Quick question about road salt. I just put on brand new chrome rims and we just had a snow storm where I live, which is very atypical. We never get snow.

Are my rims going to get damaged from letting the grime sit on them for a few days....just enough time for the roads to dry and for me to get a chance to clean them? I keep hearing horror stories about rims pitting from one dose of salt exposure

 

I wouldn't let them sit with salt on them. Chrome's really bad for pitting without salt, let alone with salt. I'd either clean them ASAP or run different wheels until the roads are good again.

 

It's impossible for someone to tell definitely one way or the other. There is a chance of damage even with only a few days exposure. There's also a chance of no damage. Best bet it to clean them ASAP.

 

The hard part is that if I clean them, they'll have salt on them by the end of the same day. Guess I could keep rinsing them down regardless. Unfortunately, my wash facilities at my house are unusable.....everythings frozen solid, including my hoses. I'd have to rinse them down at the local wand wash, but they'd have salt back on them before I even get back to my house.

 

Just take it to the spray wash a couple of times a week or get some Optimum No Rinse and wipe them down every night...this works the best IMO.

 

I spray the salt off my truck about once a week and do an actual wash about once a month. I have no rust problems on the body or wheels. Rust problem areas for me are the chrome step bars but its still extremely minimal. Underbody has slight rust and its a 2004. Need to get it coated. Basically there is no way to keep it perfectly clean from salt all the time-where I live any ways. I just try to keep consistent

 

After cleaning, put some good hard wax on them. Anything from Collinite would work. A synthetic wax would work as well, such as NXT. It needs to be a LSP that can withstand the heat of the wheels.

 

wheel wax

 

i do the same as alex...rain or shine, i try to rinse my truck of at least twice a week if i use it all week. i was able to take it to the drive thru wash and its been clean since(sunday). as long as i rinse it, i feel better. the spray wash by me has warm high preasure soap and i luv it. still not good as scrubbing but it workd when the foam brush is frozen. lol

 

You use the foam brush on your truck?

 

they cant be as bad as uncoated aluminum wheels with the salt...

 

Some of you guys with factory chrome wheels are dispensing advice to somebody with aftermarket chrome wheels. Let me explain something to you - all chrome wheels are not created equal and factory chrome is a whole lot more corrosion resistant than aftermarket chrome. Aftermarket chrome wheels will generally start to corrode very quickly when exposed to road salt an the best course of action is to remove them, wash them carefully (especially tight places like lug nut holes), rinse them carefully, dry them and then coat them with either wax (not bad) or WD-40 (very good). Take it from one who lives in the road salt capital of the world - leave your factory wheels on when running in any kind of salt.

 

Ocasionally i will. Before I do, I take the sprayer with high pressure water and rinse all the crap out of if. I mainly use it for my wheels tho

 

I somewhat agree with this statement, as my factory wheels have held up for years with absolutely no corrosion. However, I just can't see going to all that trouble just to have new wheels. I "might" go through salt once or twice per year. I think I'm just going to rinse them down really good a few times per month during the winter when it's too cold to wash.....or immediately after exposure to salt. Then of course, I'll keep them good and clean in good weather. Similar to that, I can't see putting my factory wheels back on every winter when we only see snow a couple of times per year.

If they still corrode after what maintenance I'm willing to put into them, so be it.

 

I could careless if it snows or not. Come winter, I throw my other rims & tires on. I didn't spend all that money just to ruin them. If that was the case. Why bother to buy rims. I mean really, who goes out, an buys a set of rims. Just to let them go, why bother.