Worse is the correct answer. I guess the only way this is going to get solved is for a "CLASS ACTION SUIT". You have talked me into it. Instead of replacing my wheels, They can replace hundreds of wheels. That is what happens when Companies don't service their customer needs or concerns. Ford is well aware of the problem. They just need the Customers to get it fixed!
I wish you well, I hope the problem is resolved for you and others fairly. I am familiar with how wheels both OEM and aftermarket weather over time. The outside coating should be good enough to protect them from "going bad" for longer than a few year, I would suggest at least ten years should be a standard. Any break in the coating usually results in moisture getting underneath it and slowly spreading, looking very bad on the visual areas.
I know for example how fast wheels(OEM) can look terrible from not being used at all, but stored under the rear in place of the spare. I had a used set of five I bought in 2006(1999 model wheels), five new tires and the spare placed under the rear. About two years later I was working on the rear shocks and the OEM air compressor located above the spare. Taking down that spare revealed how bad the normal Winter road salts affected the stock wheel coating. It was bad, still is and I use it only for the spare, the clear coat looks like it''s 10-20 years old, the spider trails outside of the corrosion. That's not the same as a crack in the clear coat allowing moisture to get under it, but the coating didn't survive road salts very well, I'd call that less than ideal wear. The other four wheels I got at the same time, look almost as good as they all were when I bought them. Those have been on my mail vehicle since 2007, used about half of the time, seeing typical Winter weather and the occasional road salts. Those get washed on rare chances, but they aren't getting beat up(clear coat impacted), so there isn't damage underneath those yet.
Almost all OEM wheels are now AL with powder coating. I wish they would improve the coating, I don't know if they can, or if it has ever been improved. Maybe a lawsuit might reveal something about that.
These below are 1993 Limited wheels, in 2005, and they are just showing clear coat damage then. I didn't use them much after then, just a short while to wear out the tires. But stored outside they look very rough now. The damage was beyond stopping back then in 2005 as pictured.
The other wheels are 1999 Limited wheels, I bought 13 over about two years, to have a spare set for snow tires, and a spare set of work tires. They all looked relatively very good in that 2005/06 range, and other than the one spare under the truck, they are all still fine as far as the clear coat goes. They have similar wear as they had, and from normal use since. So these I'd consider a successful coating from Ford. When the clear begins to go bad, it takes a couple of years before they look very rough.
