Powder Coated Rims Causing Rotor Wear?

[VitaminTee]

Hello - A friend of mine has her rims powder coated (maybe painted?) on her BMW. She's had to replace her rotors every 10,000 miles. The dealer is now telling her that the modified rims are the reason for the rotor wear and have voided her warranty until she replaces everything to stock.

I guess they are saying that the part of the rim that bolts to the hub is painted/coated and that is causing the issue?

This doesn't make any sense to me, was hoping someone might have some experience here that could provide some feedback.

Thanks!

[rubber_ducky]

You definitely want the rim and hub mating surfaces to be clean/unpainted. However, I'm baffled by how such a thing would cause rotors to wear prematurely. I could see how it could throw the wheels out of balance, but that shouldn't impact the rotors.

Seems to me that the dealer is looking for a way out of warranty/"free" maintenance work

[AM4ZING]

Sounds like a case of "you need a new engine because the headlight fluid is leaking"

[remmib]

I've always heard that the part of the wheel that's sits on the hub should be unpainted.

[Vectors2final]

Yup..

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by VitaminTee

Hello - A friend of mine has her rims powder coated (maybe painted?) on her BMW. She's had to replace her rotors every 10,000 miles.

We need more facts about rotor wear here.
How many rotors require replacement every 10K miles (ridiculously short, even if the person is tracking the car ever other weekend)? All four, or some more than others?
Are the rotors getting worn?
Exhibit warping/shaking under braking, and thus assume to require replacement?

Originally Posted by VitaminTee

The dealer is now telling her that the modified rims are the reason for the rotor wear and have voided her warranty until she replaces everything to stock.

The dealer did NOT void the warranty. If they did, re-installing the stock wheels would still leave the owner w/out warranty.
What they likely told the owner is that they suspect that whatever the problem is, it's likely caused by the aftermarket wheels.

Originally Posted by VitaminTee

I guess they are saying that the part of the rim that bolts to the hub is painted/coated and that is causing the issue?

If they problem that is being brought to dealer's attention under warranty is that of wheel vibration (presumable blamed on warped rotors), then wheel paint on surface mating to the wheel hub could certainly cause that.

You really need to start with stating what the alleged problem is.
There are a lot of contradictory claims in the above narrative (warranty voided (not), rims causing rotor wear (not), rotors require replacement every 10K miles (likely not), etc).

Lets get the facts straight first, THEN we will start jumping to conclusions!

a