A discount tire place recently suggested replacing my wheel rims on my Honda Civic, which is 10 years old and has a 150,000 miles. The car is still looking cute and I love not having a car payment; I plan to keep it for another 100,000 miles. Should I take their advice and replace my rusting wheel rims? Is there really a danger of them cracking or failing?
Thanks, Kathy O
We can’t see the rims from here, but it is EXTREMELY unusual for a steel wheel on a car to rust badly enough to fail.
More than likely they were trying to scare you into buying a set of expensive replacement wheels, which you probably don’t need.
If it is surface rust don’t worry about it. If you can wipe the rust away with some steel wool it isn’t effecting the integrity of the wheel. If the wheel is rusty where the tire bead seats and is leaking air you should replace them. I can’t really imagine that your 10 year old wheels are so rusty that they should be replaced unless you drive on salty roads all year every day. Maybe get a second opinion.
Thanks for your advice. I live in San Francisco, so this car has never seen snow or salt on the road. You’ve saved me a couple hundred dollars!