Rusty Rims - What To Do

[Charlie Olson]

Hi MoPar Buddies, the 15 inch rims on PLYWOOD are very rough and rusty on the inside. My tubeless tires keep leaking air because there is such a rough surface for a seal. I would appreciate your collective input as to which methods are available to rehabilitate my rims. Firstly, how do I make sure they are still structurally safe to restore and continue to use. In AZ, it is very dry, but I would still like to make them as rust proof for the future as is possible. I plan to have painted/powder coated the same fire engine red. So please share your advice, experiences and cautions in regards to rehabing rims. Thanks a great deal. Charlie in AZ

[martybose]

If the tires aren't sealing due to a rough wheel surface, powdercoating is unlikely to improve the situation. It usually deposits a very even coating over whatever surface is there, and doesn't appreciable fill in depressions.

Marty

[BobT-47P15]

Charlie, it would sound as if the rims need to be media blasted to deal with the roughness. Then paint the inside part with a rust paint. Then, the red on the outside.

[JIPJOBXX]

Can you run innertubes in your tires????Jon

Open house at Lemay this August last Saturday of the month Charlie!!!!

[randroid]

Charlie,

I had a similar problem with my '48 P-15 when I first got it and needed to move it a mile, and when I found a set of used tires two of the rims wouldn't hold air. The tire guy (a Firestone dealer - bit of a plug for a good guy) sanded all the rust by hand then gave it a shot of black Rustoleum so it wouldn't rust again soon. Took him about half an hour but I think he was enthusiastic about putting an old car on the road so he didn't charge me an extra penny for his work.

Anyway, try sanding them well then spraying with a rust inhibitor; it worked for me.

-Randy

(BTW - The used tires that guy sold me were a good set of bias tires that got traded for radials, and they were wide white walls he was saving for a special occasion. The "Gangster Tires" looked just right on that car and I don't want to run anything else.)

[bob westphal]

If you're going to have them powder coated, the problem will take care of it's self. The surface must be completely clean bare metal for the powder to stick. Media blasting is the best way to accomplish this.

If you decide not to powder coat them, then cleaning them with a heavy wire wheel and the paint them with Hammerite spray paint. It's available at most hardware stores. Sticks to rusty surfaces very well and is very hard like epoxy paint. I have used it in place of powder coating many times because the finish looks similar to powder coating. The directions say to clean off the loose rust paint and scale by wire brushing scraping etc. Comes in lots of colors. Usually under $8 a can.

[Brad Lustig]

A couple of my rims had some pitting, one fairly heavy. On the really pitted wheel, I actually did electrolysis rust removal. Seemed to build the metal back up a bit. I cleaned all the wheels up with a wire brush drill bit. Then shot them with rattle can primer and then rattle can paint. Haven't lost a bit of pressure in about 3 years.

[Young Ed]

Charlie if you are dead set on powder coating and having a smooth surface there is a way to do it. 3M sells this glue stuff that is used for joining sheet metal. I think its called panel bond. A 3m rep told me you can powder coat over this stuff. So you could use this to smooth the divots after media blasting and then powdercoat. Be warned though this stuff is expensive.

[rearview]

Are 52 wheels the same? I happen to know somebody with a 99% rust free set...

[Norm's Coupe]

Can you run innertubes in your tires????Jon

Open house at Lemay this August last Saturday of the month Charlie!!!!

Actually, inner tubes is the way to go with old wheels in my opinion. The old wheels I have were smooth on the inside. However, because they are put together with rivets I was afraid they would leak around there. So, I always put tubes in them, regardless if the tire was tubeless or not. Best to be safe than sorry I always say. If you want radial tires, they do sell tubes for those too. If you are going to run bias tires, tubes are only between $7 and $12 at most places. Right now my front wheels are new vintique wheels so I run those as tubeless. Still have the original wheels on the rear though and those do have tubes in them.

[Norm's Coupe]

Are 52 wheels the same? I happen to know somebody with a 99% rust free set...

If the wheels have the clips on them for the small hubcaps, they are all interchangeable. Believe they still had the clips up until at least 54 and possibly later.

[Young Ed]

I have tubeless on both my coupe and pickup. I think the pickup does leak a little but its like add air every 2 months kinda leak. Those rims were also rusty when I started. My coupe had 1 flat in the spring which I thought might be something like this but it turned out to be a nail in the tread.

