The quest for an easy clean wheel

[V]

Why are the majority of after market Jeep wheels overtly fancy with complex details cast or machined into their design? Am I missing out on some sort of enjoyment that others have cleaning wheels?

 

When I look for a good wheel for off road use. I am looking for the following characteristics:

• Strength
• Resistance to damage or repairability
• Clumps of mud and clay will not adhere to the inner side of the wheel
• Easy to clean
• Airflow for brake cooling

 

Sadly, my all time favourite alloy wheel, the American Racing Mojave has been out of production for many years and I am finding the choices for a 15x8 Jeep CJ bolt pattern wheel are slim. I would like another set of six Mojave wheels, but I will have to settle for something else. The teflon coating on the Mojave wheel was both a plus and a minus. It is possible for a thin film of dirt to stay on them, but anything larger just flies off. Cleaning is just a few seconds blast with a jetwash. The downside with teflon coated wheels is tyre balancing. The teflon has to be scraped off back to metal for balance weights to stick on.

 

Have you found an easy to clean Jeep wheel?

[UKTJ]

1 hour ago, V said:

Why are the majority of after market Jeep wheels overtly fancy with complex details cast or machined into their design? Am I missing out on some sort of enjoyment that others have cleaning wheels?

 

When I look for a good wheel for off road use. I am looking for the following characteristics:

• Strength
• Resistance to damage or repairability
• Clumps of mud and clay will not adhere to the inner side of the wheel
• Easy to clean
• Airflow for brake cooling

 

Sadly, my all time favourite alloy wheel, the American Racing Mojave has been out of production for many years and I am finding the choices for a 15x8 Jeep CJ bolt pattern wheel are slim. I would like another set of six Mojave wheels, but I will have to settle for something else. The teflon coating on the Mojave wheel was both a plus and a minus. It is possible for a thin film of dirt to stay on them, but anything larger just flies off. Cleaning is just a few seconds blast with a jetwash. The downside with teflon coated wheels is tyre balancing. The teflon has to be scraped off back to metal for balance weights to stick on.

 

Have you found an easy to clean Jeep wheel?

To be honest I am struggling to find many options at all for wheels with a bolt pattern for the TJ (is that the same as CJ?) in 15 or 16 inch.  Likely to drive me to using spacers at this stage.

[V]

The TJ bolt pattern is 5 on 4.5" PCD, it is the same as XJ, YJ and ZJ. It's an example of cost reduction with the use of small unit bearing assemblies that have less parts and smaller wheel bearings than earlier Jeeps.

 

The CJ used spindle hubs with bigger bearings and commonly had a 4-1/4" diameter centre bore in the wheel to accommodate a locking/freewheeling hub. The bolt pattern was 5 on 5.5" which has a wider bearing spacing that is stronger for bigger tyres than the 5 on 5" unit bearings used on 21st century solid axle Jeeps. Jeep could have easily standardised on 5 on 5.5" for models after 1984 but Renault introduced lots of new ideas for the XJ and the 4.5" PCD stuck for around for 15 years. Bizarrely, instead of going back to 5 on 5.5" for the WJ/WG they chose 5 on 5". A better choice for all WG-JT owners would have been 6 on 5.5" that is common on heavy 4x4s from Japan, and from GM and Ford.

 

This link may be of use to you for finding other wheels that may be suitable for your TJ.

[Volant165]

I gave up and got a Karcher with a 90 degree nozzle!

 

 

[Overlander21]

9 hours ago, V said:

my all time favourite alloy wheel, the American Racing Mojave has been out of production for many years

Nice rims!

 

32 minutes ago, Volant165 said:

I gave up and got a Karcher with a 90 degree nozzle

Cheat

[digger]

The 90 degree nozzle is gr8.

Especially when used with  ''Grannies Mixture'' (recipe previously posted)

However get a bigger Karcher than you think you need. Mine claimed half as much power again as the much smaller Draper I had  but it hasn't!

[digger]

Four pots new wheels (in his Cherokee project  post p.20) look very easy clean compared to mine.  

[Volant165]

3 hours ago, digger said:

The 90 degree nozzle is gr8.

Especially when used with  ''Grannies Mixture'' (recipe previously posted)

However get a bigger Karcher than you think you need. Mine claimed half as much power again as the much smaller Draper I had  but it hasn't!

I bought a Karcher petrol in 2000, it has a honda engine. House and jeeps the thing served me well.

 

Wouldn't start but that was down to me no longer being able to pull the rip cord. So I went and got a K7. Again, pavers house jeeps I wanted the grunt enough to blast anything. First array into electric and darn pleased with the soap attachments and the legacy spinning spray that can cut the toes off yer shoes.

 

I just could not part with the old one so I sent it off to surgery, got it back three months later and now I find my strength back go figure. I do like the 90 degree nozzle for cleaning the mud out after wheeling. Just have to be careful  and turn down the pressure around cabling and those finer parts that do not need Armageddon level pressure.

 

As for spray degreaser or mud dissolver, I tend to use Muc Off pink motorcycle degreaser.

[V]

4 hours ago, digger said:

Four pots new wheels (in his Cherokee project  post p.20) look very easy clean compared to mine.  

I had the same lattice wheels once upon a time a go, they certainly take some commitment to keep clean on an off road Jeep.