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The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club Landcruiser Club - Dedicated to Toyota Landcruiser, Amazon, Colorado and Prado Owners
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gazza449 Newbie
Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 2
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:40 Post subject: blisters on wheels |
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Hi i have a landcruiser amazon 1999 v8. All of my wheels have blisters on them, is this a common fault? because i have seen them on other landcruisers. Is there any thing i can do with these as they really dog the car. I don't want to buy new ones cos they are megga money lol. |
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:40 Post subject: Google Ads keep this community free to join! |
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Wandering Willy *******
Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Posts: 1016 Location: Norfolk
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:18 Post subject: Paint? |
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The amazon I now have is my second Toyota with alloy wheels. Both have these blisters. In effect they are the aluminium alloy 'rusting' when the paint is chipped by a stone or similar.
You can get them professionally re-polished. This costs £40 to £100 per wheel and looks fantastic - probably better than new.
However, I hadn't got that sort of money so I bought a can of silver car paint, scraped off the blistered paint and white aluminium oxide underneath and gave the damaged areas a quick blast of silver. It looks ok - not fantastic but better than the blistered discoloured surface. It seems to last several years.
Getting the wheels balanced with clipped-on weights seems to cause the biggest areas of damage to alloy wheels. You can get stick on weights put inside the wheel - i.e. the other side of the rim where you don't see. This causes little damage and is not visible when the wheel is on.
If you want to go further with the paint idea. I gave my old Toyota wheels a coat of Hammerite non-ferrous primer and then sprayed on some car spray paint. Be aware that silver paint is not all the same colour. To match the existing paint, use a light silver rather than a grey silver. This lasted years and looked reasonable.
On the amazon, I cleaned the hub side of the wheels with a pressure washer. There was a small amount of damage to the paint (it's 5 years old). I then put the non-ferrous primer which is like thick household emulsion paint (water based). You don't get a smooth finish. I then put two coats of smooth Hammerite. My car is dark blue so I put dark blue Hammerite. It doesn't match exactly but it doesn't shock either. If I take care when changing wheels round and working on the suspension I think the new paint will last the car's life and avoid the inside of the wheels looking tatty. Who cares? - only me.
The other thing to be careful with is cleaning off the brake dust. If you wash the wheels regularly you can keep it under control. However, the branded wheel cleaning compounds are based on sulphuric acid or something similarly corrosive. Wash this stuff off VERY well and be careful where it goes (on you, the brakes, car body, etc.). If the regular wheel cleaing doesn't keep the dust off the wheels, I use an old, used and worn out piece of skotchbrite (spelling?) - the green pan scrubbing stuff. This contains abrasive in the plastic so it will take the paint off like emery paper if used too vigorously but does shift the black stuff. I keep the wheels clean with water and have only had to use the pan scrubber approach when I bought the car secondhand and about once a year from then. Clean wheels may let the blistering show but they look a lot better (I think) than dirty wheels. You can't see the damage when the car is rolling anyway.
I hope these ideas help
Willy
PS you can get the primer in Halfords (or similar) along with the paint. Traditional (non smooth) Hammerite would mask the bumpy surface caused by the primer but might not look smart - more working class! Old pan scrubbers are to be found in the kitchen - mainly. |
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joinerman *******
Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 2200 Location: Here & there
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:23 Post subject: |
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Where's the kitchen? lol
Joinerman |
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armstrong75 **
Joined: 19 Sep 2006 Posts: 88 Location: Milton Keynes
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 17:52 Post subject: |
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One thing that Toyota cannot do is produce a well finished alloy.
I have owned an MR2, Surf, Landcruiser 4.2 VX and currently an Amazon 2003 and all have had to have their wheels refurbished.
I had the Amazon's refinished by Pristine Wheels during the summer, £50.00 plus vat each. |
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