I bought a Chinese wheel brush from ebay to clean the inboard rims of my wheels. Did a marvellous job. Afterwards I noticed on all four wheels on the inboard side there are 60mm lengths of tape on the rim. Do these have a purpose. I googled it but found nothing, so thought you guys might know. They look lto have been there a long time.

Edited May 31, 20197 yr by Stewpot
Added detail.

They are the old sticky pads from previous wheel balancing weights.

They are not easy to remove either.

With the wheel off, I soaked them in white spirit (the only solvent I had to hand) and then sort of scraped them off with a piece of plastic so that the alloy was not marked.

Someone else may come along with a better method.

ScaniaPBman.

 

when I need to get sticky residue like that off I always use white spirit and an old credit card as the scraper

WD40 Is great for removing sticky residues.

Thanks guys that makes a lot of sense. I put new tyres on three months ago I can see the new weights.. I will wait for a warm day , and do a bit of scraping.

Now, here's a thought. I assume your tyre and rim has just been balanced WITH THE STICKY REMAINS STILL THERE.

By removing the offending sticky stuff will the tyre be much out of balance?

It could be trivial but is it?

I don't have an answer.

ScaniaPBman.

The smallest wheel weight is 5g and concentrated over about 5mm, the adhesive weighs so little and is spread over such a large area it won't make a difference.  

 

White spirit is normally a great residue remover, but if that doesn't work, I always find that lighter fluid removes pretty much anything! (available in any '£1' shop...)

On 6/1/2019 at 7:57 AM, ScaniaPBman said:

Now, here's a thought. I assume your tyre and rim has just been balanced WITH THE STICKY REMAINS STILL THERE.

By removing the offending sticky stuff will the tyre be much out of balance?

It could be trivial but is it?

I don't have an answer.

ScaniaPBman.

That crossed my mind too.

12 hours ago, StephenFord said:

White spirit is normally a great residue remover, but if that doesn't work, I always find that lighter fluid removes pretty much anything! (available in any '£1' shop...)

Two hours with a plastic scraper, and white spirit, they are now off.

On 5/31/2019 at 2:09 PM, Stewpot said:

I bought a Chinese wheel brush from ebay to clean the inboard rims of my wheels. Did a marvellous job. Afterwards I noticed on all four wheels on the inboard side there are 60mm lengths of tape on the rim. Do these have a purpose. I googled it but found nothing, so thought you guys might know. They look lto have been there a long time.

Looking great! grind the rust off your drums and paint them black with some engine paint makes a big difference. What brush did you get? My alloys need it bad.

11 hours ago, Stewpot said:

That crossed my mind too.

Two hours with a plastic scraper, and white spirit, they are now off.

If you haven't already I would wash them with some soapy water and rinse well to make sure the area is neutralised to avoid any damage to the wheel finish whether it be paint or powder coat.

To get the remains of the tape off, take the wheel off, get a heat gun and gently heat the tape, this will soften it, and you should be able to remove using a blunt plastic object, and then clean up with tar remover or citrus cleaner.

19 minutes ago, KevG said:

To get the remains of the tape off, take the wheel off, get a heat gun and gently heat the tape, this will soften it, and you should be able to remove using a blunt plastic object, and then clean up with tar remover or citrus cleaner.

mmm... could have sworn this was all already sorted - maybe I'm wrong LOL

28 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

mmm... could have sworn this was all already sorted - maybe I'm wrong LOL

Not allowed to reply to threads now...........

I don't care whether it's sorted or not, it’s still a good idea for any other new person reading this for the first time. You go Kev give them your thoughts... lol   😂

While we're here, can anyone tell me the name of the colour of the wheel paint? My wheels are the same ones as the OP. Thanks in advance.