Howdy y'all, I bought 20x10 -19 Hostile Gauntlets in June 2017. By September 2017 I contacted Discount Tire since I bought them from them to start a finish warranty claim. My wheels look like CRAP. I've been in contact with Discount Tire in Corpus about the wheels looking like they're pitting (but instead of indentions they're raised marks), this was 3 MONTHS after being installed. The manager there has been trying to get Hostile to warranty the finish. The initial answer was that they weren't going to cover the finish on them due to where I lived (Corpus Christi) and the "salty environment", plus they accused me of causing the pitting by using chemicals on the wheels (nothing but at home car wash soap was used on them). These wheels have NEVER been in salt water, and have only been on the beach once or twice (which was promptly cleaned afterward). Regardless, they are an "off-road" wheel, so why would the finish be messed up and not warrantied by being off-road? The manager at Discount went to the returns manager at Hostile after being directed there. After almost 6 months of getting horrible/no response from them, the Discount Tire manager has decided he's sick of it, and is running it up the corporate ladder at Discount Tire. He is also honoring the finish warranty for me, and is ordering me a new set of wheels of my choosing (within reason, of course, no Forces or something crazy like that). I know this all is worthless without pics, so here's the pics. Yes, I know the wheels aren't very clean in these pics, that's not the cause of it but it's hard to care about wheels that started looking like this at 4 months let alone around 9 months. This is unacceptable. Obviously most people with Hostile wheels in chrome don't have any issues, so maybe I got a fluke set. Regardless, they don't stand behind their products. I don't intend to ever run Hostile wheels again after this, which is a shame because they have some great looking wheels. I tried to be nice and not blast them online while dealing with the warranty claim, but enough is enough.








Exhaust tip picture is for reference of something else chrome on the truck and how it has held up.

 

I had the same experience with every chrome wheel I have ever owned. Didn't matter if it was aftermarket or factory. Usually not after a couple of months though

I also went through the same song and dance with Discount Tire over some American Racing Wheels on my 2001 Supercrew. I was out of warranty , but they said I could bring the truck to Houston to show American Racing company the damage, but that since I lived on the Gulf Coast, they would deny me and say it was from the salt air/water, or chemicals.

So I decided with my 2010 Lariat that I would go with the factory clear coated alloys....Not....Ford replaced the wheels twice within 3 years because water infiltrated under the clear coat of every wheel and looked like worm trails under the clear.

This time on my 2017, I have the chrome like PVD and they are holding up good after almost a year, but the clear coated center cap is starting to look like water is getting under the clear again.

Discount Tire should have immediately given you new rims and then argue about reimbursement after the fact. they were only 3 months old.....Hate to say it, but it will happen to the new ones eventually regardless of brand, maybe just later down the road. .

Maybe virgin polished aluminum or powder coating is the next step. Polished aluminum sure is hard to keep polished though...Wish I had an answer for you bud.... Good luck

 

Yeah, polished sounds nice in theory, but to keep them looking nice it takes some serious work. I had the 18" PVD wheels, but didn't really like them so I thought "Hey, everyone has loved Hostile so far, they've gotta be a solid brand" well they're not standing behind their product after the finish went to crap after 4 months (which that's when I started the claim with Discount and noticed the issue).

That's kinda what I'm afraid of with going back to chrome. I'm looking at the Fuel Titan (says it's polished), Fuel Beast in Dark Tint, and the Black Rhino Mint in Gloss Graphite.

 

that sucks, glad to hear discount tire may actually help. I had some moto metal 962s a few years ago. same issue after a few months. They also gave me the same BS salt in the air- i live in south florida but they did warranty them. the next set lasted the next 2 years without any major issues. You would think with a giant chain store like that complaining they might actually do something.... Actually buying wheels now and based on my past experiences with chrome and the PVD i dunno... waxing my rims is weird. I am going with American Forces . will take some work polishing. but i kinda enjoy it oddly enough

 

Disappointing when a manufacturer doesn't stand behind their product. It shouldn't matter what they were or were not washed with a (quality) chrome finish should never deteriorate in this fashion.

Thanks for the heads up. Crossed them off my list..

 

I looked at Forces to see if I could pull it off, the ones I want would almost double what I had paid for the Hostiles. So that's out. Lol. Oddly enough, the market seems to be going away from chrome altogether, which is a shame because I love chrome wheels.

Agreed. It's ridiculous.

You're welcome. Glad I could help someone have all the information to make an informed decision. I'm not sure if I got a fluke set or not, but I did find someone else on their Facebook that had the same problem as me within the same timeline. He got no public response. As far as I've found the only threads about poor quality from them is what I've started.