Plastic wheel separator plates?

[Tejon7]

I just got some aluminum wheels for my steer tires and am considering getting aluminum for the outer drive wheels as well. I had heard that you should separate inner steel and outer aluminum wheels with a plastic plate (Accuride Wheel Guards, for example). When I asked the guy at the local tire shop about it, he said "well, I guess we could order some for you, but they're not really necessary". I'm skeptical whenever someone tries to up-sell me on additional parts, but when they do the opposite I usually trust them.

So what's the deal with these things? Are they needed? Is it mostly a requirement in the rust belt, where road salt speeds up galvanic corrosion?

As a follow up question, I only ever hear about these being needed between steel and aluminum dual wheels. What about the steers, where my aluminum wheel will be sandwiched up against a giant steel brake drum? Seems like if they're needed in the rear, they'd be needed up front too.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

i would think you would want something there to separate the dissimilar metals because of contact corrosion and moisture in between the two.

[ewo1]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger bus 223

i would think you would want something there to separate the dissimilar metals because of contact corrosion and moisture in between the two.

This is correct. It called galvanic corrosion.

[magnakansas]

antiseize, kinda like painting the steel parts that will make contact with the aluminum rim.

You can accomplish the same thing with grease.... clean the hub and wheel well so that you dont end up with "crunchy grease"

most of us dont take rims off often enough to do with out some sort of anti corrosion protection....

This is kind of a pain in the butt... My f450 was sold with steel inner and alloy outer rims.... but.... now Alcoa sells a rim with a thinner center section. The wheel studs are long enough to mount two alloys on each rear side. I last year they were about $300 each at a really good price and $400 from most places.

I dont think much of using alloy wheels for anything other than weight reduction.



william

[flattracker]

Aluminum wheels are quite common on cars and pickup trucks these days but I haven't seen any concerns about galvanic corrosion with those. I wouldn't be against plastic insulators but I also would consider anti-seize in the same place.

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

when i use antseize on wheels it ends up slung all over the place and thats without over doing it.
kind of like paint or insulation paint at work if its wet then my clothes or whatever are going to find it just from walking through a job.
yes i use it sparingly but it always finds its way to somewhere i never even thought it would.
kind of like pipe dope which i cant complain about because i do piping for a living so i live and breath that and i have mechaniced more than my share so have have tasted , wore and smelled all of the fluids but antisieze is one of them i wont touch unless i have to.
but i am trying to bust some lug nuts loose that has already broken 2- 1/2 breaker bars with cheaters of course and i wish they had antisieze on them even a mac impact that usually breaks them loose or breaks something wont budge them so am back at the computer looking at torque multipliers.
my local harbor freight didnt have one and none of the loaner tool places even knew what i was talking about.
so in the morning i might get to break my 3/4 ratchet or me again?
i know i can use a torch which i have plenty of but the owner just had the rims painter before they wanted me to work on the motor and the access to some things would be alot easier with the tire off.
at this point and in my experience and with what have broke and tried i am wondering if the lug nuts are over torqued and stretched the threads?
3500 express body front wheel.
22m lug been up to a 10' cheater on a 6'-1/2" breaker bar? nothing budged?
i have a 3/4" ratchet with a 20" handle but i dont want to waste it because it wasnt cheap 20-years ago much less now.
harbor freight had 3/4 and 1" drive breakers and ratchets in stock but no sockets with that size drive. the ones i have on my work truck are owned by me but they are completely separate from my tools at home.
i caint break one at home and then need in a few hours on a service call with 2-hour response time on a weekend because i am frustrated at home trying to break it. to get things done.

[Tejon7]

Thanks for all the feedback. Sounds like the general consensus is that galvanic corrosion is bad and most people try to minimize it somehow. I've had the same thought as Flattracker - I've seen plenty of 20+ year old aluminum wheels on cars and trucks without issue, but perhaps bigger vehicles = bigger problems?

The plastic separators are only $5 a piece, so maybe I'll just get them and see how it goes. A set between the drums and steer wheels, plus a set between steel and aluminum duals would only cost me $20 (If I even get rear aluminum wheels). As long as nobody has any horror stories about these things, they seem like cheap insurance against corrosion.

[Johnthebusboy]

Impact wrench....if that doesn't work.....get a bigger impact wrench.

[culpspecial]

The only place the wheels would be in contact with each other is the faces that are bolted together. I can't think of anything that would scare more that having a plastic spacer between my wheels. I suppose it you can check the torque on the lug nuts ever few miles as plastic would tend to work out. There are "wheel guards" which are discs used to keep brake dust off of wheels. However, it also restricts air flow around brake components which is another not so great idea in my opinion. If you use Anti-seize just a little bit will do. Not so much it slings out.

[turf]

my toyota tundra has this problem. almost everytime i get new tires, the tire shop, or me, has issues getting the rims off the hubs.

i've used anti seize, it helps. but 50% of the time, it just takes a bigger hammer. its not an issue with lugnuts, its a metal to metal bond with the rim and the hub.

the hammer isnt the best fix. i have damages inside of the rims trying to beat them off the hub. at a walmart tire with young uns working, i've been stranded for hours while they scratch their heads on how to remove the tires.

i'd agree with either grease or antiseize smeared on the flat mating surface btween the 2. if there was a plastic liner available, i'd use it.

good luck

[Tejon7]

I did end up getting the Accuride wheel guards and installed them between the brake drum and aluminum wheel on the steer axle. I just decided today to get outer aluminum wheels on the rear, so I'll be ordering another set of the wheel guards for between the steel inners and aluminum outers.

The way Accuride named these things is pretty confusing, IMO. There are "wheel guards" from other manufacturers that have holes large enough to slip over the lug nuts and are meant to protect your polished wheels from getting beat up by the impact socket. Culpspecial says there are "wheel guards" to protect from brake dust. Sheesh, couldn't Accuride have done a quick internet search before naming these things?

Anyway, according to product literature as well as a commercial tire shop guy (a different one than I mentioned in post #1), these things are used on steer axles between the wheel and drum. They're also used on drive or trailer axles between dual wheels (steel-aluminum as well as steel-steel) and between wheel and drum. The only place you can't use them is between the hub and drum.

[Tejon7]

For those like me who had not seen them, here's a pic of the Accuride Wheel Guards. These are the 590-1 model with holes sized for 1.125" Budd wheel studs. I tried to show how thin they are in the pic, but the camera didn't focus very well.