First off my car had 4997 miles on the clock when this happened a little over a month ago. I went to the car wash one day and noticed dark lines on my right front wheel. There was a single line coming from each lug hole which extended out to the lip of the wheel. At first I thought it was road grime but when I felt the wheel it was evident the lines were under the clear. I took the rim to the local Mazda Dealer to see if they could determine what caused it. The parts and service manager said they had never seen anything like it. They took picturs and sent them to the Mazda Rep. The parts manager then asked if I would be fine with repainting the wheel. I was not fond of the idea but agreed. While waiting to hear back from the parts manager I went to two body shops and neither wanted to touch the wheel. Well a week past and I never heard anything from the parts manager at the first delaership so I decided to take the wheel to another dealership. The service manager at the second dealership said the same thing. He also took pictures and sent them to his Mazda Rep. His Rep immediately stated I sprayed something on the wheel and would not replace it under warranty. As a good gestrue he agreed to have the wheel repainted. I called BS and said if that were the case why didn't the McGuires wheel cleaner I've been using since I purchased the car cause damage to the other wheels. The service manager told the Rep I couldn't have done anything to the wheel cause the lines were under the clear. The Rep disagreed and said he would only pay to repaint the wheel. Instead of arguing I went to another body shop to see if they would repaint the wheel. The painter at the body shop said he did not want to repaint it but agreed to do so. I left the wheel with the shop and about an hour later they called me back stating Mazda will not release the paint code for the wheel. I went back to the shop to find out what was going on. The shop suggested I call the initial dealership where I purchased the car and complain. I got in touch with the service manager at the initial dealership and he was very surprised the parts manager had never called me back. I put the shop on the phone and after 5-10 mins the service manager agreed to replace the wheel. The following week when I went to pick up my new wheel I ran into the General manager while I was carrying the old wheel into the service dept. I didn't tell him what was going on but he took one look at the wheel and stated it appears the wheel had stress cracks under the paint. He then looked at the service manager and told him to order me a new wheel.......I was thinking WTF I should have gone to the general manager to begin with.

 

LOLOLOL Dam sounds worse than my a/c nightmare.

 

how did that happen? it cant be under the clearcoat unless it was there since day one
looks like crack

 

Not sure how it happened and I've never hit anything. I bought my 09 brand new about 9 mos ago and it basically sits in the garage cause I drive my company car during the week. The general manager said he thinks the wheel may have started cracking from the inside out. Funny how the lines are exactly the same on each spoke but yet the Mazda Rep said I sprayed something on the wheel.....what are the odds of that happening.

 

that killed me.

 

Well......having a take home company car greatly reduces the number of miles I put on my personal vehicles. Besides I also love driving my wifes 08 Tahoe LTZ.

 

thats weird....how did it happen? i guess u r very very lucky. go to Vegas for one night.lol

 

looks like it was caused by someone puting on the wheel wrong ie over tightening or wrong bolt order

 

^wrong bolt order?? huh?

 

when you bolt a tire on u bolt on a star pattern never in a circle

 

I guess anything is possible but before this happened I had never taken any of the wheels off the car. Yeah....I always tighten the lugs in a star like pattern.

 

I wish I knew. Heck both dealerships I went to couldn't explain it. I did my best not to drive it in hopes that the wheel wouldn't come apart.

Vegas.....I'm not that lucky.

 

Sorry to bring this thread back alive again, but I just wanted to say that this thread was extremely interesting and helpful to me.

The situation hasn't happened to me yet, but I will remember this thread if anything were to happen.

OP: I'm glad that one of your dealers finally took charge and agreed to replace the wheel. And yes, it's always best to deal directly with the main manager if it's a complicated issue like this, so that your time & effort isn't wasted.

Well, congrats on getting the new wheel!

 

Glad you got it taken care of.
Now...............about that "return" or "enter" key.........

 

yeah that looks like it was some sort of manufacturing defect. Or you might have hit a nasty pot hole somewhere and the wheel was already weakened

 

I've got black road tar spotting my entire wheels and nothing will take it off. Almost like it's embedded into the clearcoat of the wheels. Got off the surface tar but the stains persist maybe bad clearcoat, I'll post pics when I get a chance. Anyone else had this problem?

 

I've got dark spots on my fenders, but not the wheels, which I think is from tire dressing applied by the dealer when I bought the car used. Nothing has taken it off. It seems to be stained into the paint, and the paint is actually thicker at the spots. Acetone softened one of the spots enough that it came off with some rubbing, leaving a pit down to the metal.

 

Some rubbing compoud should do the trick.