Polished face of Austins

[P6GTD]

Now on my second Mk7 GTI. The first one (2013) had perfect polished wheel spoke faces ....like mirrors!

New one (the very last of pre-FL March 17) has faces with clear machining shadows under the lacquer like they have been turned on a lathe. All four!

Very very slight ridging to the touch if you run fingers from hubs out to tyre rims.

It's going back for a warranty investigation on these but before I press go, has anyone else experienced this phenomenon with Austins?

[Jimble]

Was your first GTI brand new? As all of the "polished" faces of VW wheels i've ever seen have had that turned look.

[buddfridge]

Mine are the same and I am 99.99% sure they are made this way.

[SRGTD]

Mine are the same and I am 99.99% sure they are made this way.

The 'polished' finish on diamond cut wheels is achieved on a diamond cutting lathe.  As part of the manufacturing process, the wheels will initially be completely powder coated black. The face will then be cut on a diamond cutting lathe to remove the black powder coat, creating the polished face, and leave the rest of the wheel (recessed parts and reverse side of wheel) black prior to the lacquer coat being applied to the wheel face.

So the 'rings' and the slight ridges that the OP can see and feel will be the result of diamond cutting process, as the diamond tipped cutting tool moves across the face of the wheel on the lathe.

[P6GTD]

Thanks v much all respondents so far.

The first MK7 was not new and had been looked after "obsessively well" for 3 yrs before I bought.

I am relieved to read responses so far........I don't actually mind what I have or how they look but I worried that one day when I trade the car in, the dealer would look at my wheels and question if all was well!!

If any other poster cares to add a word of comfort on their own Austins that would be great.

Can I close by saying I have been a Mk6 then Mk7 forum member for six years and enjoy seeing the ebb and flow of opinions and contributors so thanks to you all out there!

[Brenbo]

I had a MK7 GTI PP within 5 months of the official launch date.  The Austin wheels on my GTI PP had the polished mirror look on the diamond cut wheels and from a suitable close distance you could not see the circular rings, but if you looked a bit closer at them you would see the circular rings created by the lathe from the diamond cutting process.   

[kalimon]

Just had a close look at my Austins and you can see very fine, even, lathe marks on them all.
I think as long as they are uniform in appearance, then there isn't an issue.
It's when they look like this sh!te refurb they tried to fob me off with that you have a problem