Corroding Rims

[ClarkGriswald]

So I have those stock alloy rims on my 88 G.Wag. They have a few spots on em where the clear coat is comprimised and there is bad corrosion. One front rim was stuck to the steel hub preventing removal. This is a big problem cause banging on an alloy rim with a hammer is a less than desirable senario. I managed to get it off of there by spinning it and lightly hitting the inside of the rim until it eventually came off. had to scrape off a "bead" of corroded alloy from the steel hub. I reasembled it but not before coating the entire face of the hub where it contacts the rim with antisieze, until today when I decided to attack the corrosion like it is attacking my rims. So I took off one tire and put a spare on my wag, and on the backside of that one ( the previously stuck one) was a thick layer of corrosion. I ended up using a dremel tool with a flexible shaft attachment (cause the dremel tool itself is to big to go all the way down into the rim and be at a 90 degree angle.) and a sanding drum with fine drums on it. and just sanded the backside contact area.. with really good success.. I then slathered on a good coat of the Aluminum equivalent of naval jelly.. now it is good and clean. QUESTION> How can I deal with the area's on the front of the rim that I dont want to sand on? Here's what I was thinking. Chemical stripper to get all the clear coat off.. then some type of acidic cleaner (the naval jelly aluminum stuff has phosphoric acid in it). and then mabye buff the whole things out or something and recoat with clear coat I dont know.. The inner parts have a grey paint on em and I dont care if that gets replaced.. if i could use chemicals to clean\etch and then polish them I would just have the whole things polished. There has to be an easy way to do this.. Anyone have any experience with refinishing these things??

------------------
88 Grand Wagoneer
D44's front\rear
AMC 360
TF 727
NP 229 (Funky)
Bone Stock (for now)
NO RUNNING BOARDS!

[ClarkGriswald]

I think for now I'm gonna slather the inside of the rim (just where it touches steel) with antisieze, and put it back on there so I'm not running my spare. Ive fixed the prob of it sticking to the truck. but want to pursue the stopping of the corrosion. I will keep looking..

------------------
88 Grand Wagoneer
D44's front\rear
Warn 20990 Lockouts
AMC 360
TF 727
NP 229 (Funky)
Custom Hacking Via S.P.A. (Standard Polish Archetecture)

[JERRY88GW]

Wow, corrosion? I'm not real concerned with the back of the rim, but I am concerned with the front.

I've recently cleaned all four of mine. They had 12 years of baked on brack dust, so they were not pretty. Infact they were all black as night. Now they are very pretty and clean, except some brake fluid stanes on the back two. (I had some leaky cylinders for a while.)

Rubbing Compound, and a touthbrush. Try it, they work wonders.

Never heard of a rim sticking to the hub like that. Wierd.

[ClarkGriswald]

My stupid commanche (crap) has the rims stuck to the rear's everytime I try to take em off.. Everything in Michigan rust's to anything its attached to..or corrodes in the case of alum.. my real bad wag rim had an eighth of an inch of corrosion, (white rust) on there that raised up above the level of the metal.

------------------
88 Grand Wagoneer
D44's front\rear
Warn 20990 Lockouts
AMC 360
TF 727
NP 229 (Funky)
Custom Hacking Via S.P.A. (Standard Polish Archetecture)

[MonsterMash]

Yo, Clark, if your rims are rusting just where they are in contact with hubs/brake drums then it would seem to me to be as a result of the axle components rather than the rims themselves. I think I would just clean-up the rims and maybe rotate the wheels fore & aft to change the contact areas and do a really good job cleaning and applying rust-converter to the hubs/drums. Of course I live in an arrid environment and we pretty much import our rust.

BTW I saw the original Griswald Vacation movie a couple of days ago and their car was hilarious. It had 8 headlights, 4 taillights, woodgrain on the sides *and* the hood!!!

------------------
'84GW360--"Spinner"
And on the eighth day God created Jeep so man would not be bored.

[This message has been edited by MonsterMash (edited August 25, 2000).]

