Treating Rim Rust

Tim in New York · Dec 16, 2020

I noticed this fall that my rims are starting to show some rust around the valve stem. No surprise as I have had calcium in the tires for the 30+ years I owned it. Should I try to scrape the rust off, or sand it off somehow, and then paint the rim? Or is the rim rusting from the inside out and doing anything to the outside will make things worse?

Thanks,
Tim

Dean · Dec 16, 2020

You will probably be surprised by what you find inside.

The only way to do it properly is to dismount the tires, scrape any loose scale, and sandblast the rims to bare metal before priming and painting.

You will also need to thoroughly scrub the inside of the tires to remove any traces of CaCl and install new tubes.

Lots of work to do it properly.

Dean

Paul from MI · Dec 16, 2020

Inside rust is usually worse. Dismount the tire, sandblast to clean metal, re-paint. Good news is that pretty badly rusted rims can be repaired.

old · Dec 16, 2020

Instead of paint I use pickup truck bed liner spray on rims I repair and have yet to see one come back

SDE · Dec 16, 2020

After removing the tire or breaking the bead of the tire from the rim, use a hammer to test the metal. Start away from the rusty spot and listen to the ring tone. When you get closer to the rust it should still ring. If it goes to a thud sound, cut out that bad spot and weld in a patch.

Stroby · Dec 17, 2020

Does that liquid you buy at autoparts (body repair panels) stores work? It is a liquid that I applied with a brush. I have put some on metal lines in my past and it turns the rust into a metal type structure and stops the rust. I have applied paint over it and in one case it has lasted 20 years.

BarnyardEngineering · Dec 17, 2020

Your tubes are probably leaking. Like the other guys have said, the right thing to do is to pull the tires and fix the problem.

The farmer thing to do is ignore it until the rims disintegrate at the worst possible time, then complain about how horrible CaCl is.

Ellis Kinney · Dec 17, 2020

I worked on a pair of rims like yours. I sanded, wire wheeled and power washed them. Two days later I had rust showing up in various spots as the calcium worked its way out of the pours of the metal. I submerged them for about a week and that resolved the problem. I used Rust-Oleum primer and then painted them with truck bed liner. Ellis

Treating Rim Rust

Tim in New York

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Dean

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Paul from MI

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old

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SDE

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Stroby

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BarnyardEngineering

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Ellis Kinney

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