problem on other cars with wider rear tracks than the front.

Any other owners looked at the rear wheels and found a problem?

As an aside the turning vanes are collecting stones at the bottom of the mesh so fuelling my suspicion that the front wheels are throwing debris to the rear.

 

[Andrew-A]

I have the same problem - my rear wheels (standard stealth) are chipped as are the vanes and the bottom of the doors. There should have been a great deal more protection applied by the factory in these areas. I have covered 1100 miles.

 

[andy c]

lightweight standard finish,my rears are ok on the face,but are shelling at the sharp angle of the inner splines ,but they are doing this on the fronts also,so im not sure its a stone chipping problem,i assumed it was a paint finish on the standard finish and that the stealth finish was powder coated and thus more resiliant,but Andrew has just pointed out its not that,so what is the problem,any of our over the pond friends having issues??

 

[bruce]

Mine have marked at the rear Stealth Finish

 

[Andrew-A]

anyone else with stone chipping on vanes and on the underside of the doors?

 

[Moncho]

My wheels look very good at 1,000 miles. I don't have the stealth finish. Mine were standard finish, which I powder coated after delivery. Maybe the factory stealth finish is softer, or painted? My turning vanes also look good, but they are wrapped.

 

[jarjared]

Only done 600 miles but nothing noticeable on my stealth lightweight wheels as yet.

 

[HyperMac954]

3600 miles, no chipping. Includes track days and daily-driver duty. Doors and vanes are fully wrapped.

 

[texas mongrel]

1300+ miles, stealth lightweights still perfect - even the brake dust matches the color!

 

[Markjayw]

My car will be fully wrapped except above rear tires, rear hatch and have not decided whether or not to do full rear bumper or just some protection behind rear tires? Will also be doing windshield.

When McLaren S.F. brought a car up to Redmond for a test drive, I complained about the factory piece of clear bra under the doors. There are huge gaps so rocks would create chips around that factory piece.

 

[garyw]

I had the vanes clear wrapped to try and save some of the damage.- also the top edges fitted later as they were getting caught too!
My dealer recommended it, so I had it done prior to pick up..

 

[extremeride22]

Boy that sounds like a real problem, I guess I will have to shrink wrap the whole car a prophylactic of sorts. It must have something to do with the way air flows around the car, specifically the rear ducted section. They wanted air to flow into that section to allow for sufficient cooling which I'm sure creates a vortex of sorts pulling debris into that rear section of the car. So how do you resolve the rim issue, by installing a fairing to change the airflow away from the rear rims, get a stronger finish on your rims, wrap the rims. I was actually thinking of changing the offsets of the rims thus pushing them further out, in so doing will this possibly resolve or increase the problem. The other problem is the rim face tends to extend outward, so maybe installing a deeper dished or a deep concave rim. Is there a real solution available to resolve this potential problem. Cheers.....??

 

[Markjayw]

If chips bug you like it does me, these cars are so low you really need to clear wrap certain area. Even if you wrap the car, clear wrap will not protect against a bigger rock getting thrown up on your car. I still always maintain good following distances, and pass trucks quickly. If you want to drive in the winter with all the sand and gravel, just better not care about chips and road rash.

Should also put good protection behind the rear tires and run the piece down to the bottom of the bumper. I have seen many Ferrari's where over time the bottom corners of the bumper turn white because all the paint gets worn off. $200-300 of film back there is way cheaper than respaying, then you may not get a good color match.

Regarding the wheels same thing, drive next to a car or truck at 70mph instead of passing quickly, well be prepared. You can also wax your wheels, which will help a bit. Esoteric Detail carries 22ple, a glass coating, also I believe 6th element coated his wheels with Optimum.

 

[andy c]

Standard wheels are very prone to chipping as they are only painted,the stealth seem to be ok so far as they are powder coated.You of course are right about the rear of the bumper behind the wheels,one of the few places i didnt wrap and there is more white there than VO now !!

 

[andy c]

Boy that sounds like a real problem, I guess I will have to shrink wrap the whole car a prophylactic of sorts. It must have something to do with the way air flows around the car, specifically the rear ducted section. They wanted air to flow into that section to allow for sufficient cooling which I'm sure creates a vortex of sorts pulling debris into that rear section of the car. So how do you resolve the rim issue, by installing a fairing to change the airflow away from the rear rims, get a stronger finish on your rims, wrap the rims. I was actually thinking of changing the offsets of the rims thus pushing them further out, in so doing will this possibly resolve or increase the problem. The other problem is the rim face tends to extend outward, so maybe installing a deeper dished or a deep concave rim. Is there a real solution available to resolve this potential problem. Cheers.....����

Dont worry about the wheels Ken if you have Stealth ,they seem to be tough enough.

 

[Markjayw]

Standard wheels are very prone to chipping as they are only painted,the stealth seem to be ok so far as they are powder coated.You of course are right about the rear of the bumper behind the wheels,one of the few places i didnt wrap and there is more white there than VO now !!

Thing that really annoys me is these areas in front and behind the tires should really come with film from the factories. I guess they think the picky owners will just custom wrap these area, so why bother.

You really need to do this day one, before driving at all. Many owners get excited, drive 500-1000 miles, then add the wrap. Get it done before you take delivery, will thank me in the long run.