Cleaning corrosion off alloys

I picked up at a swap meet over the weekend a set of factory chrome wheels for my riv. These are off a PA, but look to be the same ones that were optional on our cars. They are in excellent shape, but one has a small amount of corrosion where the bead will be. I'll try to get a pic later. Its not too much, but looks like enough to cause a leak. Any suggestions?

bead corrosion is tough. Can you post a little pic of the damaged area?

You might be in for having that wheel professionally refinished, reasonable but not free.

Albertj

PS - I have heard of people polishing off corrosion and then painting the bead area, and I have heard of the use of epoxy fillers after the corrosion has been removed so as to exactly match the original bead area profile -- but I am not a wheel expert and so can not verify that such a thing is safe, or even works at all.

moldymac wrote:

I picked up at a swap meet over the weekend a set of factory chrome wheels for my riv. These are off a PA, but look to be the same ones that were optional on our cars. They are in excellent shape, but one has a small amount of corrosion where the bead will be. I'll try to get a pic later. Its not too much, but looks like enough to cause a leak. Any suggestions?

I have, on all four wheels, used a 90* die grinder with Scotch Brite Medium grit wheels to clean the corrosion from the bead area and then used a bead sealer to put a coating on the beads and let that cure for several minutes before reinstalling the rubber.
If you don't have compressed air and the tools available you can use a good wire brush and some elbow grease to remove the corrosion and seal any pitting remaining with the bead sealer. The bead sealer I used was purchased from an Indepedant Auto Parts store that services the local garages. The product cures like a rubberized product but doesn't peel off the rim once tires are installed.
You can do it your self or bring it to a place that does tires and alignments and they will clean and seal for you. And mount / balance your new tires all in one shot if you want. I would guess that they would charge you an extra $10.00 per wheel, but that might be if you bought the tires from them. It would be worth asking up front so you know. Could be more $$, I don't know, as I said, I did my own.
HTH, Rick

Heres a few pictures of it. Sorry for the quality, thats what you get when you take photos in the dark. I do plan to have a shop mount and balance the tires, I don't have anyway of doing it myself. I do have a harbor freight tire mounter, but it specifically says not to use it on alloys.

The Pic's are making it out to look like you need to use some kind of machine tool and abrasive disck, be it a sanding disk or Scotch brite.
It's hard to tell, what do you think.? Can you do it by hand with a wire brush or do you need a drill or something else to either wire brush, Scotch brite or sanding disc.?

It'll take a lot of wire brushing to get rid of that. A 90* 30,000rpm Die Grinder with a Brown twist lock Scotch Brite pad works perfect. Had to do that on many a GP at the dealer.

that's really nasty. i would let a pro wheel shop tackle that one.only from experience i speak. otherwise be prepared to spend a shit load of cash on materials. looks like those wheels need a good chemical bath.good luck using paint stripper on powder coat. it barely makes a dent. do one wheel and after its done tally up the cost of just that one wheel and that will give you an idea. loads of pitting can be the cause of slow leaks just my 2 cents

The pitting is not on the area that seals the air in (the flat landing) but rather it's on the lip of the rim. You are *way* lucky, caught it in time. So I second the ScotchBrite comment from Abbadon - if I got it clean then I would clean the wheel with a spray-on wheel cleaner (I have posted before, one with ammonium chloride to 'etch' the bare metal a little so paint will stick) then paint with one of the spray epoxy wheel paints (probably clear) to retard/arrest the oxidation.

Right thing to do would be clean, then re-plate it. HOWEVER again since the bead sealing surface is intact I would just be sure NOT to scuff it at all (just scotch off the corrosion from the lip) and give it a coat of paint.

Albertj

robotennis61 wrote:

that's really nasty. i would let a pro wheel shop tackle that one.only from experience i speak. otherwise be prepared to spend a shit load of cash on materials. looks like those wheels need a good chemical bath.good luck using paint stripper on powder coat. it barely makes a dent. do one wheel and after its done tally up the cost of just that one wheel and that will give you an idea. loads of pitting can be the cause of slow leaks just my 2 cents

it's not that bad; the pitting is not on the bead landings. I think he'll be successful using Abaddon's approach. The thing will be to stop the corrosion before it hits the flat part of the bead landings. He has to clean and seal them **now**.

Albertj

Thanks guys. I actually have access to the scotch brite wheels at my work, should make a good lunch project. Is this corrosion typical of these rims?

moldymac wrote:

Thanks guys. I actually have access to the scotch brite wheels at my work, should make a good lunch project. Is this corrosion typical of these rims?

Is it typical?

Maybe.

Specifically, it is not uncommon corrosion if the clip on (vs the stick on) wheel weights are used to balance them and as well if the wheels are used in corrosive environment (winter on salted roads, ocean coastal areas).

Again you are lucky the bead landings are not corroded. whatever you do, do it quick before the corrosion creeps down there. If you do nothing it can creep just from pickup of ambient humidity.

Albertj