Method Race Wheels Issues with Clear Coat

only been on the truck for a year. anyone else have these issues with there method race 305 wheels??







to put things into perspective:
-wheels have been sitting on truck for a year now.
-driven once a week usually on sat or sun
-after going on a trail i always go thru a touchless car wash to rinse off dirt and wiped down afterwards
-truck is kept in garage 6 days out of the week

 

Any chance damage is from trail? I would say contact Method as they should still be under warranty.

 

It actually started about 2 months ago. It's on all 4 rims now. I don't think dusty rims would cause that kind of damage after only 1 year. And was barely driven on. My offroading is like 2 or 3 hours a week.

However I did contact method. It is under warranty. But there is a catch. I have to buy all 4 new rims with my own money first. Then send them back these ones. And then they will refund me. Kinda hard for me to cough up that much right now as it already took me months to save up for these to begin with. Lol

 

That's kinda chickenshit for a recognized warranty claim but I suppose it's a little better than a stick in the eye. I'm currently eyeballing the Method line trying to decide on 704's or maybe the 305's. Curious how this turns out for you.

 

That's ridiculous. Does Method offer any guarantee or have something in writing to prove they will refund the defective wheels?

 

God forbid!

honestly it’s gotta be a faulty/cheap product.

 

It’s unfortunate however I think all companies make you put a “refundable deposit” down before sending you replacement product. I think it’s to prevent someone from making off with product.

I’m currently going thru a warranty issue with another company and had to put a deposit down to get replacement sent. However I’ve been refunded when sending defective part back.

 

Not trying to be an A-hole here, but I don't blame Method one bit for wanting a refundable deposit or the defective wheels back as insurance. Like @AntMan408 alluded to, otherwise what are they suppose to go on, good faith that you're telling the truth and not trying to pull a fast one on them?

As far as coughing up the coin for the new rims, I don't see how you're really out anything as long as you have all your ducks in a row to where as soon as you get the new rims you get them swapped with the old ones and sent right back to Method. I would think you can easily get this charge/refund done within a given credit card billing cycle (or whatever form of payment method you're using).

I know it sucks and is inconvenient, but on the bright side at least they're standing behind their product. I see enough companies in the auto industry weasel their way out of honoring warranties or whatever misleading marketing BS sales pitch they promised you at the time of purchase.

What I'd be more concerned about is the root cause of this issue and will you just run into the same issue/headache down the road with the new rims.

 

I understand what you are saying. And I understand from a business perspective too. So I know both sides.

Money is tight right now. So that's my issue. I don't have a credit card with a high limit that can cover all 4 rims. If you asked me before the pandemic I might have done so. But I would have still posted pics asking if this happened to anyone else. Maybe a had batch?

I did ask if we could do one rim at a time. Send one. I swap it out then send it back. Cause I do have money for 1 rim. But they never replied to my last 2 emails.


As for the damage. They said they see that kind of damage usually done over a long periods of time for people who go to beaches and dunes where there is sand. Sand get in the channels and rubs away the clear. But in my instance I don't have sand here. Or anywhere I go. I haven't even gone playing in the mud. Just dusty trails and washed when I get back into town

 

Any chance the solvents and soaps in the touchless could corrode the clearcoat?

 

I had the same wheels with clear coat issues. When googling it I found lots of complaints about clear coat wheels, and not just methods. I stripped them and painted them with duplicolor wheel primer and paint. Took a day and looks good. Put 90k hard miles on them and still look good.

If I remeber correctly they had a aluminum color that almost matched the color of the clear coated wheels.

 

I thought this at first. But my other 2 cars also have aftermarket wheels with clear on them. One of them is 8 years old on the honda and the Lexus wheels are 5 years old. All cars go to the same car wash. And the clear on those rims are still like the day I bought them. Method on the other hand. Hmmm

 

This looks like the identical issue I had with OEM Ford wheels on my '98 4WD Ranger. It happened to a lot of clear coated raw aluminum wheels in that period. Lots of issues with adhesion of the coating to the aluminum and it starts to check. Once it does that, filiform corrosion sets in and it's all over. I still have those wheels on my 24 year old Ranger but I've coated them with PlastiDip because they looked so shitty. It's relatively costly to strip it and then polish the wheel so I let it go. The caveat, it took 10 years before it happened on my OEM's.

Anyone know if Method, or anyone else for that matter, is coating their black wheels? I haven't been able to physically look at and touch them so I'm pretty leery of considering them now if this is a possibility.

 

Damn I was thinking about pulling the trigger on some 315s. Might re-think that one now.

 

i was looking at other options as well. not sure what to do yet

 

Figured I give an update. Was in touch with the guy via email for a few days after posting this. Try said warranty was covered. Then when I asked to continue. They stopped replying back. Then I sent an email again a week or so after again asking what happened... And still no reply

 

Damnnn. Every time I find a wheel I like… something goes to sh1t with production or quality….

 

Same..

 

That’s good to know… takes them off my list..

 

Damn, what a load of customer service bullshit. I was deep in the aftermarket wheel industry waaayy back in the early 80's. After advancing to an outside sales rep for Keystone, a big and reputable wheel manufacturer back in the day, I went to work as a rep for Centerline Racing, the quintessential race wheel sought by many if not most in that time. Easily obtainable if you could swing the big bucks. While I was still with the Keystone owned distributor wholesaling Keystone, Centerline, Tru-spoke, Ronal-Vial, and a few others, Keystone was the first to come out with a Centerline look-a-like that was cast and 1 piece. We had DuPont Chemical develop a clearcoat for that wheel so it wouldn't require polishing. Looked exactly like what is on that Method. We also rep'd Eagle One that had come out with a hot new wheel cleaner that utilized phosphoric acid in the recipe (like many). That was about the only thing that would affect the coatings back then. Not remove it but it would cloud the coating and make it look like shit.

The issue with these Methods looks like an adhesion issue. Like putting down a beautiful paint job on a piss-poorly prepped surface. IDK.

From a customer service standpoint with either company I worked for, that shit would have been handled asap. What I would have done is contact one of my retailers in your area, ship them the replacement wheels and have you go there and make the exchange making certain they were mounted properly and safely. I'd comp the dealer in some way behind the scenes. The wheel industry has really changed drastically. A lot more product to choose from but an easy target for making a shit product. Likely a group coming up with slight changes to existing designs then have the same factory in China/Taiwan that's building wheels for ABC, XYZ, et al. The company has very little skin in the game of production. As an insider at one time, I'd LOVE to hear what the percentage of defect is coming off the production line. In my day, Keystone was consistently just around 1.5% and they made shit-tons of wheels. Insane shit-tons. That was an exceptionally low rate for the industry. While at Centerline doing the precision forged 2 and 3 piece wheels, it was less than 1% but a far smaller production facility. Tiny in comparison to Keystone.

Well, enough reminiscing. This situation just pisses me off and they're not even my wheels. The wheels I was considering aren't coated but the service aspect of this deal has me moving down the list.

OP, I hope you end up on top with a good solution to the issue. See if you can move to an uncoated Method if that would satisfy your tastes.