I quite like the Austins but I'm wary they'll inevitably suffer the dreaded whiteworm. The Monzas on my MKV were a mess when I traded it in, despite me minding them as carefully as possible. Once started, there was no stopping it. The Vancouvers on my MK6 GTD never got any whiteworm, even though some of the spokes on those wheels were also polished like the Monzas.
Were the MK6 Shadows as bad for it as the MKV?
Very disappointing to hear this! Do you think the new Austin alloys will be exactly the same? Even with careful waxing and sealing etc?
I think they will be yes, unfortunately. VW have been fitting these types of diamond cut wheels to cars for many years now and the same corrosion problems happen to them all. Actually a lot of other manufacturers do likewise, its not just VW.
Waxing, sealing, etc will help to a very slight extent, but only to the same extent that waxing/sealing preserves your paintwork! A flying stone chip chips the wheel, you mightn't even see the chip, but eventually water ingress under the lacquer and the wheel looks a mess.
What really messed my MKV GTI wheels up was a tyre change. I didn't see the damage at the time but the tyre fitter obviously nicked the very edges of my wheels when changing the tyres. No marks were visible but a few months later the problem was very obvious
Some people got wheels replaced under warranty, my car was out of warranty by the time I bothered reporting it.
