Winter beat the crap out of my hemi, Warranty???

[cessnapilot]

It finally warmed up here in Milwaukee and i got a chance to do a hand wash on the wife's AWD Hemi less than a year old and under 10k miles...I was very dissappointed after seeing what a winter could do to this brand new car. All 4 wheels are pitted/corroded at the lip where the wheel weights mount, the Chrysler(Dealer installed, not aftermarket) mesh grille is stained at the bottom, but chrome polish took care of that, more work is required on the grille but that's later. Two stone chips in the windshield really made my day! Brown "tar" dots are very appearent against the cool vanilla everywhere on the car. (I do have a PC 7242 on order which should solve that problem). My main concern is the wheels. I have not had 1 complaint about this car since we got it and it has performed flawlessly. My '04 Buick Rainier has no problems with the wheels at all in the same winter. It seems like the clearcoat on the wheels chipped off and lead to the corrosion and I know this will ONLY get worse with time. Should I Demand new wheels from Chysler?

[Rambit]

There are many complaints of wheel corrosion here and most have been honoured under warranty. It's become a common complaint too. Some dealers have been reluctant, but others were fine with it.

This is definately a warranty issue and precedent has been made many times. If you don't get satisfaction from your dealer, either go up the ladder or go to another dealer. There's lots of threads on this subject here. Do a search for wheel corrosion, wheel pitting etc. Good luck and keep us updated. The other stuff, well I guess that's just part of winter.

Bernie

[kevenj]

cessnapilot, the wheels may be a legitimate complaint as there have been many other owners with the same problem - - but what you really need is a winter beater! I couldn't even imagine subjecting my "C" to the ravages of winter ( like mag-chloride or salt on the roads.... sand.... stupid drivers sliding into my car....etc, etc.). If my 'beater with a heater' Honda Accord gets a rock chip, Oh Well.... the "C" is safe in the garage from November through February.

[GoofyTimL]

AFAIK you have 1 year from purchase and 12k miles to make a rim claim. After that... even with 3/36... no deal... or expect HUGE resistance.