Chrome wheels peeling

[CountyMounty]

My wife's car is a 2001 Buick Regal GSE. We absolutely love the car and have had it for 3 years now with almost no problems, until now. Right from the start we found that a couple of the tires were leaking just a little bit so every couple weeks I would check them and fill if needed. Over time one of them got progressively worse and needed air every couple of days. We started mentioning this to our mechanic at regular servicing and they tried several time to stop the leak, replacing valve stems etc, eventually we were told that the wheels on our car were known for corroding and peeling and that was the problem it was just not possible to get a seal. Recently we needed new tires so we took it to a tire company and had them put new tires on, hoping by some chance it would get better, but it got worse. Now all four of the tires leak two of them bad enought that I have to put air almost daily. (good thing I have a nice new air compressor and other vehicles to use). After they put the tires on they told us we were in desparate need of new wheels as they were "turning into dust" and they were not able to balance them correctly.



So finally to my question. Does any body know any thing about remanufacturing the wheels like a company that I can send them to and how much it cost. So far to replace the 4 wheels with identical ones it will cost at least $1000. My other option is to get some "machine polished" ones instead of chrome ones but I do not think they will look very good on the car.



Dang me and my long post why cant I just ask the question:wacko:

 

[Travis Munday]

You can't rellay repair damage like that. You can straighten a bent wheel, but adding material to the bead to replace lost material? Nigh on impossible. Even if you could do it, chances are the wheel would be so far out of balance that you wouldn't be able to balance them, or need so many weights that it'd be a huge risk (as in sligning a weight off and throwing the wheel out of balance).



Wheels are (usually) very precise peices of kit, with high tolerances for lateral runout and of weight balance. You couldn't machine material away, as you'd change the size and shape of the wheel and not be able to mount a tire.



It looks like you have to buy new wheels.

 

[EddieS'04]

I had a set of mag wheels that leaked at the bead seat. I got the tire shop to buff the wheel bead seat with a air drien brush. Then they remounted the tires, using a brush on black bead sealer. Stoped the leaks for the life of the tires...

 

[Andrew Tollison 3]

check out this link. They have OEM wheels for you car.

 

[Yardsale]

I'm going to assume that the rims are chromed aluminum. This is a fairly common problem with chromed aluminum. There are shops that will seal the bead and it is not too expensive, however, it is not a cure. There are shops that will re-chrome the rims for about $100.00 each; however, this too is not a cure. While re-chroming typically lasts for a few years, it is still chromed aluminum, and they will eventually peel.



The cure is to change to chromed steel or polished aluminum.



If they are not chromed aluminum, buy new rims.

 

[CountyMounty]

I believe that they are chromed aluminum as I have been told by three different shops that it is a common problem with these GM wheels. I just talked to an ex coworker of mine who now has his own small service garage and he is fairly confident that he can clean up the tires a bit and get them to seal with sealant. Said they might not look pretty (on the inside, the outside is in A1 condition) but it should stop the leaking. I'm going to let him try that first before I go out and spend hundreds for new rims. Might as well try it, if it doesn't work I'm not out much as he will do it for fairly cheap.