So I posted a question about this in another forum about 5 years ago. Maybe it was here time flies. My baby... my 08 LS460's rims are not chrome but silver in color. About 3 years after I bought the car used I noticed that the coating was bubbling up on all of the rims but my spare. I wash the car once a month in the driveway and once a month (halfway through) at a local touchless car wash. I don't think either of these would cause the rims to bubble up and flake like a bad afternoon in the sun but here we are. I have noticed via my security cameras that cats (don't get me started... keep them inside the house if you care for them) will occasionally trigger the motion alarms and I see them either pissing on the rims or pissing on the windshield. I assume this is some territorial behavior.

So now is my question: Have any of you seen this degradation of the rims including bubbling and flaking of the coating but you don't have a cat problem? Unfortunately I can't garage her and the cover I use doesn't protect the entire rim on all four wheels.

I'm asking because I'm about to pay $8k for a respray of the paint to recover from the Florida sun. I'm debating buying refinished rims from ebay but am worried the coating will fail shortly after because of said cats.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

You might have a set of refurbished wheels (unless you bought this car new). I got one of my wheels refinished after scraping the curb and at least one other wheel was refurbished at some point before. If it is done right you will hardly notice it and it will last forever, but if it wasn't done right you might have coating coming off pretty easily. Had this experience before with the set of "RESTORED" wheels that I bought for another car. I'd suggest you to get your wheels refinished. This way you will know for sure that you not getting some bent wheel pulled from the wreck. Last time I took my wheel to the shop to get fixed it was $120 per wheel.

 

Yep, they all do that. Proper refinish will last longer than stock

 

Mine bubbled and flaked without any cat problem. I assume the salt from NE winters is the main culprit in my case.

 

In any event, sounds like you could use some cat relocation. I would NEVER do this, but I heard of someone who captured a cat in their yard (because of similar issues as you observed). I heard that this person didn't know who's cat it was, but what I heard was that the person took a picture of the cat captured (and subsequently released the cat). Then I heard that anonymous letters were dropped in mailboxes stating that if Mr. Kitty were captured again, he would be provided free transportation to an unknown destination at least a hundred miles away. Said person who captured this cat never saw it again. Just sayin', for a friend.

I love kitty-cats. And since I do, I keep them inside (and de-clawed so they don't scratch up the furniture). When I grew up, we had a cat or 4. Every damn one of them was killed by cars or dogs. That was tough on a kid who loved them. So, now I keep them inside. And, I strongly dislike seeing paw prints on the cars I leave outside. I haven't see paw prints for YEARS. My neighbors are generally like-minded, that helps.

 

Yup, very fews things day I love you more than cutting the end bones off your cats toes.

 

I guess I hate my cats.

 

Protholl, I lived in coastal Fl for many years and now coastal CA. Salt in the air can travel miles inland and cause issues. A proper prep and repaint of rims should work well. Don't forget to change out TPMS sensors when you do.

 

I will say the rims on my IS and the rims on my Titan don't have this problem but watching the cameras the cats don't mess with these two vehicles that are parked on the street. I did order 5 new Denso TPMS sensors from Rock Auto and they arrived today.

Thanks everyone and have a great weekend.

 

I agree with this. The wheels on the 02 es bubbled in a lot of spots for no reason. The Hyper Silver on the 09 GS was worse, and peeling in places for absolutely no reason.

I just refinished the GS wheels myself because I couldn’t take it any more. I had to file out not only curb rash, but bubble spots down to metal to then build/sand/etc. it back up before painting.

 

I like that card trick.

 

It really works well, and you can do a decent job on the edge filing/filling/sanding even w/the tires on. I’m doing a Volvo set right now wheels off. Easier, but don’t let wheels-on deter anyone. I can’t recall where I saw that trick, but I did not invent it.

 

Could be from the aluminum oxidizing. Had that happen on my 06. My 08 are chipped and I'm not looking forward to getting those fixed.