[Ralph]

A client of mine is Philip Velez at Super Fine Shine, http://www.superfineshine.com/index.htm, a metal polisher outside of Columbus. He says to remove the clearcoat, beadblast, then polish away any corrosion, paint and clearcoat where desired.

My plan is to have him do a very high polish job on the silvery parts of the wheels, so they'll look like chrome but will in fact be just really really polished. Then I'll paint the insides of the slots the same grey color they are now.

[This message has been edited by Ralph (edited August 25, 2000).]

[joe]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JERRY88GW:
Wow, corrosion? Never heard of a rim sticking to the hub like that. Wierd.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Clark lives in the Rust Belt(MI). Bolt together two dissimilar metals(alum/iron) and soak liberally in salt water(wet road salt) and the aluminum will most surely corrode.
I use to live in Detroit a million years ago and "everything" out there rust/corrodes

-joe

[ClarkGriswald]

Exactly Joe. Aluminum and Steel make a really nice little battery. And create almost an identical rot. The Stuff on my rims is just like a really corroded battery terminal. I had to chisel a strip of it about an 1\8 inch off of my hub in the "corner for lack of better term" where the hub vertical face meets the horizontal tube that sticks out. There was alum corrosion on the steel, and there was rust from the steel on the alum rim.. "Hey get your chocolate out of my peanut butter!!!" On the outsides of the rims in the center where the lugs are, and where yet more screws screw into the rim (for the wheel center) the clear coat is all bubbled up and theyre is that same battery terminal grade corrosion under there. Bad thing is about it is if you etch it off it still leaves pitting. which looks bad.. if i try and grind it or sand it off with the dremel (ok on the backside) it scars it up too.. I guess blasting it would be the only way to make a consistant finish that could then be polished. Mabye Ill just set a rim behind my commanche and just drop the clutch a few times in second gear. Thats blasting isnt it?

------------------
88 Grand Wagoneer
D44's front\rear
Warn 20990 Lockouts
AMC 360
TF 727
NP 229 (Funky)
Custom Hacking Via S.P.A. (Standard Polish Archetecture)

[andy d]

to combat the galvanic reaction,i just use chassis lube on the mating surface around the lugs. to loosen up a frozen rim,just go to a deserted pking lot,back off the lugnuts several turns and do a few donuts. check frequently.

------------------
'88 gwag,pure stock

[Brenton]

Bead blasting will go easy on your metal. It won't tear it up like sandblasting does. The only issue is that bead media is a little pricey. It's the way to go if you want to preserve the metal surface, and still remove the corrosion. Another option is soda blasting. They use baking soda as a blast media. It is awaesome. It tears through paint, but it doesn't open up the metal to corrosion. The only problem with it, is that it won't touch rust or corroded areas either. So it won't remove those nasty spots, but it'll take that clear coat off - slick as all get out. I had the cab of my Gladiator blasted this way to prep it for painting. I still have unpainted areas that aren't rusting, and I'm in Montana. We Don't get salted roads, but the humidity will still see to rotting out any unprotected metals.

Brenton

[JERRY88GW]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Clark lives in the Rust Belt(MI). Bolt together two dissimilar metals(alum/iron) and soak
liberally in salt water(wet road salt) and the aluminum will most surely corrode.
I use to live in Detroit a million years ago and "everything" out there rust/corrodes<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, I guess I was lucky in my purchase. Here in DC, we also get snow, ice and salt. But not as bad as other spots. The only 'real' rust I had was ovcourse the skid plate. That think would rust out even if you lived in a dessert.

[porkchop]

No rust out here. Just around the rear quarter panels where the exhaust goes since that makes moisture.

------------------
'67/'79 Wagoneer mix
"Old Timer"
Body of a 33 year old
Heart and legs of a 21 year old.
Spirit of a 1 year old.
360,TH400,QT,D44's F&R
32X11.50's

"I regret that I have but only one paycheck to give to my Jeep."