The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Seal rivets on Artillery wheels?

So, I'm cleaning up a set of 15" Artillery wheels for my bus, but I've got a question for you guys and gals.

I'm planing on mounting up some radials on these, and I'm thinking the wheels will leak around the rivets perhaps. Now, I'm going to paint the wheels, which might-could seal 'em up. But, should I seal around these with some RV-roof stuff as well?

Before now, I've been a tube guy, so I've never given this sort of thing a second thought. I don't want to have a slow leak in my sweet wheels. Flat tires aren't cool.

We have had good luck using a plastisol coating. It is what the "dipped" tool handles have on them to improve grip or provide electrical insulation. Not to be confused with the cheap slide on sleeve type handle covers. It seems to be pretty much immune to temp changes and is very flexible. It can be built up to any thickness but 1/8" does the trick.

Mr. Lang, I am interested in this question as I want to put radials on my truck. I was planning to use tubes with the radial tires. I have heard that will work. Have you investigated tubes? What did you find out?

Kurt

Well, From what I've read at coker tire, you are supposed to use special "radial tubes" when using radials. I guess because the radials are lower profile or flex more. I don't really know why. Perhaps it has to do with high speeds people like to drive today. I don't ever go over 60mph. That's a mile-a-minute! When I was younger (way back in the 1990s), we used tubes in all our construction trucks, which ran radial tires. I also had tubes in my old landrover, where I ran radial snow tires. Of course back then, if your tires were older than 10 years, nobody told you that they'd explode either.

The simple reason I'm not going to use tubes, is to save money! I'm mounting my tires at home too, being the cheap guy I am. Now, if I can't get the beads to seat, this won't have been a good idea! Hahaha. Most of the tire shops around here suck, and won't mount tires on old wheels. I don't know if they are afraid to get their hands dirty, or don't feel they make enough money when you bring in loose tires and wheels. Here, it seems to be about a hunert bucks, for 4 tires being mounted, with no balance.


I'll give the plastidip stuff a try. After-all, liquid electrical tape keeps the electrons flowing to the right places!

I'd clean the rims really good, which I'm sure you will, and then paint them making sure the edge of the rim where the bead seals is nice and smooth. I have not done it but I'd also recommend something on the "inside" like a good coat of POR15 or some other nice coating. I have blasted rims and gave them a good coat of some enamel paint which held up good when the tires were later changed. If care is taken I think you will be alright. Since your mounting them yourself you have not wasted any money but used your time only. Just my opinion

I had a leak at a weld in a wheel once and the wheel shop just put RTV on it, still working decades later.

I've got riveted centers in the wheels on my 2 ton, no extra care was taken to seal them and they don't leak. If you ever try to take one of them out you'll see how tight they really are...

Paint the inside and run them, if you have an issue find out where and use some RTV. I've read that RTV is what the factory recommends for pin holes in aluminum wheels on new vehicles.

Grigg