A little over a year I had my rear outer wheels replaced due to corrosion under the clear coat around the valve stems, 15K miles

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Next week another pair are being installed for the same issue, 31K miles.

Anyone else have bad wheels on the DRW's?

 

I also had the rears replaced for the same thing. I haven't seen any corrosion on the new ones yet. My '05 had 88,000 when I sold it and they were still ok.

 

Guess I better look tomorrow.

 

These pics are from last year, but the corrosion is about the same

 

Thanks for the pics, Duane.

Forgot to look again today. Better do it tomorrow before the snow storm hits.

 

Duane, Did Ford warranty the wheels? or were you on your own?

 

Warranty, last year and this year, no bickering required.
Service rep took pictures, emailed to Ford and had an answer within an hour or two both times.

 

Did the wheels come with those valve stems? they look like stainless steel. Or is that something you added? I ask because you may be having a galvanic reaction between the two metals. I did a quick google search, and came across this. Stainless steel is more noble than aluminum, which when in contact, especially when wet, will cause the aluminum to corrode because there is a low level reaction going on.

In my opinion, I would change out the valve stems on your new wheels if possible, and I bet the problem goes away.

 

Wow, that's an excellent catch, and something most people are unaware of. Galvanic compatibility would certainly do it! Reps to you sir.

Carl

 

That's good to hear Duane, I just had winter tire put on and the tire shop was going to change the valve stems to rubber, I asked that they give me the medal ones when done. When I picked up the truck they had just reused the medal ones.

 

The valve stems in the pictures are factory stems.
The caps obviously are not and were put on for the trip to the dealer. I normally run pressure monitors on the stems.

The front aluminun wheels have rubber stems (metal core)
The rear inner's have brass stems and the outer's are I think, stainless. Never really checked though.



You need to have some fluid and current to have this happen.

And as mentioned, I run tire pressure monitors, so metal is the standard for that.

 

Plenty of fluid in the form of rain/snow. No external current needed. The reaction between the different metals is all it takes.

If your front wheels with rubber stems are not corroding....supports this theory.

Only an idea. And only you can decide if you want to try to put an end to the problem.

 

Immersed is the key for galvanic corrosion.

The fronts have the stems in a rough, non clear coated section of the rim.

If it actually is caused by the stems, then perhaps when the wheels get changed next week there will be a different type of stem installed.

My truck can't be the only one with the wheels doing this.

 

It doesn't have to be immersed for galvanic corrosion to take place. It only has to be wet. The two metals need to be far enough apart on galvanic series. A great example of how this can happen without immersion is the Statue of Liberty, where a constant challenge has been to prevent galvanic corrosion between the copper skin and the iron support stucture.

Carl

 

I read this post then checked my wheels and both rear wheels have corrosion around valve stems. Took truck to dealer and they said never heard of this asked me if I put other valve stems in.They took pictures to send to Ford,they said should have answer tomorrow. Truck is 2 years old with less than 6000 miles never seen snow or road salt.