Wheels off! Questions.

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_Raven

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So, after a nice break in the nasty Colorado weather, I hastily filled my wash buckets up and headed outside to spend some quality time with my truck. My first use of ONR left me pretty satisfied, and claying will be the next major project. It quickly got too cold to continue, but she's clean at least.

I have been tackling my wheels in a multi part process, as they are in pretty poor shape. Wednesday, I did the first soak with Megs All Wheel Cleaner, and observed that I had aluminum alloy 5 spoke rims, which are partially coated with flecked paint and clearcoat. Man, so much nasty stuff came off. Today, I soaked and scrubbed once more, this time using my new Daytona Speed Master brush, and lots of elbow grease. The inner wells are untouchable.

I scrubbed vigorously, but I discovered that the wheels are going to need to come off to do the job thoroughly.

I have never removed my vehicle wheels for any purpose except an unexpected flat. Does anyone have any pointers for managing this process before I begin?

Tools available:

Megs AWC
Megs Alum WC
Megs Clay Bar
Mothers Mag / Alum Polish
Megs APC+
Goof Off
Assorted Brushes

Thanks in advance,
Chris

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Just be safe. I remove wheels everyday. But I get to use a lift :)

Jack stands
Floor jack
Common sense

Those are the tools you need.
 
I do two wheels at a time. Front and rears. Always on a level surface and chock the wheels on the ground. And never never ever think it's ok just to just a jack. Always use stands too.

Tips:
If it's your own car you don't have to do all 4 wheels at once.
Loosen the nuts before jacking it up
Make sure you jack it up enough. Harder to get wheels back on then off
Tighten but don't over tighten the nuts. Give them another tighten once the tyres are back on the ground
Check the wheel nuts again after driving 50 miles as they do loosen slightly
 
Very cool, thanks for the replies so far. Hopefully the weather permits tomorrow so I can tackle the wheels. I plan on polishing them up, and maybe putting some Collinite 845 to protect.

I think my wife is starting to notice that my new hobby is turning more and more into an excuse to visit an auto or hardware store lol.

Edit: one more thing, I have some heavy scuffing on the edge of one of the rims. Looks like curb damage. Is there any reasonable way to shave or sand the aluminum or is it even worth trying to fix?

Can't sleep! Good thing the AGO forum has such great info.

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You can lower the risk of warped rotors and other mischief by using a torque wrench to tighten your lug nuts. Some people have a good feel for tightening nuts, bolts, and screws. I certainly don't, that's why I have no less than five torque wrenches and three or four torque screwdrivers, lol! :eek: You only need one torque wrench for lug nuts. Even a cheap $20 click type from harbor freight will be adequate for even tightening of lug nuts. Look up the torque spec for your truck's lug nuts, it'll probably be in the neighborhood of 85-95 ft-lbs. Tighten in a star pattern. 1,3,5,2,4. Or if it's a six bolt pattern: 1,4,2,5,3,6. First by hand, wheel snug against the rotor hat. Then lower the car and tighten using the torque wrench set to the lug nut spec. I like to do it in two stages, say if spec is 80 ft-lb, I'll go around once to 30, then to 80. But if you don't want to do it that way, I won't tell anyone.
 
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Besides all of the excellent suggestions from this forum's members on employing the best-practices as they apply to safety and tools...
IMO...Doesn't hurt to have a torque wrench when replacing tire/wheel assemblies; and, to torque the lug nuts in the proper sequence to avoid unwanted consequences.

:)

Bob

EDIT:
OOOPS!!! Repetitive Post...Forum member---Rix6 (Thank you, good Sir)---already touched upon this "torque-ing matter" (Post #6)...Thanks for your patience.
 
Chris,

It sounds like you have some work to do. :laughing:


  • Jack - To raise the vehicle just so the wheel and tire can be removed.
  • Wrench - To loosen and remove the lug nuts
  • Jack Stands - if you intend to remove more than one wheel at a time.
  • Torque Wrench - to properly tighten the lugs, 80 foot pounds is sufficient
    • Tighten evenly in a criss-cross pattern to evenly distribute the torque load

Seeing that your wheels are coated you can be a little more aggressive with the cleaning solutions.

Wheels see the worst of what the road and weather dish out and sometimes it takes some extreme measures to get them cleaned up. Dirt, debris, grease and brake dust generally make up most of what you're dealing with.

Meguiar's Wheel Brightener is about the strongest cleaner I've used and while it isn't on your list it's one I highly recommend for the toughest jobs.

Iron-X by CarPro is another great choice at removing caked on brake dust. Iron-X also comes in a paste and can be applied to those problem areas.

