New Wheels Question

[eddie926]

This may not be the right forum, but I wanted some feedback from folks that take good care of their wheels.



I'm shopping for new wheels. Many of the ones I like have a machined lip. I live in the St. Louis area and they use a LOT of salt on the roads. It was suggested to me that if I'm going to drive the new wheels year round(haven't decided about that yet) that I should stay away from machined lip wheels and stick with wheels that are 100% painted.



Anybody have any thoughts on that? Any experience with machined lip wheels that have or have not held up well against winter chemicals?

 

[Accumulator]

I've always had terrible luck with bare aluminum and winter use And it's not like I neglected them or anything either.



I'd absolutely go with some kind of coating- paint/clear, anodizing, *something* and something *tough*. Some coatings aren't worth [squat]; e.g., when I got HREs for my Mallett 'vette, Chuck had \HRE send them bare so he could have mil-spec anodizing put on as he felt the HRE anodizing wasn't nearly durable enough. The anodizing on many "machined finish" wheels is often pretty weak IME too.



Noting that I'm getting to be an even more boring, conservative guy as I get older I'm pretty careful about choosing aftermarket wheels. The finish has to be tough, I don't want 'em looking like crap after a few years. And they have to be something that'll stay available...I've bent nice rims (winter/potholes are awful around here) only to find that replacements aren't available and the bent ones don't always repair 100%.



Remember to keep OE lugs with your factory spare, the aftermarket wheels often take lug nuts/bolts that don't work right with the spare



I'd run dedicated winter rims/tires anyhow, but I'd still be careful about which aftermarket wheels you choose. FWIW I went with BBS RGRs the last time...seems like they're gonna stay available.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

I've always had terrible luck with bare aluminum and winter use And it's not like I neglected them or anything either.



I'd absolutely go with some kind of coating- paint/clear, anodizing, *something* and something *tough*. Some coatings aren't worth [squat]; e.g., when I got HREs for my Mallett 'vette, Chuck had \HRE send them bare so he could have mil-spec anodizing put on as he felt the HRE anodizing wasn't nearly durable enough. The anodizing on many "machined finish" wheels is often pretty weak IME too.

So how did that MIL-Spec anodize hold up? Frankly, anodize of any sort is not much help against salt, although a lot of it (corrosion resistance) is dependant on the aluminum alloy and I really don't know what they use for wheels.

 

[Accumulator]

So how did that MIL-Spec anodize hold up?

Beats me :nixweiss For the short time I had the car it was mighty pampered, as in I did the undercarriage/floorpan with Souveran if that gives you a reference point. But I sincerely doubt that Chuck Mallett dropped the ball on that, he sure had everything else utterly figured out. For him to go through such a hassle over it I figure he had good reason.



But the clear anodizing on Audis holds up mighty well to salt/etc. It's just so thin that it doesn't always hold up well long-term. I'm not a fan of anodizing in general because you can't correct/repair it and, well, stuff happens.