Fixing a leaking chrome wheel...

[gnhbodyguy]

The limited had a leak at the chrome wheel where it seals up with the tire. It also had more bad spots of corrosion in the part you can't get to unless the tire is off the rim.

The tire store wanted to sell me a wheel or a set of new aftermarket wheels.

I said let me see if I can repair it. They gave me back the wheel with the tire off.

I've had real good luck with the wheel refurb I did when I first bought the car. That was described on page 37 of What Did You Do To Your LeSabre Today.

I basically did a similar thing. I first scraped off the chrome that was peeling or bubbling.

Then I used my rotary tool with a little grinding wheel to get rid of any corrosion that was still left.

Wire brush to get rid of road salt powder that cakes up in the corrosion pretty bad.

Made sure there was decent feathering where the good chrome met where there was now no chrome.

Wiped it down and brushed on a coat of primer and sanded. Another coat of primer and sanded.

Finished with some silver paint.

Took it back to get the tire mounted and it holds air just fine.

Just need to concentrate on the area where the tire meets the rim.

Here's some pictures. Before removing some corrosion. After corrosion is gone but before cleaning salt. Then after painting.

 

[mrmajikbus45]

Personally I just use a DA with the green and brown roloc discs to clean up the bead. On my personal vehicle, every time it's time for a tire change, after I mount a tire, I go around the bead with some paraffin wax. Keeps the crud out of the tire mounting areas, and comes off easily when you take the tire off.

Same set of wheels for almost 400k miles. Lucky they don't get bent with these Indiana potholes.