Anyone else's Austin's seem more delicate than paper?

[Mr Savage]

So I gave the car a good wash today in the great weather and of course always use the 2 bucket method ect and hosed it all down first and used a mitt to do the wheels. When drying the wheels I noticed that ( in this beautiful sun ) you can see lots of little hairline scratches caused from who knows what. Anyone else suffering from this? They're on the diamond cut part aswell as the gloss black parts :/

They also seem to get ditched easily too. I wash the back of the wheels, then wash the fronts. Then use auto finesse wheel cleaner and spray it liberally on each wheel. Then spray a little on my autoglym wheel brush and go over the calipers. Then I hose it all down and they look great but within 2 days they look like crap again & machine polishes finishes look awful when dirty

[2014GTi]

I've had the same issues with mine but only the black gloss, if you polish them they look like new again, so it's definitely a cosmetic problem and black just seems to show the marks compared to standard bright alloys,

[Brenbo]

My Austins show the hairline scratches after I clean them.  But the black fairs better than the Diamond cut parts of the wheel. I found coating my wheels in GTechniq C5 helped a lot with making them more resistant to visible hairline scratching.  It even made the existing scratches fade a little bit.   

I would agree though, that these wheels are really delicate in regards to scratching.  But then the white alloys on my previous car were prone to showing every bit of dirt, tar abd brake dust on them.  They also took an absolute age to clean compared to the Austin rims.

[mjh_056]

The GTD wheels are so easy to clean with the accessibility between spoke and as less surface area not really noticed these scratches mentioned for the Austins.

I give the car a good clean but not perfectly or detailed in anyway and close up you can see a few minor areas where some detailing is needed but stand back a couple of feet and they disappear and stand back a way and car looks amazing which is how most would actually view the car.

Gave a good clean last Sunday and by Tuesday the dirt was forming again so as much as respect guys who detail with the skill and patience required and the amazing results a good 2 bucket clean through most of year and a once a year thorough clean, polish and wax is the way and the GTD always looks pretty good to me every time    

[JoeGTI]

They are a ridiculously delicate wheel. Around the bolt holes (the black bits) also scratches very easily if you're removing the wheels unless you're extremely careful.

When it comes to tyre changes it will be interesting because only the most careful tyre fitter will avoid marking them in some way. The damage may only become apparent months later with whiteworm as I found with my MK5 GTI.

[GTI7me]

I've noticed this too. The finish seems very soft easily making surface scratches. It's very frustrating and the only way to minimise it is to use very careful washing techniques.

J

[Sootchucker]

Get yourself a nylon coated socket. I've had one for a number of years now, and the front face surrounding the  metal socket is quick soft and pliable and doesn't scratch. I've even given it to a tyre fitter before now and made them use it.

Alternatively (and much cheaper), wrap insulation tape around the socket of wheel wrench, making sure to cover the front edge as well (then just cut back with a sharp knife). This also seems to do the trick well.

[Sootchucker]

I guess the alloys on the GTD will be a similar finish to the Austin's and I find that most of the "damage" is done during drying the wheels. I've purchased a Metro car blower which dries the wheels really quickly without having to touch them at all. Of course if helps immensely if you have coated your wheels with a protector before hand.