FYI, pulled a MINI with 65K in the shop today for it's 1st visit here. Doing brakes and rotating tires. Pull the lug bolts and get ready to catch the tire and nothing. After hitting it a few times it came lose. All 4 were so dirty on the back that it took me 30 mins with a power wire brush to get them clean enough to put back on. One wheel so bad that the wheel was eaten away in spots.

Please rotate them tires and wire brush the inside hubs and the brake hub too. Little anti-sez helps too.

 

Eww, yucky. I took off all 4 tires, washed, and triple waxes them (front and back) within a month of buying my MINI. I'll probably do it every 6 months or so.

 

I clean my wheels as best I can when giving Molly a bath. I even have Black&Blue spots on the back of my right hand from working so hard!!

 

It's not the wheels actually, it is the hub.

It corrodes over time & as you found out it can be a real pain in the keaster to get the wheels off. Once off take a wire brush to the hub, especially the round part that protrudes into the wheel. Before reinstalling the wheel, kiss the protruding part with a tiny bit of anti-seize.

If folks rotated their tires ever 6K or so this wouldn't be an issue.

MINI wheels are easy, imagine the fun of getting a wire wheel off a splined hub once they've mated. x 10

 

I like to keep my MCS very clean, but I don't think I'll ever be motivated enough to actually remove my wheels to clean them.

 

Mine come off every 4 Months as i change out the wheels from Summer to Winter and then Spring and I always clean then before i store them in the basement

 

I wash and wax the insides every time I rotate mine, about every 5k miles.

 

Crashton is right, clean and anti-seize works every time!

 

Yep.......