[pittbull7934]

I live in San Diego, Ca.

I have never expirenced this but one of the cars my friend has had consistent low air in the tires. we took it to the tire shop and they took the tires off the rims and they were very badly corroded around the bead. They are aluminum very expensive wheels. The wheels had to be polished and put back on.

My question is: Is this normal? The tire guy said it is because of all the moisture in the air, is this true? We have four other cars with aluminum wheels in the same area and none of them have this problem.

I did not know where else to post this, sorry if it is in the wrong thread.

[1eleven]

I'm no expert on this but it seems to me that if it were moisture inside of the tire it would just corrode the rim on the surface that is exposed to air and not the area taken up by the bead of the tire. It would be my guess that these rims are a few years old and they had the wrong lube applied to the bead of the tire at the time of assembly? I've seen several steel rims rusted to the point that they won't hold air, but never aluminum. sounds pretty nuts to me. I hope the polishing fix works.

[pittbull7934]

Originally Posted by 1eleven

I'm no expert on this but it seems to me that if it were moisture inside of the tire it would just corrode the rim on the surface that is exposed to air and not the area taken up by the bead of the tire. It would be my guess that these rims are a few years old and they had the wrong lube applied to the bead of the tire at the time of assembly? I've seen several steel rims rusted to the point that they won't hold air, but never aluminum. sounds pretty nuts to me. I hope the polishing fix works.

Yea I had heard of steel rims rusting and doing this but not aluminum.

[ericnova72]

What are the rims/who made them?? Billet one piece, two piece, three piece, cast?? Anondized or not?? Clear coated or not??

How close are you to the ocean/salt air condensation??

Have seen this condition here in Michigan from winter road salt, many aluminum rims here become unusable due to salt corrosion. In Michigan, we also find it bad between the wheel mounting surface and the brake disc/drum.

The tire guy is correct about moisture eating into the bead to tire crevice from the outside. The tire rubber is constantly being flexed in this area, every time the car is parked it leaves a different tiny section exposed to a little more outside air/moisture. Problems slowly follow this path, especially if salt gets involved, Bare uncoated or un-anodized aluminum (polished billet) is the worst for this.

[Deuce]

Early Corvette aluminum rims had this same problem. A common fix was to paint the inside of the rim ( where the air pressure is ) with a good quality aluminum paint. Also ... here in NASCAR land ... nitrogen is commonly used instead of compressed air. It is considerably more stable ( pressure wise ) and has less moisture.

Deuce

[302 Z28]

Another benefit of using nitrogen is the molecules are larger than air, so the loss rate is far lower. Any Discount Tire store can replace the air in your tires with nitrogen.

Vince

[pittbull7934]

They are billit wheels, I found the recipt and called the manufature, and they said it is because we are close to the water and the car doesn't really get driven, but again we have 3 other cars with aluminum wheels that don't get driven often and they don't have these problems.

[S10 Racer]

Originally Posted by pittbull7934

They are billit wheels, I found the recipt and called the manufature, and they said it is because we are close to the water and the car doesn't really get driven, but again we have 3 other cars with aluminum wheels that don't get driven often and they don't have these problems.

It may be the grade of aluminum the wheels are made from.

[302 Z28]

Originally Posted by S10 Racer

It may be the grade of aluminum the wheels are made from.

Probably Chinese.

Vince

[pittbull7934]

Originally Posted by 302 Z28

Probably Chinese.

Vince

they are made in los angeles, ca