Peeling Chrome Wheels

I know there have been many post's about this, but wanted to bring it up again to ask your experience in getting the wheels replaced.

I just purchased my 01 Proton and am now the 2nd owner. The chrome wheels are peeling very bad. I took it to isuzu immediately after purchase and, after 3 weeks, the dealer finally called back to say the wheels were only covered for 3 years. Also, since I was the 2nd owner and there was no history with Isuzu the Regional rep declined to replace the wheels.

I called Isuzu Motors America, owner relations dept and was told the same as above. basically, the regional rep made his decision and that is final.

Am I just out of Luck or do you have any advice for me?

Thanks

I am the original owner. Chrome wheels peeling bad. I made an appointment with Isuzu dealer. Isuzu regional rep came, looked at it, and said "it's NORMAL" . Refused to replace them even though the Vehicross is only 2.5 years old. Called Isuzu America customer relation department rightaway and I said : "every owner on VecrossInfo got their wheels replaced, it's a known problem, why not me?" . CS rep talked to regional rep over the phone then told me it's a "case by case" situation - yours due to "snow ice salt sand acid chemical.." Told me some ways how to "protect my chrome wheels from peeling". That was it.

What can we do? Sue Isuzu? I want to but it is impossible. The bottom line is : Isuzu service sucks.

You could always try another dealer.. some have a little better pull with the reps than others.

You could drive to Kentucky! I'm the second owner, and got mine replaced at 2 years, 28,000 miles without much of a problem. They had to schedule an appointment when the rep was to be in town and let him look at it, but they called me back and said "no problem - we are replacing all your wheels". Honestly, they did not look that bad, and I'm not sure that all of them were bulbing (none were peeling). I saw the post here, checked my wheels and saw some "bumps" on the inside of my wheels.

I was told they are covered for 3 yesrs and the same thing about ice salt causing the problem.

shuiwong, what kind of tips did they tell you to protect the chrome?

I am right in the middle of getting my wheels (and head light gaskets) replaced. I am the 3rd owner of my '01 and at 32K miles. I got it in just before the 3 yr warranty expiration and it seemed like they were going to give me the run-around saying that they are really picky about replacing the wheels. The guy came out to looked at them, verified information, then wrote an email to Isuzu. He called me the other day & said it was authorized, but they don't have any of the parts in stock. So right now I'm waiting for an authorization card of some sort to come in the mail then I can bring it in for the work.

If they would've given me hard time about it I had planned on standing my ground saying, "Look, these wheels are covered by the warranty. The warranty is still in effect. There's no reason not to replace them."

Hope it works out for you guys. Good Luck.

Nates, you got very lucky for them to cover anything as the warranty is not really transferable. When it is, the time and mileage is reduced quite a bit.

When I was still under the bumper to bumper as a second owner(under 3 yrs 18,000 mi ) I thought the rep would not go for it but they warranted out my peeling chrome rims. Guess I lucked out. The new ones look awesome and the "0" price was right!

ALSO BEWARE...my engine light had come on and the dealer(cerami in nj) said it was my intake manifold gasket and it was NOT under the longer running drive train warranty and it would cost almost $400.00. I didnt believe them and called the club friendly dealer in St. Charles. Their service dept was kind enough to look it up and tell me it WAS under warranty. so then Cerami did it for free. I SAVED 400.00 WITH ONE PHONE CALL!

Guess I am lucky for getting it in when I did. I don't know how they determined it, but when I called the 800 # to register as the new owner and transfer whatever warranty was left, they told me the exact dates & mileage the basic & power train warranties would expire. I was still within the limits of what they told me for basic warranty when I went in for the wheels so that's what I was going on. As far as I know, I'm still under power train warranty until May 6, 2007 or 60K miles.

Learn a lesson from this and don't buy a vehicle assuming that something will be covered by warranty. Instead, use it as a bargaining point to lower the price of the vehicle, or do some pre-purchase research to confirm your assumptions. I suggest you look at some inexpensive aftermarket alternatives. You can get some replacement stock wheels for about 400 + shipping from ebay.

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to add that I recently filed a complaint with the BBB through their web site for this defective wheels situation.

I don't know if anyone else tried doing this for getting resolution to their VX problems, but the BBB site does give a profile on Isuzu Motors America and rates them very poorly for reliability, quality and handling complaints. Not good to hear but hey, you can always work that rating through the legal system which would hopefully help your case.

We shall see what happens.....but this avenue is worth taking, and easy to do for those who have unresolved Isuzu problems.

http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Bu...ompanyID=11514

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Originally Posted by smorris65

I know there have been many post's about this, but wanted to bring it up again to ask your experience in getting the wheels replaced.

I just purchased my 01 Proton and am now the 2nd owner. The chrome wheels are peeling very bad. I took it to isuzu immediately after purchase and, after 3 weeks, the dealer finally called back to say the wheels were only covered for 3 years. Also, since I was the 2nd owner and there was no history with Isuzu the Regional rep declined to replace the wheels.

I called Isuzu Motors America, owner relations dept and was told the same as above. basically, the regional rep made his decision and that is final.

Am I just out of Luck or do you have any advice for me?

Thanks

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I am the second owner, and had my peeling rims replace on the B2B warranty, after taking it too my dealer and explaning how others on this forum had theirs replaced. Took some time to make a few calls, but they came through. That was about 2 years and 30K miles ago, and guess what, the new ones are doing the same..........so dont worry if you dont get new ones, they will do the same thing. Im gonna look into painting them to match the cladding or get them rechromed better some day!!!

anyone every repainted them? if so how to strip the chrome? i want to paint them black. anyone have experience painting wheels?