Winter & Chrome wheels

[Custom88]

Should I be leary of using my stock chrome wheels in the winter? In Michigan they use a LOT of salt. So much that the roads turn pure white at times and as you drive you have a huge cloud of white behind your car from the salt. I don't want these chrome wheels rusting or pealing. am I worrying for no reason? What do you suggest? I also have a set of Yokohama snow tires that I'll be needing to mount. (they're the stock tire size.)

[95rora]

It has been my experience with chrome (particularly the bumpers on my truck) that they are fairly durable during the abuse of winter driving and Iowa uses quite a bit of salt too. However, they still rust eventually. I dont know about the chroming process on wheels but I would assume it to be not quite as strong as bumbers for of course different reasons. However I have learned one thing and this came from having my motorcycle, polish the hell out of em before the nasty weather hits and you should be protected for most of the winter and they will be easier to clean up in the spring.

Buy some good chrome polish such as mothers or meguiars and put two maybe three coats on and that should offer you some good protection. Otherwise, if you have the money go ahead and buy some different wheels for your winter tires and be done with it. But for the most part I think you should be ok.

[20inchaurora]

im sure it would be fine...but i dont care, i still take mine off!!!

[mission008]

all you have to do is just make sure you wash your car regularly in the winter. as long as you dont leave the salt on your car for weeks at a time I doubt anything serious will happen. i usually spray mine down at the local car wash twice a week during the winter. its only a couple dollars, so its worth spending a few bucks to save you in the long run

[BNICOV]

In areas that the roads are salted, make sure you wash your car at least once a week. I usually wash each time I fill up which is about 3 times every 2 weeks. Make sure that the carwash has and 'underbody spray' to get the salt off the undercarriage.

[oldsauroraman1]

Well, most of those carwash places recycle their water, don't they?

Anyhow, if I had nice chrome wheels, I'd sure get them off for the winter. Salt is going to damage them, no matter how much you wash them off.

[95mushroom]

Why do they use salt in winter? (<--- Guy who's not see show in like 10 years (who's 20))

[scottydl]

95mushroom said:

Why do they use salt in winter? (<--- Guy who's not see show in like 10 years (who's 20))

Hehe, salt helps to quickly melt hard-packed ice and snow on the road, and keep them from getting too slick.

Dan, if you had some $2000 aftermarket chromies then you might want to take them off, but I think your stock wheels will be fine. They are technically polished aluminum anyway, not actual chrome right? My torque stars have likely been through every winter since 1998, and I can still polish them to a brilliant shine. Brake dust is more of a problem than any kind of rust or corrosion from water/salt. As mentioned by others, keep them relatively clean and you shouldn't have any problems.

[JimW]

95mushroom said:

Why do they use salt in winter? (<--- Guy who's not see show in like 10 years (who's 20))

Salt melts ice, some areas dont use salt, because of the enviromental impact of it. However the melting power of ice is useless in extremely cold climates. Sand is often used in that case.

Sand has also been adopted in areas where salt contamination is a issue.

The sand allows you to grip the ice, conversely salt melts the ice.

Oh ya, salt is inactive as a rusting acclerator in solid or granular form on metal when dry. Its when it gets wet then it becomes a problem. Thats why cold dry winter days are the best to drive.

[SupaStealth]

95mushroom said:

Why do they use salt in winter? (<--- Guy who's not see show in like 10 years (who's 20))

i can answer this, lol, i learned it in my engineering materials course on monday, heh, even though i already knew. as the salt mixes with the solid water (snow) the alloy of the H20 and NaCl(salt) changes the properties of the H20 in that it lowers the freezing point to upto -21 degrees C, causing it to melt.

can you tell i'm bored at school, hah.

oh, and yes, i will be taking my chromies off as soon as i hear of the first salting. i will miss them.

[oldsauroraman1]

Exactly Stealth. Wow, took how many posts to get what salt really does

Anyhow, it's nasty stuff to metal and when you wash at your local carwash, you're using recycled water - with lots of salt in it :-)