OK, so I know I've been neglecting my Ranger since I bought a Fusion earlier this year and already put 12k miles on it. Heck my truck has only had about 8k on it for 2011. I try to use it as my weekend local driver, but now that it's starting to get close to winter I pulled it out of the garage and gave her a good cleaning and an oil change will be done this weekend.

And what do I notice when cleaning... my rims all seems to have this "thing" on them that looks like roots growing or something, but it's totally flush to the touch... what is up, can I get rid of this, it's pretty nasty looking on an otherwise flawless set of rims... (see attached pic)


Any ideas?

 

Corroding clear coat or cracking clear coat

 

not cool :(


Any way to clean it up that you've found?

 

Maybe some fine fine sandpaper.

Try some rubbing compound and a buffer on a drill.

It worked for my old 91 STX rims. Had the same problem, now they are jsut all out fading lol

 

That's a very common issue with these rims for some reason. The clear coat lifts, and those squiggly lines are actually where oxidation is creeping underneath the clear. It seems to happen around the center and lug nuts on this style. The only way to fix it is to remove the clear coat and reclear it.

 

Assuming you truck is red by your avatar, if you strip them maybe go with some paint too, a nice gunmetal would look awesome.

 

it is red, I'd probably just re-clearcoat them for the time being, I am annoyed that this happened, but I'm curious why now, could it be because of the payload I was lugging when putting new stone in my driveway?

 

No, it's got nothing to do with the load you were carrying. It's just something that happens on a lot of factory rims, and for some reason, this style seems to be prone to it happening around the centers like that. I've seen a lot of them with corrosion around the middle. I just got a set that's really badly corroded in that area, but it's not too difficult to take care of where you're catching it early.

 

post a pic of the rims u picked up

Also to strip the clear you'll need air craft stripper

 

Mine are doing it. I'll wait a few years and do them. It sucks but I'm not super bothered by it.

 

https://www.ranger-forums.com/wheels-tires-semi-tech-38/score-want-some-opinions-127514/

That was when I picked them up. I've already stripped them, and sanded one down. Still trying to decide what to do with them. Leaning toward powdercoating the same color as the truck.

 

can you selectively remove the clear coat, like just around the hubs and how does the clear coat come (in a can or brush on)?

 

You can tape the area off around it. I dunno how well that will look.
Clear coat usually comes in a spray can. All you need to do to remove the clear coat is use something like Aircraft stripper and maybe a bit of sand paper. Clean off the paint with a dry rag, Spray the clear coat on.

 

I had this happen on my old stock rims when I still had them. I always thought it was because there is no clear coat in the little recesses that the lugs sit in. Which creates a nice edge for oxidization to crawl under the clear. Also maybe a reaction between the aluminum in the wheel and the steel lugs?

 

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry 8530)

Frosty, you may be right. I don't think it's coated in the lug recess at all, and the same may be true for under the center cap.

 

It was happening to my rims, went to the stealership and had them replace all four rims under warranty .

 

Use a good paint stripper. I had used Rust-Oleum Aircraft Stripper from watching a YouTube video as a recommendation. You will need several applications along with utilizing steel wool or a green scrubby Poly Pad with some Elbow Grease, a plastic putty knife etc.. After most of the clear coat is off etc. Use NAPA Aluminum Rim Mag cleaner along with the green poly pad. You can also use a 1000 Grit sandpaper when the rim is dried. Then After it's all down to the Aluminum, you can polish the Aluminum with Mother's Aluminum Mag Wheel Compound. My stock rims cam out really amazing,,,, photos below. It takes about 3 hours a rim. Well worth it. I saved a lot of money. Watch the enclosed YouTube Video link.

https://youtu.be/MziPmQWYr4w


Before


After


Recent photos with brand new center caps and another NAPA aluminum cleaner with a good green poly scrubbing.




To keep them maintained, I highly advise NAPA Aluminum Wheel Cleaner and a Poly Pad. It gets all the crap off of them. PS Don't forget the Mother's Aluminum Mag Wheel polish also for maintenance.

https://youtu.be/MziPmQWYr4w