I wouldn't worry about it *IF* you have your tires mounted by smart folks.

While back, I had some tires switched out on my boat trailer and the guy
told me before he touched the rims "I'm gonna have to work on your rims,
they'll be rusty, can you wait or come back in about an hour?"

When he got the old tires off the rims WERE a mess. He took a wire brush on
an air tool (which spun pretty fast) and brushed the whole sealing edge
periphery, then cleaned it up good, and sprayed them with a fast-drying
(epoxy?) paint. Mounted the tires and refused to charge me for the extra
service...believe it or not, that was at a neighborhood Exxon station in
Greenville, NC. Good folks at the 5th Street Exxon.

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
Cary, NC     USA
www.bulley-hewlett.com
(888) 468-4880 toll free

-----Original Message-----
From:   Cory Sytsma [SMTP:sytsmac@BPICORP.COM]
Sent:   Friday, March 05, 1999 8:29 PM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        Used steel wheels - treat minor rust?

I recently picked up a set of used steel wheels, w/no tires mounted.  They
are
in good shape except for a little rust, a thin bead on the inner area,
where the
tire rim most likely wore away the paint.  My question is, should I be
concerned
enough about this rust to try to treat it?  My gut feeling is that it
shouldn't
be an issue, but since the wheels don't have tires mounted on them yet, now
would be the ideal time to treat them if necessary.  Your thoughts kindly
appreciated.

Cory
'89 westy
Seattle, WA