Aluminum rims corroding, leaking air, help needed

[Erik the Awful]

Its not that hard for a high-school kid to properly fix any bead/stem leak but pride in workmanship has seemingly disappeared from the current workforce.

Weeding through the clowns is a management problem.

I'd say it's mostly a management problem. Too many managers are too weak-willed and too unsupported by upper management. You have to be able to truly assess your workers. You have to give them standards to hit and call them out when they miss. You have to actively assess each worker's skills, and reward those who are doing good. You have to tell the weasels to quit schmoozing up to you and turn out good work. When they complain to the higher ups that you're being unfair, you have to have your documentation ready and it needs to be accurate. Being a good manager is hard work, but there are too many lazy managers who'd rather just collect the check.

 

[Supercharged111]

I'd say it's mostly a management problem. Too many managers are too weak-willed and too unsupported by upper management. You have to be able to truly assess your workers. You have to give them standards to hit and call them out when they miss. You have to actively assess each worker's skills, and reward those who are doing good. You have to tell the weasels to quit schmoozing up to you and turn out good work. When they complain to the higher ups that you're being unfair, you have to have your documentation ready and it needs to be accurate. Being a good manager is hard work, but there are too many lazy managers who'd rather just collect the check.

(Gonna play devil's advocate on this one) I've seen some manager's checks and I don't blame them. Pay a person a fair wage if you want decent work.

 

[454cid]

I'll take a look at them myself today, before Thanksgiving dinner. I think the tires are "old" in only the most conservative sense. He's only owned the truck a few years, and I think he had the tires put on. If they're old, then Discount sold him old tires.

There's a tire shop in the next town over where I bought some Coopers years ago for my truck. I'll take the truck there myself, or maybe send him. I do need to go to a tire shop myself, as I've recently purchased some new take offs from a Ford van, and the rims won't do me any good.

 

[Hipster]

(Gonna play devil's advocate on this one) I've seen some manager's checks and I don't blame them. Pay a person a fair wage if you want decent work.

Dealerships and many indepenent shops, both service dept. and bodyshop, most managers get a monthly commission production bonus. If they were any good they wouldn't be messing around at a tire store or Jiffy Lube. Those type of shops are where the bottom of the barrel tend to gravitate. The guys, both techs and management, that can't survive anywhere else. Totally agree with Erik and along with what he said on assessments you have to use people in accordance with their strength's. I can't speak for the mechanics side so much but Bodyshop managers frequently surpass $100k + bonus. If the manager is effective at organizing work flow etc. the tech's can make more money than the manager..... then the jealousy and F*ck with the techs begins. Let's give him all the stuff he struggles with. The last manager I worked with was overly proud of telling everyone he had a degree. I told him a degree and intelligence are 2 different things. How bout do your job instead of telling everyone you can. Wasn't long he was gone. They're there to keep it organized, keep people moving and productive. I've never seen a line item on an estimate or work order for administrative costs. The line item labor costs the techs complete and parts/materials markup pays for everyone and everything going on in the building. The manager works for me and I've run more than one off. Might be a messed up way to look at it but I'm not there to run around behind him/her making sure they ordered parts, materials, finished the work order, etc. so I can do my job and help cover their salary. A bad manager can't take a shop doing bodyshop @ 500k a month in business to near zero if stuff isn't leaving in a timely fashion or for bad work and it loses a DRP program.

 

[Erik the Awful]

If the manager is effective at organizing work flow etc. the tech's can make more money than the manager..... then the jealousy and F*ck with the techs begins.

The manager works for me and I've run more than one off.

There's a stupid mentality that you can't pay the workers more than the manager, and that's a lie. Look in the entertainment and sports industries. You have to pay for talent. A shop is just the same. Having been a military member, I fully understand that management works for the workers. My commander's job was less "bossing everybody around" and far more ensuring the tools and training were in place and that the paperwork was out of the way of production.

 

[LVJJJ]

('94 k1500). I had to replace one of my wheels as it was leaking around the valve stem. Les Schwab said there was no way to fix it. Found a refurbished stock wheel on amazon or ebay, can't remember which. So it happens with age. Also had to replace all wheels on my 1965 Chevy Van a few years ago that was our tow vehicle (292 with TH350). They all had a slow leak, wasn't the tires. Still have the old van and it will still tow a 24' TT.

 

[FullBlowncustoms]

Little off subject, But depending on if rims are coated etc? I've seen kids at doll-up shops ruin rims using the wrong ACID on them..

 

[Vikingdude]

Little off subject, But depending on if rims are coated etc? I've seen kids at doll-up shops ruin rims using the wrong ACID on them..

Heck, I wrecked the finish on my own rims doing that, with a product that claimed to be acid free. Thanks Chemical Guys (eye roll)

 

[someotherguy]

Heck, I wrecked the finish on my own rims doing that, with a product that claimed to be acid free. Thanks Chemical Guys (eye roll)

Decades ago, tire shop looking for a leak on a tire I had on my '92 ECLB when I was still running Centerlines. Instead of a bottle of soapy water, he sprayed what looked like friggin Super Clean. Where it touched the wheel turned white immediately and nothing I had would remove it.

It turned out the leak wasn't the tire but the wheel had cracked along the inside bead. A repair shop welded it up for me and turned me onto Wenol polish. Just a small dab of it wiped on with a finger tip removed that white "stain" almost immediately. Magical stuff.

Gotta be really careful with acid-based cleaners and aluminum wheels, especially wheels with no coating on them (like Centerlines.) I recently bought some Wheely Clean and the "ready to use" version is like 33% acid, it's OK on the Centerlines if you don't leave it on them. You definitely need to polish afterwards (I still need to do this) but I did just buy a big can of Wenol that should last the rest of my life. The Wheely Clean stuff took months and months of caked-on brake dust off like it was nothing.

Richard

 

[454cid]

Decades ago, tire shop looking for a leak on a tire I had on my '92 ECLB when I was still running Centerlines. Instead of a bottle of soapy water, he sprayed what looked like friggin Super Clean. Where it touched the wheel turned white immediately and nothing I had would remove it.

It turned out the leak wasn't the tire but the wheel had cracked along the inside bead. A repair shop welded it up for me and turned me onto Wenol polish. Just a small dab of it wiped on with a finger tip removed that white "stain" almost immediately. Magical stuff.

Gotta be really careful with acid-based cleaners and aluminum wheels, especially wheels with no coating on them (like Centerlines.) I recently bought some Wheely Clean and the "ready to use" version is like 33% acid, it's OK on the Centerlines if you don't leave it on them. You definitely need to polish afterwards (I still need to do this) but I did just buy a big can of Wenol that should last the rest of my life. The Wheely Clean stuff took months and months of caked-on brake dust off like it was nothing.

Richard

I've got a tube of Wenol that I bought years and years ago.... possibly at a car show where I had no car, nor a car worthy of any kind of polish. I've used it here and there on a few things, along with a partial tube of Simi-chrome I bought at a garage sale. I think the last two times I've used either, was to polish up slot block off plates on computers, while building something new out of something old.

I have no luck with acid cleaners. They never seem to work for me. I've got a die cast aluminum bracket I want to brighten (not polish) and none of the acids I've tried have done much for me. When I tried them on my L29 valve covers than had been stripped of paint, I got the same big nothing.