Fertilizer and crop chemicals are hard on wheels
In a dry climate, wheels on ordinary road vehicles corrode slowly. Farm vehicles are the exception, and the reason is not the weather. It is what they carry and what they drive through.
Many fertilizers and crop chemicals are corrosive to steel. A spray rig, a fertilizer truck or a pickup that works around them picks up residue on its wheels from spills, overspray, wet fields and the yard where the product is loaded. That residue sits on the metal, attracts moisture, and works on the finish and then the steel underneath.
It concentrates in the places that are hardest to see and most important: the bead seat where the tire seals, the inside of the rim, and around the stud holes.
What it looks like
- Bubbling or flaking paint on the rim, often on the inside first.
- Rust staining around the stud holes or the valve.
- A tire on one of these units that slowly loses air even though the tire looks fine.
- A tire that is difficult to seat when it is mounted.
The slow leak is the one that gets misdiagnosed. The tire gets blamed, sometimes replaced, and the leak comes back, because the seal was failing at a corroded bead seat.
Keeping it under control
Rinse wheels and undercarriage after application work, especially before a vehicle is parked for any length of time. Have wheels on chemical units inspected at least once a season, inside and out. Catch corrosion while it is surface rust and it can usually be cleaned and refinished.
A crack ends the wheel and it is replaced.
The national wheel refurbishing page covers the process. Equipment rims are handled alongside OTR services, and a wheel that still vibrates after refinishing is worth a balance, both at this store.
Other stores nearby
Casa Grande is the nearest other wheel refurbishing store, and Phoenix also offers it.
About this store
The Yuma store runs seventeen services and is managed by Sean Quintanilla.
See the national wheel refurbishing page for all 42 locations.