Wheel width / tire fit

[Andynator]

Hi,

I have had problems about the past year with corrosion on my alloy wheels causing slow air leaks on three wheels. Basically just have to keep at checking the air pressures. 2 tires lose about 5 psi a week, and the other will lose 10 psi a week. I had the tires rotated on the wheels and re-seated, swapped from one wheel to another, but the tire guys tell me there is just too much corrosion around the bead. And they didn't even try to sell me new wheels, imagine that!

So I picked up some cheap, plain steel wheels (I think they are Chrysler minivan wheels) with the correct offset and lug spacing and made an appointment to go in tomorrow to have the tires swapped, and I'm going to see if I can find someone to refinish or repair the alloy wheels. The spots where they are corroded, I can peel off chunks of the plastic clearcoat with my fingers.

New OEM alloys run $175-200 per. Ouch.

Anyway, I was loading the steel wheels into the back of the Jeep tonight when I noticed they are 16 x 6.5, not 16 x 7. Crap!! Are these going to fit a 245/75 tire all right?

Later
Andy

 

[J-Thompson]

Tires should fit no problem
Have you thought about trying to buff the area around the bead?
I had a similar issue with my OE TJ wheels and a wire wheel on my grinder
then some very fine steel wool to really smooth them
no problems

 

[Andynator]

Have you thought about trying to buff the area around the bead?

I'm not going to be able to tell what I can do with them until I get the tires off. I don't really care about the appearance, but with the plastic film that's bonded to the surface of the alloy, I might not be able to get all of the spots of corrosion cleaned out, and it keeps spreading and flaking and spreading and flaking...

Then if I get everything cleaned out there are uneven depths to somehow fill in, and balancing them's a PITA.

Andy

 

[tommudd]

Can't even think that you have that much corriosion that it has ate into the wheel itself and caused that much damage but...maybe, I would have them bead blasted and then just paint or better yet powdercoat them, should be good as new. And balancing them is a PITA???? Not sure what you mean , balancing stock wheels is very easy unless you have some dumb people there thats doesn't know how to put weights on. I have ran alloy/aluminum wheels for 8 or 10 years and over 275,000 miles and never had problems?

 

[Andynator]

These puppies have been eaten up:

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...but that's what Ohio winters will do for you.

Any blasting or refinishing is going to remove a good amount of material and these guys will need some work.

Andy

 

[tommudd]

I live in Ohio and my wheels never have looked like that , even my old 95 XJ with 267,000 doesn't look like that. Not sure what happened to yours but seen tons of wheels over the years ( used to manage tire stores) and those are nasty. I have 4 KJ wheels with over 100,000 miles on them from another Ohio owner and they look almost brand new. Did you ever wash the thing in the winter?

 

[Ry' N Jen]

These puppies have been eaten up:

You must be registered for see images

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...but that's what Ohio winters will do for you.

Any blasting or refinishing is going to remove a good amount of material and these guys will need some work.

Andy

wtf.gif
I've seen corrosion on wheels before, but those take the cake!
It would probably be cheaper to just buy replacement wheels instead of having them repaired and refinished. (At least here in my home town!)

 

[Andynator]

I figured I just got a bad set. It happens. Once it got under that plastic film, I couldn't keep it at bay.

Later!
Andy