bam

Hi everyone. I have a qucik question about the IS-F wheels pitting. I can't say that I know what this is and I haven't been able to locate any pictures of wheels pitting. Can someone describe to me in a little more detail of what exactly this is and maybe post some pixs if you have some?

Hopefully an IS-F will be in out future and I sure would like to know how often I'll need to wash the wheels to not have this problem. Thanks in advance.

flipside909

Pitting will happen in the finish over the course of time. It's wear and tear unfortunately and is a part of a wheel's life. It is one of the closest car parts to the ground and its constantly rotating and deflecting all sorts of gravel and debris on the road.

bam

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Are these wheels more easily affected by pitting because I've never heard of this being an issue before on any other car. To be honest, I'm still not sure exactly what "pitting" is. Can you help me out and describe it a little more in detail and elaborate exactly what happens to the finish? I think another member's post had mentioned that their wheels were pitted because they didn't wash their wheels frequently enough.

flipside909

Pitting is basically when paint is gouged like a small knick just like any painted surface of your vehicle.

I think the issue the other member is having with his wheels is from corrosion of the brake pad material into the finish of the wheels. I have not had this problem on my IS F and I do have about 4300 miles on my 2009. Because the brakes do have heavy dusting issues, I frequently wash off my wheels because it's annoying to look more than anything for me.

molexGS400

i have seen brake dust specs resting on the wheels. these were easily removed with a polish and elbow grease. i have only seen this once.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

as ryan mentioned, pitting is just those small knicks from rock or debris on the road. it happens to all wheels, factory or aftermarket. i can safely say all my cars have this "issue", which is simply part of tear and wear.

the brake dust issue is due to the aggressive brake dust materials in the brakes. and again, it can happen to all cars. on the is-f (or most other sport cars with aggressive brakes) it can happen more easily since it creates substantially more brake dust than other cars. and when hot, the dust can easily eat into the finish if they are not washed off frequently.

the finish of the wheels can make some difference. for example painted surface with clear coat will help resist this more. at the same time aftermarket wheels with polished lips clear coated it might show more easily due to the paint not as thick and also the surface finish.

i have seen these issues on a lot of cars with bbk or say even bmw / mb. i do detailing on the side and i have dealt with tons of these. sometimes you can take away a lot of them using steaming, but some of them simply eat into the paint already and there is no way to reverse that

in the end, driving sport cars with aggressive brakes producing lots of brake dust, cleaning the car / wheels often is the only option

bam

Thanks for the information. I guess now that I know what pitting, I can say that I have experienced it too, unfortunately.

As far as washing the IS-F wheels regularly, what kind of a time frame are you guys talking about. Are you saying that you should be washing the wheels once a week, once every 2 weeks, or every other day? Just curious...

gs2isf

iTrader: (1)

i wash mine every 2 days and rub a fresh coat of tire gel at the same time but i also lay down a fresh coat of wax on the wheels once a week (it's not body wax but a wax made for planes that can take high temps. got it from a friend)
but it's something u can find online.....and i also use a long brush to clean the dust off the inside of the wheels too not to mention taking off each wheel once a month for a coat of wax on the inside also,sound kinda severe but i luv keeping my car in top shape since it was a 60k+purchase.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i don't think there is a "fix" time, depends on your driving, weather condition, etc... usually i say once every 2 weeks should be ok

bam

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Yikes!. I can definitely appreciate someone taking that much pride in their car especially devoting that much time and energy to simply clean their wheels but dang, that sounds like a lot of sweating.

I thought I read on a different post though that Lexus has a TSB where you can swap out the "high-performance High friction" brake pads for more "normal" brake pads. Has anybody done this or heard of this or was this maybe only for the regular ISx50?

Currently, I find that I manily wash my cars about every 2 to 4 weeks depending on the weather and how dirty my car looks. If I have to wash the wheels more often than that, it sounds like it might be a problem (if and when we get the IS-F).

rominl

iTrader: (4)

that's only for the is350.

BigMikeISF

I wash mine once a week (typically the weekend) and wipe the wheels off about midweek. I haven't noticed any pitting yet. It takes no longer then 10-15 minutes max to wipe them off.

If you wash yours once every two weeks, I'd say your going to be fine. Be sure to put on a coat of high heat wheel wax so that it protects them between washes and you should be alright

aarya

Any recommendations on a wheel wax?

BigMikeISF

I haven't purchased a can yet (had the first coat put on by the dealers detail guy). I would see what Meguiars has for wheel wax or maybe someone else on here would know of a good one

MEANDAFAKA

so basically just keep the wheels clean and it will last longer??