Kizashi Club

1st message just to say Hello to everyone didnt realise there was a Kizashi club...
I've owned mine for the past 3 years just gets used as a second car or by the Mrs.
I'm in the UK. The car is a very decent car to drive and inside is quite luxurious with the full leathers with heated seats. Weather around the North West of England isn't the best for most of the year. The paint on the alloys has started to peal so just wondering is this a common issue with most of these or ?

Welcome!


The stock wheels are heavy, and fer-crap.

Welcome.
The paint on the wheels, at least the 18” sport wheels, do chip and peel very easily. I think they’ve been damaged the last two times I’ve had my car detailed.
The car paint itself is also fairly thin and will chip easier than most, unfortunately. Sorry for the bad news.

As the others stated, the paint on the Kizashi is really a weak point. The paint on the body and the wheels chip off very easily. I had my wheels repainted years ago when an autobody shop did a courtesy power wash that removed some of the original paint coating on the wheels. The body paint is also a weakness for the Kizashi and darker colors are known to chip very easily from normal conditions. If you can find a hood deflector or protective coating, it's ideal to protect the finish of the vehicle.
Otherwise, make sure to change the CVT fluid every 30,000 miles or so and the Kizashi should be a relatively reliable vehicle without major issues.

I had my wheels refinished under warranty as many others were able to do early in the life of these cars. Otherwise, you can have them refinished, but it's not cheap.

SamirD wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 6:27 pm I had my wheels refinished under warranty as many others were able to do early in the life of these cars. Otherwise, you can have them refinished, but it's not cheap.

Sounds like that was a while ago, back when Suzuki dealers were still a thing? How have the wheels held up since then?

KlutzNinja wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 6:46 pm

SamirD wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 6:27 pm I had my wheels refinished under warranty as many others were able to do early in the life of these cars. Otherwise, you can have them refinished, but it's not cheap.

Sounds like that was a while ago, back when Suzuki dealers were still a thing? How have the wheels held up since then?

It was. It was back when we lived in Milwaukee so before 2016. They've held up great actually, probably a good part of that due to the fact they were only on during the summers and partially because they got a coat of wax every season because of the swap.

Only bad part is that I dropped one of them so it got messed up a bit and I think a rock chipped another one. But the other two are in great shape.

A friend of mine owns a wheel refinished company (wheel fix-it in Huntsville, AL) and it should cost no more than $100 USD retail to refinish a wheel to new. Hope this helps!