Thoroughly clean each wheel and when finished coat with a wheel sealant or a wax similar to Collinite 845. These coatings will reduce the dust and contaminates by about 50% allowing you to wash them with regular soap and water...
 
Once you get the wheels cleaned well , put on a couple layers of protection. I use KAIO (which helps remove stubborn brake dust) and then Rejex. All I need is a Daytona Brush for months after this.
 
Ok since everyone else covered the getting the wheels on/off I'll talk about my experience cleaning and re-finishing wheels.

I know that untouchable brake dust buildup your talking about. Many trucks get that way. I would start off with some Meguiar's Wheel Brightener. You might be able to get away with something OTC but it'll be a lot more work. I would use an old MF or terry cloth to actually scrub the barrel. Something I've found with the Daytona is its great for well kept wheels but for wheels with some serious build up and taking them off is not an option I use my Wheel Woolies :) They are fantastic!

After cleaning the wheel once or twice with a wheel cleaner I would use some IronX. The paste kind will work a little better then the spray but you could get by with the spray kind incase you don't want to buy a product that you'll probably only be using on your wheels. So thats up to you.

After you get all that brake dust build up off you'll probably find a decent amount of tar stuck to the barrel off the wheel. I would try some tar remover and your fingernail to get most of it off. In the worst case scenario you could use a plastic razor blade.

When it comes to protection I would go for Opti-coat. I'm in the process of finishing up my wheels with it right now (I'll get to that in a second). It'll last way longer then a sealant or wax and will clean up much better. All this is going to take you at least 2 hours a wheel. Just a guess but from my experience thats what it has taken me in the past.

One last thing, you talked about maybe trying to fix the curb rash on your wheels. I would not try to fix it. So this Summer I got some curb rash on a couple of my wheels and I decided I would try to fix it over the winter. My wheels have a machined lip and as soon as I took some sandpaper to the curb rash area it dawned on me that I just took the machining marks off and now that area stands out like a sore thumb. I then committed to hand sanding the lip of all 4 wheels with 400 grit, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 then polishing them out. I'm in the process of re-clearing the lip right now then I'm gonna Opti-coat them. I probably have about 7-8 hours into each wheel at this point so thats at least 28 hours of work and I'm not even done. The lip of my wheel now looks like Chrome which I really like but its been a lot of work and didn't know what I was getting myself into when I started. I suggest you just clean up the curb rash areas with a non-acidic cleaner (Don't use Meguiar's Wheel Brightener) and put some Opti-coat over those areas to protect them since all the clear coat has probably been worn off. Good luck!
 
For the "curb rash" you may want to have the wheel professionally repaired. Check your Yellow Pages for sources to have this done. It will probably cost in the neighborhood of $135 per wheel.
 
Chris,

I found a guide, How to Install a Tire: Wheel and Tire Installation Instructions., that you'll find helpful for putting your wheels back on. It's a really good article because the author is rather meticulous about best practices. A few things are a little tricky. Note, torquing lug nuts before lowering the car. Easier said then done. The rear is easy because you can use the e-brake. Fronts are tricky, when I've done it I've either just he-man'd it or wedged my leg against the tire to keep it from rotating. As a compromise, I'll mighty-mouse it by torquing evenly to a low torque value, then lower the car and torque to the final spec. In any event the article will give you a very clear view of the best practices (you aren't likely to see your average mechanic bringing a torque wrench anywhere near your wheels) Anyways, I love articles like that because they're a good reminder for the old adage, 'if you want something done right, do it yourself!' :dblthumb2:


-Rick
 
Thank you for the excellent guide! And thank you to everyone that has provided insight so far. I'm afraid my mobile posting skills leave something to be desired lol. I think I've got a good plan ready, but a small garage is going to limit my progress to fair weather.

Yesterday, I caught the tail end of a nice sale; Sears was selling a 3 ton Craftsman hydraulic floor jack w/ 3 ton jack stands and a creeper for $109 (50 off). Got all the way home to find that the power unit assembly was defective. Exchanged it today for a good one (checked in store).

They were totally out of torque wrenches though after their President's Day sale.

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Not sure if anyone had said this... But Harbor Freight carries good enough torque wrenches for tightening lug nuts. You wouldn't want to use this on torqueing a head on the engine of course. Northern tool also carries them but they are more expensive.
 
_Raven said:
Thank you for the excellent guide! And thank you to everyone that has provided insight so far. I'm afraid my mobile posting skills leave something to be desired lol. I think I've got a good plan ready, but a small garage is going to limit my progress to fair weather.

