Stock snowflakes

[zhneon]

Hey guys, I'm going home in two weeks, and want to have something to do with the car when I get home.

My stock snowflakes have been through a lot with the previous owner, when I got them they were pretty oxidized and curb rashed. I was thinking that I would refinish them when I went home and paint them so they look pretty.

Hence the poll, I'm not sure what color to choose.

On a side note, I've had a lot of problems with them leaking air, relatively slowly. Is there anything besides a bent rim that could cause this? Aka shitty valve stems or something else common. I just don't want to trash a fine set of snowflakes.
Thanks 2gn

p.s. wouln't object to a ps of wheelz.

[vielecustoms]

the air leaks could be a few things. valve stem, something in the tire dry rotted tires, or just a bead leak. alloy wheels corrode horribly around the bead because water, salt and all that crap sits in there. you can spray some soapy water around and look for bubbles. if it is the bead any tire place can pop the tire off, clean the wheel and use bead seal to make sure it doesn't leak.

and, if there are no extremely deep scratches on the rims, strip em and polish em out. otherwise gunmetal.

[racer12306]

I've seen a lot of problems with dirt getting in valve stems causing a leak.

[Mopar_Korean]

About your air lost question, I would like to know some more info.

How many tires are loosing air? Just one or all four? If it is all four. Define a "slow leak", 5 PSI a day? 5 PSI a week? Is the clear coat flaking off the wheels?

If all four tires are loosing air by just a few pounds a week then most likely its a wheel leak. Meaning the aluminum is corroding on the beads and its leaking air. Its really common in the salt belt states.

The only REAL solution is having a tire place dismount all the tires, clean the wheels, and remount them. I do this all day long at work. We use air drills with wire cup brushes. Eventually it will come back and do it again. Its like rust on steel.

Want an easy way to check it? lay the wheel and tires on the ground flat and spray glass cleaner/simple green/soapy water around the beads/valves and see if you get any air bubbles.

[zhneon]

I think they all leak air to some extent. All of them had clear coat oxidation when I bought the car, but they definitely didn't leak before. One in particular is particularly bad, but its almost unpredictable in how much air it leaks. It will be fine for a while, but then it will become noticeably flat quickly. I know that it is losing psi the whole time, its just hard to tell. If I had to guess I would say 5-10 psi per week, maybe more. The others 1 psi per week or less. I had new tires put on the front two, and they leak now still, just like they leaked before.
How much do you usually charge to clean the wheels up?

[vielecustoms]

walmart is like $7 a wheel if you replace the valves. otherwise i think its $5, or most places would charge whatever a flat repair costs.

also checking air pressure with a gauge is a good idea. a tire can be low 15 psi and look the same as properly inflated.