Best way to clean snow off of rims?

ESPNSTI

ESPNSTI

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Joined
Dec 9, 2003
Messages
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Location
Decorah, IA
Car(s)
2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STI (USDM)
After super happy fun time in the snow, my rims tend to be packed with snow.
If I don't clean it up right away, the snow will freeze up overnight and I get an imbalance in the wheels.
It will start to shake the car significantly enough when that happens.



At the moment I use an old windshield wiper to poke in between the spokes in order to get the snow out, but that still takes me about half an hour even for a half-assed job.

I'm thinking about getting either a power washer or an air compressor to blow away the snow, but I don't know much of anything about power washers or air compressors.
I think I would prefer an air compressor because I'd rather not have to mess with having to hook up a garden hose each time I need to clean my rims.
But I don't know if an air compressor would have enough pressure to be able to get rid of sticky snow.
Or are there power washers that have a reservoir and don't need a hose hooked up to them?

What would be the best power washer / air compressor to buy?
Or is there another option I haven't thought of?
 
Wouldn't it come out if you drove around a bit at decent speeds on bare pavement?
 
What's wrong with brushing it off? Size-wise it looks like a brush for cleaning glasses on the inside should work. Alternatively just get a heated garage with a drain in the middle :lol:
 
The best way to deal with it would be to have a secondary set of wheels to use during the winter, ones without huge snow trapping open spaces. The trouble with an air compressor is you'll need a lot of pressure (thus an expensive one), the problem with a pressure washer is you'll be getting everything wet in freezing weather. That said, you can get pressure washers that don't need hooked to a hose, but I can't say how well they'll work.
 
I'd say a heat gun, short of swapping out for more solid wheels.
 
thevictor390 said:
Wouldn't it come out if you drove around a bit at decent speeds on bare pavement?
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No, it's sticky stuff, no amount of speed, braking, or juking around gets rid of it.

narf said:
What's wrong with brushing it off? Size-wise it looks like a brush for cleaning glasses on the inside should work. Alternatively just get a heated garage with a drain in the middle :lol:
Click to expand...
Brushing it off still takes a surprising amount of time.
I know it looks quick and easy, but it isn't.
I'll file the heated garage under my long term plan though. :)
CD82 said:
Melt it with a hair dryer! :D
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Don't know anything about hair dryers, but I don't think they would work all that quick.

Nabster said:
The best way to deal with it would be to have a secondary set of wheels to use during the winter, ones without huge snow trapping open spaces.
Click to expand...
Those are my secondary set actually. :lol:
 
Hair dryers won't work. At least not in any small amount of time.

ESPNSTI said:
Those are my secondary set actually. :lol:
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Obviously you weren't thinking about practicality then, were you? :lol: A third set then? I know it's not the cheapest thing, but is all the time you spend (and will spend in the future) cleaning snow out of them worth less than the cost of a proper set of winter wheels?

Spectre said:
I'd say a heat gun, short of swapping out for more solid wheels.
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I can't see a heat gun being a good idea. Aside from the fact it will still take forever to melt snow with a heat gun (it would be easier to continue poking the snow out with a stick), you'll also be taking a heat gun to metal wheels that are at freezing or subfreezing temperatures. That heat cycling will not be good for them.
 
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An even faster way would be to remove the wheel and drop it face up on a soft (grass) surface. Watch all the snow fall out.
 
ESPNSTI said:
Brushing it off still takes a surprising amount of time.
I know it looks quick and easy, but it isn't.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but a proper brush should be faster and more thorough than an old windscreen wiper :lol:
Google suggests something like this.
 
buy some really fluffy gloves and just go nuts
 
Last time I had some fun in the snow, I tried scraping all the snow off, and it wasn't exactly an ideal solution.

I'd power wash, personally. Heat gun works, too, but that seems like it would take a while... and I'm not really sure what effect a heat gun would have on your rims (if any).
 
Air compressor no question about it. I use ours to sweep the garage in summer, shit is powerful. Also good for all air tools, so a worthwhile investment. I never use shitty gas stations anymore to balance my tires since we got ours.

With the nozzle attachment you should blow through the snow.
 
If it's powdery snow you can use a leaf blower. Even the cheapass toros at home depot will work fine. Gets the snow out of the hvac vents as well.
 
I doubt that works. Snow looks rather compressed.

What can I say, like stated at the beginning of this thread:

The best way is a garage that is warmer than 0?C.
 
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