In most cases, the hubcap is made of metal, which means, there is always a possibility for rust. The constant wear and tear of these hubcaps makes them highly prone to weather elements, so all hubcaps tend to rust sooner or later.
When you see rust on your hubcaps, make sure to remove it right away. Rusted hubcaps are not just an eye sore, but can also disintegrate the metal, thereby exposing the wheel studs to weather elements.
Keep an eye on your hubcaps all the time, and remove rust as soon as you spot it. Here is how you can remove them.
First off, remove the hubcap from your wheel and inspect it both inside and out. Many times, you may not be able to spot the rust on the outer side of hubcaps because of the decorations on it. But spotting rust on the inner side is easy, so don’t go just by the outer looks. Remove them once every 3 months to see if rust has formed on the inner sides, and do the necessary cleaning, if you spot them.
To remove rust, follow the below-mentioned steps.
As a first step, rub the hubcap with an aluminium foil. This helps to remove mild rust that has just started building on your hubcap.
As long as the rust is minimal, you don’t have to follow extensive procedure to fix it. Just a simple rub with aluminium foil should do the trick for you. This is another reason why you should check your hubcaps often to ensure that rust does not form on the hubcaps.
Before rubbing though, dip the foil in water and then rub against the affected surface for best results.
If your rust is fairly moderate, then rubbing it with just an aluminium foil won’t be enough. You will need some steel wool for this job.
Apply polishing paste on the rusted area and buff it gently with a fine steel wool, and this should remove all your rust. Some people opt to use brass instead of steel simply because it will scratch lesser than steel. But then, brass wool is not always feasible or available, so steel wool is a good option.
Once finished and you are satisfied that the rust is removed, clay bar the hub caps, buff with a gentle compound and then polish and wax.
For the ultimate in metal hub cap protection, the addition of a ceramic or glass coating will not only protect from rust because of the intense hydrophobic action of the products, but will also protect against scratches and from other damaging road elements as well.