DanW Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 The de-icer that is used around Denver (and probably many other cities) is magnesium chloride, and it murder on unfinished metal. (As a de-icer it actually works pretty good) Many car wheel are not finished on the rims, where the tire bead seats, and this stuff corrodes the heck out of it. On my LS400, I have one rim that is a major problem, one that is minor, two that seem ok so far. And the spare is about new. The problem is that the corrosion causes the bead to not seat properly and the tire slow leaks. This substance obviously was not widely used as a de-icer when toyota designed these things. So.... 1) Does anyone know if this can be fixed? 2) Are there any good option on refurb/refinished oem wheels for the 1st gen ls400? I never like any of the aftermarket ones...just me. 3) Do the LS430 wheels have this problem? As a temp fix, I may swap out the malignant one with the spare, and put the spare on a cheap oem rim. Thanks for any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 I don't think there is anything to do other than buying a new set of rims... If there is I would love to know too cause I believe I have some corrosion on my wheel's beads as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threadcutter Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 The de-icer that is used around Denver (and probably many other cities) is magnesium chloride, and it murder on unfinished metal. (As a de-icer it actually works pretty good) Many car wheel are not finished on the rims, where the tire bead seats, and this stuff corrodes the heck out of it.On my LS400, I have one rim that is a major problem, one that is minor, two that seem ok so far. And the spare is about new. The problem is that the corrosion causes the bead to not seat properly and the tire slow leaks. This substance obviously was not widely used as a de-icer when toyota designed these things. So.... 1) Does anyone know if this can be fixed? 2) Are there any good option on refurb/refinished oem wheels for the 1st gen ls400? I never like any of the aftermarket ones...just me. 3) Do the LS430 wheels have this problem? As a temp fix, I may swap out the malignant one with the spare, and put the spare on a cheap oem rim. Thanks for any help. Had the identical problem on my 95 LS. I tried finding used wheels on Craigslist, e-Bay, etc. with no luck. A buddy of mine recommended that I take it to a local indy tire shop that he had been going to for years. I did. They said "Oh, yeah, we see that all the time........easy fix". They removed both rear wheels, the tires from the wheels and wire brushed all of the corrosion/cancer off of the inside of the rims. Then, they put some "goo" (I don't know what it was) around the inside of the rim, remounted the tires and rims and away I went. That was 2 + months ago.........no leaks. About all I could get out of them was that is was "some kind of vegetable based compound".......I dunno, sorta like grease(?)..... Apparently, the problem with the big tire stores is that they are only interested in SELLING you tires. Most of them don't know about this and/or don't want to offer the service if they do know. It sounds like it's somewhat relegated to the "good ole' boys" anymore. I looked for a solution to this for months until I took it into that one Indy shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisher972002 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Yeah, I mean all aluminum rims have this problem.. They just have to take off the rubber and smoothe out the corrosion on the tire bead, any good tire shop should be able to do this, they see this ALL the time.... Had it done on a few of my tires..No big deal, they hold.. In a few years maybe one other tire may need it.. Had to do it on my rusted out Ford Explorer.. SOme of them can be very very slow leaks you don't notice, others are more drastic.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Hey Threadcutter I see you're in NW Washington too.. what shop did you go to?? Or I should ask where was it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threadcutter Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Hey Threadcutter I see you're in NW Washington too.. what shop did you go to?? Or I should ask where was it. Crome: Wrong side of the pond I think. It's "Bill Bailey for Tires" in Mount Vernon. Bit of a long ferry ride & drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Oh ok. Yeah a bit out of the way for wheel corrosion!! haha Well my gf has a bunch of family there (yes they're mexican!) hahah So maybe if i feel like going on a road trip i'll stop by the place! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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