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I have a problem. I have a set of empi 8-spokes and they have been on the car for a year and a half. Most of the time, about a year they sat on the car and have developed small rust spots around the lug nuts. How do I get them off. They aren't very big, but I know they are there so Iwould like to get rid of them.

Sometimes allumium wheels has steel parts inserted on certain parts (especially when high strength is needed). To remove just sand that section of with sandpaper (medium) or sand blast the entire rims if you want to go further. But if that part is steel, you'd need to coat it with something or would rust back up quickly.

That also might be rust stains bleeding off of the lugs.

get some ultra fine steel wool it will take care of your problem

Steel wool would be your best bet. Then you might want to coat it with some clear paint to help keep them from rusting again. Take a look at my pics below. Those 8 spokes looked really ratty when I got them. You would be amazed what you can do to a set of rims in 4 hours. They look brand new. I would also clean up the lugs. Alluminum doesnt rust. It is most likely from your lugs.

Good luck.

Alluminium does rust, just nowhere as fast as standard metal does.

Ill confirm that Al. does rust. But in 2 years it should not have.

I sanded mine and painted them. What a pain in the rear end. I should of paid someone to sand blast them or something. @ years old and you cant tell.

brads69bug wrote:Steel wool would be your best bet. Then you might want to coat it with some clear paint to help keep them from rusting again. Take a look at my pics below. Those 8 spokes looked really ratty when I got them. You would be amazed what you can do to a set of rims in 4 hours. They look brand new. I would also clean up the lugs. Alluminum doesnt rust. It is most likely from your lugs.

So what color and kind of paint did you use?

It s the aluminum looking paint. I did not get the high gloss version. it looks like stock aluminum wheels.

If you clean your wheels with STEEL wool. The fibers of steel become embedded in the wheel and then the fibers rust. You want to see something rust fast? Take some steel wool on a boat, the next day it will be rusty.

I would recommend using bronze wool or scotch brite pads, check out your near by yacht chandler or West Marine store.

Just sand them. Thats what I did and it seems to be working fine.

OK thanks for the feed back, thats just what I needed to hear.