Steel Rim Rusting

It's a steel wheel. Where the weight is clipped on the lip of the rim, the wheel weight will leave a rust stain. This an incredibly common occurrence with steel wheels. Wipe the rust off. If the lip of the wheel had the paint scratched and the rim has a light coat of rust, sand the rust off and spot paint the wheel.

There was no warranty claim because surface rust is not a warranty item. No offense meant here, but the dealership probably thought you were joking, which is why it took 10 months to get a response.

If you want to avoid the issue of wheel rust, the next time tires are fitted, ask the tire shop to use stick-on wheel weights. Or you could have a tire shop take the weights off the lips now and rebalance the tires with stick-on weights. Then touch up the wheel paint. Again no offense meant, but the guys at the tire shop are going to find it an unusual request and think you are a bit persnickity and your other car is a BMW...

No offense taken. The dealership was the one who put the new tires on and scratched the paint on the rim. They even stated that they would probably have to sand it down and repaint it, which I was fine with. In a chat with Ford customer service, back in July, they even stated that this should be covered by the dealership.

Maybe covered by the dealership as damage, but not a warranty issue.

BTW, they are wheels, not rims. You will almost never see a rim on a passenger vehicle, they are all wheels.

Thank you.