Yesterday, I caught the tail end of a nice sale; Sears was selling a 3 ton Craftsman hydraulic floor jack w/ 3 ton jack stands and a creeper for $109 (50 off). Got all the way home to find that the power unit assembly was defective. Exchanged it today for a good one (checked in store).

They were totally out of torque wrenches though after their President's Day sale.

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Click to expand...

Where in CO are you located I'm in Parker? If you're close I could help you out on a weekend when the weather is good. I have a jack that provides 24" of ground clearance and also a set of high jack stands, in addition to a couple torque wrenches. In addition to that I have several products we could try, got pics of the wheels?
 
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So, couple hours later and this is about as good as I can do:

View attachment 10932

View attachment 10933

There appears to be some heavy pitting that is difficult to treat. So far I have tried:

Megs all wheel cleaner and aluminum weel cleaner.
Megs APC+ at 10:1.
Rust-Oleum wax and tar remover.
0000 steel wool (bad idea, left a little residue).
WD-40 spot treatment.
Pressure washing at 1800 psi.
American made ELBOW GREASE
Various scrubbers.

I may try steam, and then I will most likely just sand everything smooth.

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I would try some IronX Paste on those tough spots. And remember, if you sand your wheels they will lose their clear coat. And bare aluminum gets damaged very easy. I just refinished my wheels and I just Opti-coated them. I was afraid if I tried to re-clear them it would flake off over time
 
shoeless89 said:
I would try some IronX Paste on those tough spots. And remember, if you sand your wheels they will lose their clear coat. And bare aluminum gets damaged very easy. I just refinished my wheels and I just Opti-coated them. I was afraid if I tried to re-clear them it would flake off over time
Click to expand...

I added the 500g Iron X Paste to my order this weekend, along with the 6 pack of Meguiar's Unigrit paper. I'm amazed at how resilient that residue was. Nothing I threw at it seemed to work! I was also considering using some Zep Purple Degreaser on some test areas to see what happens, even though the directions recommend using it on bare aluminum. As far as I can tell, the inner wheel wells are not coated in any way, which probably contributed to the amount of damage. Here in Colorado, they love using those anti-icing road chemicals for about 5 months out of the year.

Knowing what I know now, I never would have let the wheels get this bad. Unfortunately in my younger years I didn't take the initiative to learn what I should have. I bought the Sport Trac new in 04, and have had it since, doing most of the things a usual uninformed driver would do lol. I think by the time I'm done I'll have my own customized body repair manual lol, complete with pictures!

Last night, I looked around on the internet regarding aluminum alloy wheel refinishing, and it looks like there are a few things I may try. I'm not terribly worried about sanding, since my plan is to enamel / clearcoat the exposed areas of the wheels. The front of each wheel is fully clearcoated, and not in too bad of shape. I'm going to go all out on this one wheel to figure out what my process is going to be. Ford OEM offers replacements for $430 lol. I've got a while to go before I hit that mark :P

I did see some flap wheel attachments for the drill / dremel. Is there any type of sander I could effectively use on the curved surfaces of the rims? There's a lot of material there. If I have to do it by hand, I'm all for it, but if there's an easier way... :xyxthumbs:

I was going to buy a new F-150 FX4, but I think after I put the work into this one, I'll just keep it for another few years lol.
 
_Raven said:
I added the 500g Iron X Paste to my order this weekend, along with the 6 pack of Meguiar's Unigrit paper. I'm amazed at how resilient that residue was. Nothing I threw at it seemed to work! I was also considering using some Zep Purple Degreaser on some test areas to see what happens, even though the directions recommend using it on bare aluminum. As far as I can tell, the inner wheel wells are not coated in any way, which probably contributed to the amount of damage. Here in Colorado, they love using those anti-icing road chemicals for about 5 months out of the year.
Click to expand...

First of all, it's good that you are seeking advice before attempting a new endeavor.
1. Those inner wheels are definitely coated. Great idea on the paste btw.:xyxthumbs:
2. Zep purple is a great product.


raven said:
I did see some flap wheel attachments for the drill / dremel. Is there any type of sander I could effectively use on the curved surfaces of the rims? There's a lot of material there. If I have to do it by hand, I'm all for it, but if there's an easier way... :xyxthumbs:[/q
Click to expand...
3. There's very little chance of you sanding all the pits out - even though it can be done.
It's a lot of work. Might have to find a happy medium.
4. If that flap is the aluminum oxide tool , you'll be making a hugh mistake -it will abrade unevenly, leaving a not so desired look.:cry:
5. Am sending a pm on the chem/process you may want to review.
6. Happy detailing hand... :buffing:
 
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