Rims and Road Salt. Related advice requested!

[Crawfinski]

Hello everyone!

I technically just "inherited" my wife's '07 Limited and have a question about rims.

We have the 18" alloys and apparently they do not get along well with road salt. I grew up in Oklahoma where such salt is a myth. I now live in Minnesota where road salt is a constant reality. I have learned that road salt works its way into the bead and corrodes the alloy thus creating avenues through which air escapes. I have also learned this is common on 4Runners.

The guys at Discount Tired recommended having the rims sandblasted and powder coated. They don't do this, so they're not trying to upsale me. They said the powder coat would prevent the corrosion for longer than the standard finish. I'm not opposed to this, but I want to explore all of my options.

The place they recommend to redo our rims costs about $200 per wheel. They said the OEM wheels we have likely go for $400 each so it's worth redoing them. I have been searching a bit and do not see the rims at that price. I know of several other great wheels around $200 per that are more enticing. Heck, I found TRDs for about that price.

So some questions:
1. $200 for sandblasting and powder coating: Is that a good price in your experience?
2. How much do the 18" OEM limited alloys run (for reference: if I get new ones, I'm going with something different).
3. Do you know of other wheels have similar issues with road salt? Wheels that are more likely to have this issue? Wheels that do NOT have this issue?
4. If I go with a 17" rim or even a 16" rim (if I can) do I need to worry about backspacing issues with an equally proportionate tire size [245/70R17 or 245/75R16 vs the OEM 265/60R18]?
5. Is there anything else I need to aware of as I look into this?

I am new to this forum, new to T4R ownership (more or less), but not to Toyota. I've enjoyed the other forums I've been a part of, but fully acknowledge I have much to learn. Thanks in advance!

Crawfinski

 

[CookieRoe]

How bad are they damaged? Are they even damaged? if so, post pictures.

I've found that when you hand wash your vehicle, hand wash the rims and apply cleaner wax on them, this preserves the finish. I do this EVERY CAR wash. My wheels look new. (not so much now as they are covered in salty crap). Don't forget, many wheels have clear coat on them. Treat it like it was a painted surface. It doesn't matter if you have a Toyota/Lexus/Nissan/Jeep/whatever wheel exposed with road salt/grime, if you don't maintain it, it will rust. It's maintaining them that's important.

 

[wadle5]

$200 a wheel to powdercoat seems a little steep from a tire shop? I would try and find someone else a shop or something that specializes in it and you could probably get them done cheaper AND better. Or for another maybe $200 total, so $1000.00 you could just get a new set of wheels so you won't have to deal with this reoccurring problem. Yes the powdercoat will delay it, but with what the wheels are made of you are going to have a reoccurring issue.

 

[xpeppyx]

Whatever you do don't pay $200 per wheel for powder coating. Look elsewhere if you decide to go with powder coating. Should cost you $75-100 per wheel at a place that isn't ripping you off.

 

[Mytoy4]

I had the same issues with both sets of stock wheels. My SR5 wheels were pitted something terrible from all the salt. I washed it often and still the salt seemed to eat right through them.

Bought some Sport wheels about 6 years later (below) and within 1 winter they started to do the same thing. Took them off and put Teflon coated American Racing ATX wheels on. They've been on for a couple winters now and I've yet to see any issues at all.

 

[jonesmw10]

Same issues here as well. The previous owner didn't care to clean the wheels it seems. They're peeling, bubbling, rims are leaking... But at the price you were given for powdercoating, I'd find a set of used wheels on craigslist/ebay (although you run the risk of getting a bent rim...). I went that route and scored some wheels from a 2010+ 4Runner for $200

 

[XMountainMan]

$200 a wheel to powdercoat seems a little steep from a tire shop? I would try and find someone else a shop or something that specializes in it and you could probably get them done cheaper AND better. Or for another maybe $200 total, so $1000.00 you could just get a new set of wheels so you won't have to deal with this reoccurring problem. Yes the powdercoat will delay it, but with what the wheels are made of you are going to have a reoccurring issue.

Yeah that's real hi, local shop here that does all the coating for my Harley parts charges $50/rim for the average car/truck wheel.

 

[emoore924]

If it matters, there's a wheel guy in this area who I talked to about this corrosion. While the salt might exacerbate the situation, apparently the primary driver is the zinc/tin content in the wheel alloy. Toyota apparently didn't get it right and the wheels are very susceptible to corrosion.

And $200 is a lot for a strip + powdercoat. As mentioned already, $75-100 is the going price around here.

 

[scottm]

I did a careful rattle-can job on my Land Cruiser wheels years back, they looked like new several winters later when I sold it. I'm planning on doing the same with my 4R and current Land Cruiser when Michigan weather gets better, a long time from now. On the old cruiser I had a mix of polished aluminum and painted, was lucky the polished part only needed fresh clear-coat. My current Land Cruiser has no polished aluminum, so that will be easy. The 4R wheels have corrosion on the polished areas, so I'm going to have to figure a way to make those look good. Luckily I manage a machine building shop, so I can probably turn my wheels on a mill to polish them. Worst case, we send things out for Powdercoat every week, I can get them powdercoated, but I want them to look stock with polished aluminum if possible.

 

[scw1991]

You can buy brand new T4R 18" aluminum wheels from Village Toyota delivered to your door for $200 ea

 

[rich045]

sandblasting is a PIA, i think thats why they charge so much to do it. On small items like motorcycle levers and pedals its ok but on a full scale wheel, well its not lol.
If they were to sandblast all 4 wheels, then that would take a whole day or more.
I would ask if they have the acid, its called something 17, that stuff cleans your wheels to the teeth in minutes, I would try that. May be cheaper.
just my .02 cents

 

[KBToys]

Same issue on my 07 stock wheels, i usually can get about 4 days before the tire light comes on. I was quoted $65 to sand down the bead and primer it from a local rim place, but they said that it would probably only last 5 years before it started again. He also quoted $90 per wheel to powder coat them. My issue is only two of my tires so far are leaking and i only use these wheels in the winter so i don't really want to spend the money on them.

 

[Crawfinski]

Thank you for the feedback everyone!

jonesmw10, ours was also the result of the previous owner not taking good care of them.

I agree with everyone that the price of the sandblast and pc seems a little steep, but I wanted some confirmation.

emoore924, do you know if the tin/zinc in alloy was unique to this specific type of wheel or did Toyota get it wrong on all of their wheels?

I'm eyeing some of the black TRD wheels but would rather not get ones with the same issue from the start.

Mytoy4, something teflon coated is also an option.