Bought a pair of sad 2007 Saturn ion 4 lug steelies for my Cobalt need cleanup advice

[Rmay635703]

I had to go to 2 pic n pulls and finally found a pair of 4 lug 15” steelies to go on my 2010 cobalt so I don’t risk remounting snows vrs summer treads. (Places have ruined my tires during removal in the past)

Sadly the only ones I could find that weren’t scuffed up alloys are a little on the sad side. I’m gonna try finding a local self serve car wash, sadly they all seem to be out of business but definitely will save me some rage issues trying to clean these sorry rims up.

Despite technically fitting my cobalt they are a lot heavier than the rims on my XFE.

Paint is starting to bubble along the inside of the rim and along the bead area but they roll level and best I could tell aren’t bent or rusty to any significant extent.

Any suggestions on how I should clean these things up? Tons of crud stuck to the bead and I lack tools outside hand tools, I know from past experience if I bring it in to mount they are just gonna slap it on the bumpy irregular bead and it will leak.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The XFE uses special lightweight rims for max mpg, so you probably won't find any OE rims lighter than the XFE wheels

Do you already have another pair? Or do you still need to replace the other 2 as well? It might be easier to just get a set of aftermarket wheels/tires pre-mounted from TR or DT.

What's wrong with scuffed up alloys for winter use?

Would some kind of brush work? Either a wire brush or like a BBQ grill brush that has metal bristles.

 

[Rmay635703]

The XFE uses special lightweight rims for max mpg, so you probably won't find any OE rims lighter than the XFE wheels

What's wrong with scuffed up alloys for winter use?

Would some kind of brush work? Either a wire brush or like a BBQ grill brush that has metal bristles.

Every alloy rim I have ever owned starts to leak at 10 years, especially in the winter, my experience with scuffed and oxidizing rims off a car that was in a wreck is that they usually have a hairline crack I can’t see and leak rapidly, worse the local wreckers don’t allow you to return and trade junk parts anymore so no warranty that it’s any good to start with.

I’m gonna powerwash them (when I find an antique car wash)
and yeah a set of steel very coarse wire brushes to try to remove what looks like tar.

Sadly I think the bead itself is pitted a bit like a golfball, not anything past a grinder will fix that.

These were only $25 so I can’t complain much, just very surprised at how empty all the wreckers are, it’s probably 1/5 the selection you would find even 5 years ago so I literally had only 1 rim option. The local wrecker hasn’t had a cobalt in stock in over a year. If there was more availability I would have never bought poopie steelies but simply nothing in stock

 

[Kestas]

My go-to for a good bead seat surface has always been grit blasting followed by repainting. I don't think you can do a better job in preparation. I find this typically needs to be done after 15 years in winter service.

I believe the shops just wire wheel the crud off as best they can.

 

[eljefino]

Could be worth doing the best sanding/ blasting you can imagine then smearing some epoxy like JB weld on the pitted part. I could also be way off base here. Wire brush in a drill or grinder works pretty well for knocking down the high stuff.

I get my rims from Facebook marketplace now. They're usually extremely cheap or free if they have bald tires on them-- people are just paralyzed figuring out how to dispose of them.

 

[Rmay635703]

Could be worth doing the best sanding/ blasting you can imagine then smearing some epoxy like JB weld on the pitted part. I could also be way off base here. Wire brush in a drill or grinder works pretty well for knocking down the high stuff.

I get my rims from Facebook marketplace now. They're usually extremely cheap or free if they have bald tires on them-- people are just paralyzed figuring out how to dispose of them.

The bead was easily cleaned up
surface rust on the rest is a big pain, I did my best, tempted to just phos it up with spray on rust converted and encapsulating paint.