General I chipped/scuffed an alloy..... what do i do?

[Juliet Bravo]

My mountain bike has magnesium alloy suspension

Better not set it on fire then :devil:

 

[jw02sky]

All metal corrodes / oxidises even stainless steel which is a bit of a misnomer as it does stain. If you left an nicely polished piece of metal out in the elements it will corrode and by corrode I dont mean rust. Take a nice shiney spoon from your kitchen draw and leave it outside for week you'll see what I mean.

And sorry to burst your bubble but alloys are called alloys for a reason they are made of a steel alloy or sometimes aliminium - wheels are not made of stainless.

Just because they are shiney does mean its stainless, it is just polished up, almost any metal can be polished to give a shine/mirror finish.
Ever wondered why alloy wheels are painted as they corrode if the water and salt get at them. if they are polished they they have some form of clear coat on them be it polish or wax otherwise you would have to shine them all the time.

PS a coat of wax will also do the trick, for the sake of putting on a bit are your gonna risk it ?

Aluminium alloy is used on most `alloy` wheels these days or a magnesium alloy on more expensive wheels ie motorsport.
As for `stainless steel` depends what grade or `alloy` is used 16-60, 40-60.. austenetic or marstenetic and so on, stainless steel has got varying amounts of `iron` in it and thats why `cheaper` stainless can rust and can be magnetic too, again, depends on the type. Stainless is rarely used to make Automotive wheels as its expensive and also heavy, which IMO defeats the object of `light weight` alloy wheels.