Author Topic: Austin wheels - white worm  (Read 8101 times)

Offline SRGTD

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #20 on: 11 April 2021, 19:44 »
I’d look for something with a painted / powder coated finish. If you’re considering BBS, they are a very good quality wheel, but even with BBS alloys, I’d avoid anything described as machined, polished or diamond cut as essentially they’d be diamond cut, so won’t have good durability, especially if they’re on a car all year round  that’s used as a daily driver.

So even a polished finish BBS will corrode in a similar fashion as opposed to a satin finish?

Reference to ‘polished’ means the face of the wheel has been diamond cut so yes, if the protective lacquer clear coat on the polished surface becomes damaged (e.g. by stone chips, scratches etc), then water, road salt and the like can get under the lacquer and ‘creep’ over the polished / diamond cut face, resulting in oxidation of the alloy. The result is white worm corrosion. Whether this will happen and how long it would take to manifest itself is an unknown, but with any alloys with a diamond cut / polished / machined face, there’s a fair chance it will.
« Last Edit: 11 April 2021, 20:02 by SRGTD »
2020 Polo GTI Plus; Pure White, DSG (because they all are)
Gone but not forgotten;
2016 Polo GTI; Blue Silk
2011 mk6 Golf GTD; Carbon Grey
2007 mk5 Golf GT (2.0 170bhp TDI version); Deep Black Pearl
2002  mk4 Golf GTI (the 150 bhp diesel version); Deep Black Pearl

Offline MrJollygood

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #21 on: 11 April 2021, 19:52 »
OK - thanks

I like the CH-R's in the silver finish, but I'm assuming these are polished and will ultimately have the same issue with white worm...



« Last Edit: 11 April 2021, 20:12 by MrJollygood »
2013 Golf GTI (PP) Tornado Red
1959 Triumph TR3A
2014 Porsche Cayman S

Offline Vw80

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #22 on: 11 April 2021, 20:49 »
Am unsure of Belvederes myself an @£900 asking price is big investment.  :cry: Can’t seam to find many images of mk7 wearing them!
Gti PP 2016 tornado red Dsg

Offline SRGTD

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #23 on: 11 April 2021, 22:41 »
OK - thanks

I like the CH-R's in the silver finish, but I'm assuming these are polished and will ultimately have the same issue with white worm...

BBS generally state whether their wheels have a polished / diamond cut finish. I’d be pretty certain that there isn’t a polished / diamond cut version of the CH-R. The pictures below including description are from the Rimstyle website (www.rimstyle.com);

BBS CH-R in sliver in the picture below aren’t diamond cut;


At the link below, you’ll see that some versions of the CC-R, SR and SX have ‘polished face’ in their description, which means they’re diamond cut. No versions of the CH-R have a polished face.

https://www.rimstyle.com/alloywheels/selection/?car_model_id=1578&year=2013&manu=bbs
2020 Polo GTI Plus; Pure White, DSG (because they all are)
Gone but not forgotten;
2016 Polo GTI; Blue Silk
2011 mk6 Golf GTD; Carbon Grey
2007 mk5 Golf GT (2.0 170bhp TDI version); Deep Black Pearl
2002  mk4 Golf GTI (the 150 bhp diesel version); Deep Black Pearl

Offline MrJollygood

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #24 on: 11 April 2021, 22:43 »
Thank you. Can you now help me convince the Mrs that I need to spend £1500 on new wheels...

 :grin:
2013 Golf GTI (PP) Tornado Red
1959 Triumph TR3A
2014 Porsche Cayman S

Offline SRGTD

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #25 on: 11 April 2021, 23:44 »
Thank you. Can you now help me convince the Mrs that I need to spend £1500 on new wheels...

 :grin:

Ha, ha. I think you’re on your own with that little task. Good luck though. :smiley:
2020 Polo GTI Plus; Pure White, DSG (because they all are)
Gone but not forgotten;
2016 Polo GTI; Blue Silk
2011 mk6 Golf GTD; Carbon Grey
2007 mk5 Golf GT (2.0 170bhp TDI version); Deep Black Pearl
2002  mk4 Golf GTI (the 150 bhp diesel version); Deep Black Pearl

Offline TippEx

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #26 on: 12 April 2021, 20:19 »
I'm not a fan of diamond cut and the Austins were the one thing that I didn't like when looking at the car.  Also the offset on the Austins leaves quite a large gap inside the arch, I initially looked at Prets but was put off due to the reports of them cracking and also the used prices were high.  Settled on 18" BBS CH-Rs and have not regretted the decision at all, they look better while much better filling the width of the arch.  My insurance company don't charge me any more than the standard wheels (some of the other mods are another story!).

I seem to recall that I managed to get around £500 for my old Austins, although they were in better condition that what you are describing with yours...  but the important thing is that it's less money to convince your Mrs to spend if you get rid of the old ones ;-)
2016 GTI PP.  Mountune52 Stage 1

Offline oryx3dr

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #27 on: 15 April 2021, 09:24 »
CMWheels do a set of Austin's for what seems like a very good price - £480 - does anyone have experience of these? Seems too cheap to be true...I'm assuming they're of much lesser quality to the OEM wheels and made in China...

I've been running a set of CM Wheels Reifnitz 18" reps for almost a year now, been completely solid and not had any problems with them. These replaced my set of Austins that were doing exactly the same thing. I'd definitely recommend CM wheels and I know a lot of others would.

Picture below for reference.


Current - 2020 Black Golf GTI Performance Pack DSG, Sunroof, Dynaudio, Climate Windscreen, Brescia's
Sold - 2017 MK7 Oryx White 3dr GTI
Sold - 2019 Up GTI

Online Rudedog

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #28 on: 15 April 2021, 14:55 »
Out of all of the wheels I think I like these the most... where they on the TCR originally?

2019 Golf GTi PP DSG, Isaac Blue.

Offline SRGTD

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Re: Austin wheels - white worm
« Reply #29 on: 15 April 2021, 15:20 »
Out of all of the wheels I think I like these the most... where they on the TCR originally?

They were the extra cost option on the GTI TCR in 19”. The standard wheels on the TCR were 18” Belvedere’s.
2020 Polo GTI Plus; Pure White, DSG (because they all are)
Gone but not forgotten;
2016 Polo GTI; Blue Silk
2011 mk6 Golf GTD; Carbon Grey
2007 mk5 Golf GT (2.0 170bhp TDI version); Deep Black Pearl
2002  mk4 Golf GTI (the 150 bhp diesel version); Deep Black Pearl