The Ghia X Mondeos, from around '03' plate onwards, have a 17" alloy, whose outer rim is a machined aluminium surface, coated in lacquer. There is no paint on this section of the alloy.
Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that the wheels are looked after (no kerbing, scrapes etc.), my "53" plate vehicle's wheels are already looking unsightly, with the lacquer starting to come away from the wheels, and Ford is hiding behind some daft, customer unfriendly exclusions in its so called, "warranty". Am I alone in thinking that for a 30 month old vehicle with 30,000 miles on the clock, that this is neither normal, nor reasonable ???
Many years ago I owned a beat up 10 year old Peugeot 205 GTi with flaking alloys - but a £22,000 Ford ? Looks like a rubbish wheel design, and poor manufacturing quality to me.....shame Ford won't admit it.
I'd like to hear from anyone else who has had this problem on the Ghia X Mondeo.
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I'd press for Ford to replace or refurb the wheels, quickly before the 3 year warranty is up. If the dealer won't help approach Ford customer services.
I seem to remember reading about a similar problem with alloy wheels on the Lexus IS, IIRC Lexus replaced all the affected wheels.
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No-one paid 22k for the Ford Mondeo Ghia X's.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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My 2002 Ghia X has the earlier 17" wheels and is not suffering this after 109k miles. However I have previously heard that the optional on Ghia X and Zetec S 18" split rims suffer from this. I know the 17" wheels you mean, they do not need to be painted, in fact many alloys are not painted rather they are laquered, it is likely that the laquer has been damaged by a tyre fitter, have they wrongly fitted clip on balance weights?
Nevertheless the wheels need to be able to stand some abuse, if no joy from the dealer then contact Ford customer services, they are excellent, reckon they would take such a problem seriously on a two year old 30k mile car.
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Too late with the warranty I'm afraid, the wheels (or laquer on them) are only covered for the first year, under the bodywork warranty. Any decent wheel refurbisher will make a better job of them than they were originally. Ford alloys are not made to last, remember the Mk2 Mondeo Ghia X Chrome plated multispokes ?, they all used to end up flaking and IIRC they were a black finish underneat, very unsightly..
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I have exactly the same style of alloy on my Oct2003 Ghia Galaxy (albeit in 16").
Mine too have started to show signs of discolouration where the lacquer has faded and corrosion sets in.
I have been in contact with Ford Customer Care and after several weeks of debate managed to strike a deal where they will cover 60% of the cost of a new set of alloys ( and centre caps ) and the new alloys come with a 12 month guarantee.
Give them a phone and see how you get on. FYI, the starting point was 30% contribution !!
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Had the flaking laquer problem on my 16" mondeo alloys too (2003 Zetec). Each one was beginning to go somewhere. On two it was due to careless tyre fitters. Some of it was due to a genuine weakness, so I believe, in the alloy preparation prior to coating in polyurethane. I complained to my local Ford dealer who said that he will put in a claim for one of the alloys only as the flaking was happening on the 'visible' area. The guy said it was better to put a claim in for one and get it approved than put in a claim for two alloys and have it rejected.
In spite of the fact that Ford alloys are under warranty for only ONE year, at almost three years I received one new alloy with a 10% contribution from myself.
If you were to go down the route of getting a powder coating place to refurbish your alloys, start at about 50 quid per wheel.
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Thanks for the tip. I'm going for 0% contribution, since I fail to see how it is my fault. I've never seen alloys this young corrode as badly as this before - so Ford need to cough up as far as I am concerned.
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What you say is what Ford has also said. However, given the circumstances, I don't think it really stands up to a test of reasonableness. For the sake of £150 (which is what Ford want me to pay towards the replacement), I really think Ford should put customer satisfaction before stubborness & denial.
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The early Ghia X wheels were a different design, you are quite right. They were fully painted & lacquered. All alloy wheels are lacquered - the difference on the later Ghia X alloys is that part of the wheel is not painted underneath - relying on a machined aluminium finish. This looks nice when new, but moisture has clearly got under the lacquer.
The interesting point about the corrosion is nothing to do with tyre fitters. The rear tyres are still the factory fitted originals, and they are actually worse than the front wheels. Also, the corrosion starts at the boundary of the painted-unpainted section of the wheel. There is a very sharp radius at this point, and I am sure that the lacquer has cracked (at a micro level), and allowed moisture and dirt behind the lacquer.
My argument with Ford is that this is a design fault (the wheels design lends itself to the problem), and the application of the lacquer is poor (so bad control on the manufacturing process). All in all, not the standard I expect from Ford. I am pursuing it further, although to date Ford Customer services have not been so excellent. They have suggested that I contribute to the costs, which seems a bit daft since the wheels are in otherwise perfect condition (not kerbed or scraped), so I fail to see how I am liable ?
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I'm not entirely familiar with the 17" alloys - I know that they are of a different design to the 9-spoke 16" ones that I have. I appreciate wht you are saying about the 'machined finish' and the laquered finish, but I think that ofter the aluminium alloy has been cast (investment cast) that it is at the very least anodized if not powder coated to achieve the silvery finish (if left as aluminium it would have the same appearance as your aluminium ladder which in fact appears quite matt). The visible outer faces are then coated in a gloss polyurethane sealant.
The whole problem is that moisture gets underneath the coatings and lifts them right off in large flakes. It would be very big of Ford to acknowledge this. I think that they are almost unfit for purpose. My 9-year old Alfa alloys look better, with no flaking than my 3-year old flakey Ford ones.
I hope you can convince Ford to give you a significant goodwill gesture.
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Colleague here at work has a Mazda RX8, and had his alloys replaced yesterday, under warranty. Seems this is a common problem (don't know what pattern the wheels are) - one customer at the garage is now on his third set of wheels. Mazda have apparently been v.good about replacements.
S6 1SW
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Some interesting comments, thanks. I first raised the issue with Ford in March, and we are now in August.....Ford are, at best, being stubborn and, at worst, being silent. Time to up the stakes.......! Watch this space !!
If anyone else has the same model as me (Ghia X '52' plate onwards, with standard 17" wheels), and has corrosion on their alloys - please let me know.
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