Corrosion on 2005 OEM Wheels?

[vibedrive]

I have the "Moons & Tunes" 2005 Vibe with the aluminum wheels. It is moonstone in color (didn't know what "moonstone was until I visited GenVibe).
Anyway, I am just beginning to see that the silver coating on the cast aluminum wheels is starting to "swell" in a few places indicating corrsion issues under the coating. I live in the lowlands of Washington State, but the roads are salted in the winters occasionally.
What should I do? Let it get a lot worse, then sandblast and re-coat? What re-coat is best?
Thank You, Great Forum!
Kip

[Wingnut]

My wheels are doing the same thing. I have it on all of them and several areas are flaking off now. I'm just using them for winter so they are only going to get worse. I will probably just blast them and repaint them soon.

[jkm311]

The only way I was able to slow this problem with my wheels was to get a set of winter rims, thus keeping the salt and junk from making them worse. This helped a lot, and I only have minor, minor bubbling. Maybe 4 spots total on all 4 rims combined. Nothing unsightly, but this issue does seems to be a problem across the board. A co-worker of mine had a 2003 Vibe, and with mine being a 2006, I used his Vibe as a barometer of what damage and aging I could expect. His rims were AWFUL. The "bubbling" from underneath was rampant, so he just bought a cheaper set of rims to replace them all since he still loved the car. But, after
going with rims that had thinner 7-spokes, now his problem was rusty drums in the rear and calipers in the front.

Blasting is definitely an option for you, however, I can't comment on shop options or what processes they go through to do a quality repaint. Call up some local auto body garages that do cosmetic work. They can quote you some prices. Good luck.

[vibedrive]

Thank You, Luckily I don't live in Michigan where roads are salted 5 months of the year. But, in Washington State the DOT is using more and more salt each year... something about envoronmental issues with sand. This corrosion is just beginning.
In my bridge and commercial painting carreer (40 years, now retired) we used a rust conversion product call "Extend" made by the Locktite Corp. Looks like hell (black) but it converted all rust, and stopped the spread
Hopefully I will just drive to the tropics every winter and avoid all road salt.
If not, I guess an extra set of rims is in my future.

[ligion]

I had the same issues living with my 2004 vibe here in Florida. I only ignored it not thinking there was anything to do about it, and i repainted them a few months ago. I think that tire shine was the culprit for mine because of the areas that were corroding first. But who knows really, i just took it as an opportunity to customize it to my personal liking =)

[Wingnut]

I'm going to have my rims sandblasted. After their sandblasted I'll probly end up painting them the same color you did.

[ehoff121]

What about powder coating? Is that an option after sandblasting?

[jkm311]

What about powder coating?

My next question, as well.