Guest Andynator Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Hi ya'll,Here's a general question about alloy (not aluminium) wheels. I'm having a hard time keeping the air pressures up on my daily driver. I've had the guys at the tire shop re-seat the tires, rotate them on the wheels, and even swap them completely from one wheel to another. I'm still 4-5 pounds low each week when I fill up at the gas station. One of the techs at the shop says it is because of corrosion on the rim of the wheels. My buggy has six years of Ohio winters behind her, and sure enough I can see some corrosion - not rust, but looks like bubbly pot-metal.Tire shop wants to sell me new aluminium wheels - NOT! I am going to get a cheap set of steel wheels to mount my snow tires, and ponder my options until spring. Does anyone know if alloy wheels can be reconditioned or resurfaced? Of course, not knowing exactly what the alloy is makes that kind of a crap shoot.Comments or hints appreciated...Thanks,Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Andy, My son-in-law had a motorcycle with this problem. We just smoothed out the bumps with sandpaper & coated only the inside with Varathane (poly-varnish). It didn't change the look and it did a good job of sealing the leaks. He has since sold it, so I cannot say how long it lasted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 To my knowledge there are only two basic types of modern wheels that are not steel....aluminum and magnesium.Often the wheels/rims are referred to as alloy because PURE aluminum is probably not acceptable for wheels.Your problem is know as porosity. A billet or forged wheel would not have the problem, only cast wheels. If you want to continue using the wheels, you can coat the inside with something to seal the pores(holes) or run inner tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brh Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Don't know if you can still get these, but I had trouble with a tire once and had the tire shop put in an inner tube. CAUTION: It must be a Radial tire inner tube, they are made for the higher heat. This was back in the 90's. I also had a car that for some reason when the weather got cooler it lost air in one tire. Never figured it out, had the rim cleaned, sealed, etc. Put the car up on a jack, let all the air out, put one of those inflate a tire, or fix a flat cans in, followed the directions on the can. Problem gone. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Andynator</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Does anyone know if alloy wheels can be reconditioned or resurfaced? Of course, not knowing exactly what the alloy is makes that kind of a crap shoot.Comments or hints appreciated...Thanks,Andy </div></div>Alloy wheels are reconditioned on a daily basis in the collision repair business. There are a number of places that do it, but where I am at Keystone is the biggest player. Cost is typically in the $150-$200 range for each wheel, but when they are done, they will look like new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andynator Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Yee-owch. At that price, I am just as well off getting OEM replacements at $145 per (I checked). Oh well, at least the OEM steel wheels for my snow tires are only $75 each.I don't think they can simply be sanded down. There seems to be some sort of plastic film or coating bonded to the entire wheel. Not sure about the inside portion, but I'd think that any serious amateur attempt to remove all the corrosion would leave deeper voids and that would not help the problem.Thanks for the comments, everyone - I really appreciate being able to pop in and get some really good feedback.Regards,Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 There is a company "Wheels America" that has dealers around the country. I had some Reatta factory wheels refinished by the San Antonio dealer and the price was $109 +tax two year ago. They may be slightly higher now.Go to www.fixrim.com to find closest dealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 If you're seeing some "plastic" like finish on the wheels, that's peeling, that's a "clearcoat" paint finish. Many OEM factory wheels were that way. Usually, they had a slight rainbow look to them in bright sunlight. What's under the clearcoat is not always totally smooth and glossy, but somewhat satiny with cutting marks visible (many times).There's a procedure to refinish the clearcoat wheels. GM put out a TSB on that in the 1980s or thereabouts. It's a multi-step process and can take a few days to do it as specified. I believe there is an epoxy-based clear enamel that is used, but I could be wrong on that. I would think that a polyurethane might work, too.As different as the clearcoated wheels might look, it is a better option than the polished aluminum versions (usually aftermarket brands). If the wrong soap or cleaner might get on the polished alloy wheels, it'll turn them white and the only way to get it off is to polish it with a high speed buffer and get back down to the orig alloy surface.As noted, there are many companies that recondition alloy wheels. Check with a dealership body shop and see who they use, in your area. In the ones we've had done locally (in Dallas), they come back looking like new. Basically, they probably put some new metal (welded?) onto the existing wheel and then machine it down to factory configuration. As long as the wheel is not cracked, they can usually redo it. Also, in case it might come out with a few flaws, you can request they redo it--which we've had to do in a few cases over the years. If all you have is some "corrosion" in the bead area, that should be very easy for them to do.I do suspect that you can sand and recoat the area with good results. It could also be a porosity issue, as Barney mentions, but I would think a porosity issue would have been there all along rather than just starting recently. In reality, if you've got to dismount the tire to clean up the bead area, after you get it smoothed out you might as well coat the entire inner part of the wheel (from bead to bead) and be done with it.I don't know if this might work, but if you can get the tops knocked off of the "bubbles", then you might get some liquid alum (in a tube, at the auto supply) or some epoxy filler for aluminum and carefully smoooooth it into the "voids" in the bead area. Then smooth it out when it is dry and then scuff things up with some medium grit sandpaper (for good measure). Clean it up and then remount the tire and see if that might not be a decently good fix--if it holds up, you've invested some time and less money than a full reconditioning from a wheel shop, otherwise, you tried. If you let it all dry well and if it survives the remounting and balancing process, then I suspect it might be "there" for a while. I've not known of anybody doing that, but it might be worth a try.Also, don't forget to check the valve stems for leaks or a core that might not be fully seated or might be leaking. You can get a core extraction tool that will also reinstall the core and make sure it's fully tight in the valve stem.The other thing is that temperature variations can affect tire pressure. "Air" is a "gas" and expands and contracts with temperature changes (less pressure with cooler temperatures, compared to a reference pressure at a warmer ambient temperature or after driving several miles).Several thoughts . . .NTX5467 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imported_Thriller Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: NTX5467</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The other thing is that temperature variations can affect tire pressure. "Air" is a "gas" and expands and contracts with temperature changes (less pressure with cooler temperatures, compared to a reference pressure at a warmer ambient temperature or after driving several miles).Several thoughts . . .NTX5467 </div></div>PV=nRT ... pressure is directly proportional to Temperature (absolute - Kelvin in this equation).I guess those years spent at university weren't all a waste.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 As I recall, about 1psi increase for each 5 degrees F temp increase . . . and vice versa. It IS the time of the year to keep an eye on tire inflation pressures.Enjoy!NTX5467 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cfBuick Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 Andy, you might want to try www.stocktonwheel.com. They recondition, fix and even widen wheels of all types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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