[rearview]

If the wheels have the clips on them for the small hubcaps' date=' they are all interchangeable. Believe they still had the clips up until at least 54 and possibly later.[/quote']

Yup, got the clips. Held air with my radials

[Young Ed]

FYI 55 started the caps with the 3 dimples around the center. Then 57 went to 14s

[Norm's Coupe]

Yup, got the clips. Held air with my radials

Then your wheels will fit the 40's cars too.

[david lazarus]

Charlie

I also had slightly pitted 16inch rims, and I decided to widen them as well to fit the radials so I fitted inner tubes. When having my car certified for this modification (a NZ thing) it appeared that inner tubes were required as a rule. However on another US forum (perhaps Dodge Bros) somebody stated that inner tubes used in conjunction with tubeless tires were illegal over there due to heat build up. Maybe it is a state by state rule...or possibly even another urban myth.

[Norm's Coupe]

Charlie

I also had slightly pitted 16inch rims, and I decided to widen them as well to fit the radials so I fitted inner tubes. When having my car certified for this modification (a NZ thing) it appeared that inner tubes were required as a rule. However on another US forum (perhaps Dodge Bros) somebody stated that inner tubes used in conjunction with tubeless tires were illegal over there due to heat build up. Maybe it is a state by state rule...or possibly even another urban myth.

I think the person who said it was illegal to run inner tubes in the states needs an education on the subject. It is illegal to run regular inner tubes with radials. However, there are inner tubes especially designed to be used with radials, and those are Federal DOT approved and legal in all states. If he called the right people like Coker, Diamond, Lucas Tire companies, he'd find that out. If you are using tubeless bias tires, regular inner tubes are legal.

[55 Fargo]

Here is a couple of pics of my freshly powdered coated 2 rims, I still have 2 more to go, for a total of 6 rims. One was pitted badly inside, don't mind using tubes, but would like to go tubeless if I could, would these rims pass for using tubeless tires.......Fred

[Young Ed]

They look good to go to me.

[david lazarus]

Norm

Thanks for the info on the inner tubes....now I am worried, because the law here insists that inners are fitted, and I have 16 inch TRACTOR inners on my car....sheeeet:eek:

I will be up in the USA about Feb....I think a proper DOT set of inners will be on my shopping list !!!

[BobT-47P15]

I would say "try running the tires tubeless and see what happens".....if they hold air satisfactorily, then it works. If the hole is too large for a regular pop-in valve stem, or is oval shaped, then buy some of those brass stems from a truck shop.

David, if you use the wrong tubes, they will come after you in this.....

[builtfercomfort]

Has anyone tried the 'green slime' liquid you put inside the tires to stop leaks with these old pitted wheels? I use if for my riding mower because I keep finding leftover nails from old (de)construction projects in my yard.

They claim it works wonders, but I wonder if it would throw off the alignment.

[Brad Lustig]

Haven't used it on car tires, but I've used the green slime stuff on bike tires and wheelbarrow tires. It didn't throw off the balance in the bike tires. Can't say I've picked up enough speed in the wheelbarrow to notice. The slime stays liquid in your tire so it should spread out inside the tire. I guess if there was enough in there, it'd probably pool when it was parked for a while.

[Norm's Coupe]

Here is a couple of pics of my freshly powdered coated 2 rims, I still have 2 more to go, for a total of 6 rims. One was pitted badly inside, don't mind using tubes, but would like to go tubeless if I could, would these rims pass for using tubeless tires.......Fred

The one on the left looks pretty good, would question the one on the right though. Think I would put a tube in it to be safe.

[Don Coatney]

Just a few comments. First off why would anyone want to use 50+ year old rusty wheels on a car they drive when new replacement wheels are available? How deep is the rust? What test is used to determine how deep the rust actually is? Is this an accident waiting to happen?

Secondly why would anyone want to use tubes anymore? A tire with a tube cannot be easily repaired on the side of the road. A tubeless tire can be easily repaired without removing the wheel from the car. Most automobile tire dealers today do not have people who have any experience with tires that require tubes.

Thirdly nails collected in any kind of tire will not effect the alignment of a vehicle. It will possibly effect the balance of the tire.

Just my thoughts.