Rusty Rally Wheels
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
From: Milton MA
Rusty Rally Wheels
OK, I have a stock 15 x 8 rally wheel on my '73 that was not holding air. I removed the tire and out comes about a cup of rust! I'm tempted to fire up the media blaster and clean up the wheel, paint it with POR-15 and see if it holds air with a new tire. Is it worth it to attempt to repair a rusty raly wheel...or just buy a decent used one or new?
Safety Car
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,557
Likes: 0
From: Ridgeway VA
How old are your tires? When I first got my '70 the tires were old and would not hold air to the point - one time - the rally wheel was sitting on the ground with totally flat tire. The wheels were rusty but the problem was old tires - from reading here some people suggest replacing tires after 5 years - check the code on the tire to see when it was made.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,547
Likes: 12
From: Carbondale Pa.
If the tires check good & dont have any holes in them you need to take a wire brush to the portion of the wheel that the bead sits on and clean any rust or old fragments of rubber or any other trash off of the wheel and then maybe some POR15 or any other paint for that matter and you should be good to go, some tire shops will use a glue or some other kinda snot to help seal the bead but thats messy as well as UGLY, Good luck. Peace,,,Moosie 
Race Director
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 11,125
Likes: 673
From: SE Pennsylvania
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '26
Oldtimer
Heck No ! what's your life worth? A wheel or tire that is under suspicion should be thrown out. Don't take a chance, buy a new wheel and make sure the tire is good as well. Even if your only going slow the damage when a wheel fails is catastrophic.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
Bang on the rim with a hammer and see if any rust is knocked off the rim. If it is, pitch the rim. If not, and the sound is a clear, metallic 'ring', just clean them up. Could your tire leak be a bad valve stem/seal?
