Sand in my wheels?

Arthur in AK

Arthur in AK

Junior Member
After a flat tire during a recent tour, I decided to remove the tire (Firestone 21") from the wheel. Aside from the mess of removing all the duct tape and it's residual goo that was installed by some P.O. in lieu of a true rubber interior liner, I could not help but notice that there seems to be sand in the rim. You can hear it as you rotate the wheel (with no tire mounted on it). But it seems to be inside the wheel rim channel, and does not have any way to exit for removal.

Now I'm not talking about balancing beads in the tires. This is INSIDE the rims, where it cannot get out.

Is this normal? Has anybody else run into this situation? And how the Hell do you get rid of ancient duct tape goo on the inside of the rims?

-Rich
 
What you hear is loose rust and not uncommon. I wouldn't worry unless you have deep pitting on the rim. Then it would be time to look for a better rim and use this one for a chair or yard art.
 
Rich, You probably need to look at replacing those wheels with cracks in them anyway. Is this one of them?
 
Gooey tape stuff can be dissolved with products like

Goo Gone

Goo Be Gone

Goof Off

We used original GoJo hand cleaner ... the smelly oil based one in the early 1970's to remove dried up and sticky labels, masking tape and etc from IBM machines and equipment.

Dried up tape and gooey tape has to be soaked for while.
 
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I drilled two or three small holes in the rolled rim where they wouldn't show and then injected some kind of epoxy resin (forget what it was, since this was years ago) with a large medical syringe purchased from a veterinarian supply store. I then put the rims on my rim-painting rig and spun them around to distribute the goo inside the rims. Worked great. No more noise.
 
Rust-through of the turned inward rims of the 28-29 wheels are a problem. I've condemned at least one wheel on this account.

Arnold, one of my Model A mentors in the late 1970s, operated a Model A and classic car rebuilding shop in the first floor of his Medical Animal Husbandry business. (He made his life's real work supplying the medical lab trade with "laboratory animals" used for testing.)

Arnold, confronting a surplus of 28-29 wheels that had been condemned, explored the option of cutting off the bead and replacing it with a rolled tube. He showed me one wheel that had been modified this way - it looked good - but could be told to have been "repaired" thus unsuitable for show and consequently with a limited market.

As he explained - "a lot of time (money) for limited return."

Joe K
 
I had a couple rims with rust you could hear sliding in the rolled edges. They were quite pitted to the point you could see the back side of the spoke welds! Out of curiosity I wanted to see how much rust was inside the edges, I drilled a 5/32" hole on the inside where the bead set and proceeded to rock, roll & tap with a hammer till I got all the rust out (about an hour per wheel).Each edge of each wheel had 1 1/2 ounces of rust for a total of 3 ounces of loose floating rust per wheel. I think it would be impossible to balance these, but, would the rust act like the balancing beads you put in the tubes?
 
Another reason '30-'31's with the 19" rim is a better Model A!!!!

My wife's grandfather drove Model A's up into the 50's, and always said the 1930 was the best Model A produced and he had them all! He would tell us "If you want a good Model A Ford, get a 1930".
 
If the wheel hub has no cracks, drill 4 evenly spaced 1.4" holes on the inside of the bead, that a mounted tire will cover the hole, install a flex cable in the end of a drill, insert cable into each hole and whip the rust loose, empty out rust by turning the wheel and using air to blow out dust.

I have used this method for years with good results and its cheap other than your time.

Ron
 
I would try to stop the rusting...my choice would be to introduce a bit of heavy motor oil.
Wipe up everything that oozes out, a process that will have to be repeated over time for a while, and what remains in there will infiltrate the rust and bring it to a halt. On a car that isn't routinely driven through mud, snow, and salt the oil that stays in there should last a very long time after soaking in.
 
BlueSunoco said:
Another reason '30-'31's with the 19" rim is a better Model A!!!!

My wife's grandfather drove Model A's up into the 50's, and always said the 1930 was the best Model A produced and he had them all! He would tell us "If you want a good Model A Ford, get a 1930".
Click to expand...

Actually, Ford used the 1930 rim pattern FIRST on the 1929 wheels - for a very short time wheels were produced in the 1929 size but with the out-turned rims.

These are quite attractive to the antique auto flea market crowd.

They may have been more a foreign issue item.

I will grant you that the 30 model year was the most "standardized." Ford by this time had resolved the majority design and supply kinks.

Still, the earlier cars have their attraction. Depends on how you define "best."

Sort of like "inhale."

Joe K
 
Carl: Believe it or not, this was actually one of the wheels that DID NOT have cracks!

Ray: You're query regarding the rust acting like balancing beads occurred to me, too. I don't see why not, as they act in essentially the same manner. -Proof, once again, of how advanced the mind of Henry Ford was!

Wagga: I used to use eucalyptus oil on my vehicles, but I got tired of them smelling like cough drops.

Ron: Did you seal the holes with anything other that the tire?

Thanks,
Rich
 
Just don't try putting a 1.4" hole in your rim. You won't have anything left but the hole!
 
Rich,

I put cork plugs in the holes and had the wheels powder coated "Bumper Black". The powder coating seals the inside of the wheels at the seam. I use 16" wheel liners as they are wider than the "A" wheel liners. The powder coater I use puts on 4 mil thickness where most of the powder coaters only use 2 mil to save them money.

Ron
 
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