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BMW 3-Series and 4-Series Forum (F30 / F32) | F30POST > 2012-2019 BMW 3 and 4-Series Forums > General F30 Sedan / F32 Coupe / F36 Gran Coupe Forum > Rusted hubs -- warranty issue?
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      12-27-2016, 12:04 AM   #1
natesi
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Rusted hubs -- warranty issue?

I got my car in September and was putting my winter wheels and tires on a couple weeks ago. I'm a do-it-yourself kind of guy, plus there was a 4 hour wait at tire shop. And I thought this would give me an opportunity to poke around my new car a bit, too.

Anyway, on the passenger side of the car, the wheels came off normally -- and I noticed copious amounts of grease around the hub.

On the driver's side, the wheels were "stuck" on to the hub pretty good. I had to hit the tires repeatedly in order to break them free. Once the tires were off I noticed both hubs hat a TON of rust (no grease at all) and it was the rust that "fused" the wheel to the hub.

There was so much rust I couldn't even get the new wheels on without first sanding a lot of rust off the hubs -- using 80 grit sand paper.

So, it appears someone at the assembly plant forgot to apply grease on the hubs -- before installing the rotors.

I'm kinda peeved because I live in the pacific northwest where we don't salt the roads -- and rust is almost never an issue here. I even sold a 12 year old car a few years ago without a touch of rust on it at all, and I've never had hubs fuse to the wheels before this. However, now, I have a brand NEW freaking luxury car that cost more than twice as much as any other car I've ever owned -- and it has rusty-as-hell hubs. WTF! Lame.

I know the hubs themselves are not affected by rust, but I'm thinking about future brake jobs: As I said, I'm kind of a DIY person, and once the warranty and free maintenance period is over I plan on doing brakes and rotors myself. But now the rotors are likely fused to the hub and that will complicate maintenance in the future. I'm not sure I'll even be able to get the rotors off myself -- might have to take it to a professional, after all.

Anyway, I don't think I should be held accountable to fix this issue since it's not my fault the person on the assembly line didn't do their job right.

But I'm guessing the dealership would look at me like I'm crazy if I went in there and told them I wanted new hubs on the driver's side of the car. So I thought I'd get some opinions: Do I have a valid warranty claim, in your opinion?

Thanks,

-Nathan
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      12-27-2016, 06:03 AM   #2
bri1042
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I don't think you'll have much luck with Kuni on this, they aren't what they were a few years ago. I don't know about Portland BMW, though.
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      12-27-2016, 07:57 AM   #3
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You're way overthinking this. If indeed there is a rust issue on the hubs, it doesn't mean that the rotors are going to be "fused" to anything, and even if so, all brake-related maintenance is covered for 4 years after in-service date. I'd take the car to the dealer and let them examine the side with all the rust issues, because that's not typical for these cars. I've had wheels that took some effort to free from the hubs, but none that were rusted. Pretty sure that when they remove the wheels on that side they'll do whatever is necessary to correct the problem without you having to pay for it, particularly if the other side does not show the same condition.
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      12-27-2016, 08:55 AM   #4
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If you search the forums you'll find some posts of others having similar issues with the wheel hubs rusting unusually. I believe some in Northern Europe where its damp most of the year.

Definitely odd that one side of the car had grease applied between the wheel and hub. My guess is they do that because of the dissimilar metals and the reaction that takes place between them. The grease acts as a insulator, etc.
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      12-27-2016, 09:45 AM   #5
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I just did a brake upgrade on a 2013 328i, which spent its first 3 years in CA and last 9 months in Seattle. Rear hubs had quite a bit of rust that required some hammering on the rotors to get them off.

If you are concerned about future brake jobs, just wait the first brake service under free maintenance and then ask the dealer to apply anti-seize. I wouldn't expect BMW to pay for labor to remove and reinstall rotors prematurely just because they "might" be hard to get off. After all the brakes function as expected.
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      12-27-2016, 02:52 PM   #6
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Thanks dudes.
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      12-27-2016, 03:10 PM   #7
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You don't have a warranty issue (IMO). I have seen a number of BMWs with some rust on the hubs. One 135i I had several years back had quite a bit of rust on the rear hubs; I cleaned them up, then painted the hubs with rust-paint. Solved the problem at minimum cost.
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      12-29-2016, 04:36 AM   #8
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Yep BMW are infamous here in europe for rusty hubs.
Every one I have owned has rusted v quickly in our damp climate with salt treated winter roads.
I now remove the wheels, wire brush & solvent clean the hubs and paint them with v high temperature enamel. I use gloss black as it hides any brake dust & just give them a wipe back to a shine when swapping my winter wheeels over.
This is just a cosmetic fix since I dont paint the surface of the hub that the wheel mates against, I just v lightly grease it with high temp grease & never get seized wheels once treated.
My OH has a year old MX5 (Miata to you guys) and the hubs have stayed pristine, they defo have some kind of anti corrosion treatment as are a dark colour, reminds me of my engineering apprenticeship where quenching red hot steel in used oil would leave an anti corrosion carbon layer on the surface.
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      12-29-2016, 04:47 PM   #9
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Nathan,

It's most likely not going to be a problem.

As you said you'll be a DIY kinda guy you might want to pick up a bottle of anti seize and use that on the hub/wheel flange upon future wheel removals.

A little goes a long way and it will keep the wheel from "sticking" to the hub.
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