Salt + Aftermarket Wheels + Vancouver
 

anyone out there bought aftermarket painted wheels (mine are white) and not taken them off during the Vancouver winter-time?

I know salt gets to wheels, but i think only under certain conditions and I'm not sure Vancouver has that much harsh weather nor that much salt on the road to cause a horror story.

Anyone have any personal experiences to share regarding their wheels + Vancouver salt on roads? Am I safe if i just leave mine on?

just make sure you rinse off your wheels every day after driving around. That way the salt will not stick and pit your wheels. That happened to a buddy of mine with his grey rims.

Get a set of winter steelies and swap them out NOW before it snows!!!~~1

But real talk, just rinse them off with clean water (or if ur paranoid, a spray of wheel cleaner) each time you take it out in the snow.

as long as your rim doesn't have exposed metal like a lip, then i wouldn't worry about it.

uh...salt is used when its cold and freezing

if you are hosing off the wheels at a car wash joint thats fine and dandy...do it on your driveway / street and you are asking for trouble

did you paint the white yourself?

So when do they salt the roads?

^

when its below 0C i guess

nope, aftermarket buddy club white rims, from the factory

do they even salt the roads in vancouver? I thought they just used sand

If you still have your stock wheels, throw them on. It's not worth risking it. Salt isn't your only concern, think of the long stretches of rain we get in the fall/winter. Those nice white rims will look pretty shitty, pretty quick. Unless you stay on top of it, and wash them regardless of the weather.

Can't go wrong with a set of 'beater rims' for the winter. Whether they are stocks, or some other used ones you pick up cheap. Save your nice ones for the nice weather :)

Yes they do, unless the temperature goes below -7C(??? I know it's somewhere around there), then salt isn't effective. Then they only use sand to help with traction.

Good point. I was assuming it would be parked in a garage, but I know the OP and he parks on the street, so I guess hosing it off wouldn't be the best idea.

i can get a bucket of warm water and put it on...not that dangerous to do so where i park

also, what is "pitting"?

Aluminum is an alloy, so a chunk can get eaten away and form a pock mark.

oic

thanks for the info/advice everyone!

but does anyone else have any personal experiences from here in vancouver???

this is not exactly what your question was asking but ... my friend had a set of rota knockoffs of sw388s (i forget what rota calls them). this was a 2nd set he used for non-summer driving. the gunmetal (grey?) finish went cloudy on them after about 2 winters, and it started to flake and peel around the stone chips he never got around to touching up (couldn't find a matching touch up paint he said). he lives in an apartment with no wash bay so he's not able to wash them every day, and with all the autumn/winter crap that builds up on them and all the cleaning/scrubbing he had to do to them i'm not surprised :(

they have these huge bays full of either sand or salt or both at the vancouver works yard right. i think they mix it with the sand they dump into the spreader trucks. how much of a percentage they use i'm not sure...

If your rims are worth anything to you. Just take the extra effort and change them to winter tires/steelies
Posted via RS Mobile

i should mention that my friend bought the cheap rotas because steelies wouldn't fit over his brakes. he ended up going to rainbow and getting them powdercoated instead.

Ever thought about waxing them, or putting on some sort of protective coating to protect them from the elements?

They use like a liquid. It's not even salt anymore it's some chemical and apparently it eats ur paint away too. Some ppl were complaining to the city last year.

You follow those spreader trucks before a snow storm and if the roads are dry you can see them spreading the liquid on the road.

They should make a product for your wheels that protects against salt buildup causing damage to your wheels. I am sure there are products out there actually, would be surprised if there weren't.

Do NOT run nice wheels in the winter, this is what happens:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2658/...44c8569a13.jpg

Salt gets under any chip in the paint (they are wheels, there will be small chips in the paint) and spider webs. On painted wheels you'll probably never notice, since the salt will be under the paint and not visible.

I still wouldn't recommend it for any wheel you care about - take mine as a lesson learned.

taylor192, thanks for the personal experience, was looking for that. Everyone else thanks for the advice, keep it coming.

I just checked canadian tire online and can't seem to find any wax or spray for this. I also would think there would be something. Maybe i'll keep looking...anyone use anything that is meant for this?

spoke to a canadian tire rep and he said as far as he knows, there's nothing out there to protect rim paint from cracking from salt. Of course, this is Canadian Tire and I don't know if specialty shops may carry it?