Greased Up Wheels - Help Needed

[johnny01]

Hi to everyone on this section of the forum :)

My wife's Rolla T-Sport has a long-standing problem of grease on the wheels. This has been like it since new (it's a '54 plate) and doesn't get any better! She recently washed it and now has real problems getting the grease off - when she does it returns pretty swiftly. Fronts are worse than rears but it's still present on the rear wheels. Looks like it's coming from the centre hub somewhere, sometimes it looks like it's almost been dripping out!

Has anyone had a similar problem with their T-Sport and know where this grease is coming from? The dealer can find 'no fault' but surely if the grease is coming from somewhere then it will eventually run out!

Any help would be appreciated - I've added some pics below:

Regards - Johnny (on behalf of the missus) ;)

[Hogie]

What sort of condition are the rubber boots on the drive shafts in, dont know what would be doing it at the back

[Fwazz]

I've had this problem with my Corolla. However it's not half as bad as on your pictures. Normal washing won't remove it but if you use a high powered steam cleaner it will fetch it off relatively easily. Solved it with mine. As for where it's coming from i have no idea. You must have some sort of problem judging by the amount of grease on the wheels, and with you saying it returns regularly.

[johnny01]

Cheers for the quick replies

The car has done it from day 1, so we left it for a while to see if it might have been some kind of coating that had been applied at the factory when new but it just keeps coming back. The car is serviced at the same Mr T at the usual intervals, and everytime we get them to check and everytime they say everything is OK but are still unable to locate the source of the grease. I assume the boots are OK because that would've turned up in the service and MOT surely?

[ae102]

had the same when i got mine a couple of years ago. there was a tiny nick in the driveshaft boot so it was replaced under warranty. the Toyota fitter managed to damage it while replacing the discs and pads - again under warranty. dont know how he managed it - must have been out of malice as i wouldnt let him test my car without me present - he then refused to test drive the car.

[Hogie]

Is it both sides or just one? Passenger by any chance?

Could just turn the wheel out both ways and have a feel around the boot. Could be a tiny slit

You getting any kind of creaking knocking sound come from the wheel area?

[johnny01]

Is it both sides or just one? Passenger by any chance?

Could just turn the wheel out both ways and have a feel around the boot. Could be a tiny slit

You getting any kind of creaking knocking sound come from the wheel area?

Both sides - front and rear. The pics are the fronts because they are about 4 times worse than the rears, though it's the same problem on the rears. The pics above are of the passenger side, the one below is drivers side - not *quite* as bad. There are no problems with the car at all, no knocks, bangs, squeaks or anything and the car has 17,000 on the clock.

[ae102]

Is it both sides or just one? Passenger by any chance?

Could just turn the wheel out both ways and have a feel around the boot. Could be a tiny slit

You getting any kind of creaking knocking sound come from the wheel area?

Both sides - front and rear. The pics are the fronts because they are about 4 times worse than the rears, though it's the same problem on the rears. The pics above are of the passenger side, the one below is drivers side - not *quite* as bad. There are no problems with the car at all, no knocks, bangs, squeaks or anything and the car has 17,000 on the clock.

is it black or brown? when they resurfaced the road around by me the car - especially the wheels got lids of black tar spots. if its happening on the rears aswell i would suggest it was that. get some tar remover and polish the wheels to stop tar sticking so easily.

[johnny01]

'grease coloured'

No, seriously - been there on the car for 4 years but getting harder to remove because it's starting to stain the wheels. If you look closely it's as if the grease gets hot when running the car, causing it to spin out onto the wheel and then drip down when the car is parked. Then it dries on and stains it. I can't believe that all 4 wheels have leaking bushes or boots and these have never been spotted in any service or MOT but I'm flummoxed as to where it's coming from!

[smoftah]

Send it back to Toyota, even though in the past they have not found a problem, ask them to look at it again and make a special trip down to them for it.

If they have no luck, take it to a wheel speacialist who can have a look at it also.

If Toyota cannot find a problem then ask them to get TGB technicians to have a look, cars that the dealers can not solve problems with go to Salfords (TGB's technical centre) where they have some brilliant mechanics working (I used to work for TGB and know most of the technicians there, they are all top blokes )

[ae102]

'grease coloured'

No, seriously - been there on the car for 4 years but getting harder to remove because it's starting to stain the wheels. If you look closely it's as if the grease gets hot when running the car, causing it to spin out onto the wheel and then drip down when the car is parked. Then it dries on and stains it. I can't believe that all 4 wheels have leaking bushes or boots and these have never been spotted in any service or MOT but I'm flummoxed as to where it's coming from!

if you are getting it on the rear it aint no boots. just wondering if someone has been overkeen with the copperease? cant see it coming from the bearings - not on all 4 wheels.

[cabcurtains]

On our CTS, grease on the wheels was the first symptom of weeping shockers, which eventually became leaky shockers and ultimately replacement at my :censor: expense shockers.

The mileage when this began was about 22k when it started, which you haven't reached yet, however leaky shockers do seem to be a fairly common problem.

[toweylowey]

not sure what could be causing the problem, but i've found using "wonder wheels" is brilliant for cleaning wheels get's everything off and always brought my wheels up good, i've used it an all my cars for years now

[johnny01]

I'm not familiar with that product at all - I've been told that some wheel cleaners are acidic and can break down finish of the wheel and this eventually causes them to rot. I suppose I am going to have to use something fairly strong though to get this mess off, even if it means removing the wheels altogether from the car to clean them and trace the cause of the grease.

[Parts-King]

I think some grease has been applied to the hub, between the wheel and the hub surface, this is often done to stop the wheel sticking to the hub and you being unable to remove the wheel if you get a puncture. Take a wheel off and see if there is excess grease around the hub

Kingo

[johnny01]

Thanks for that Kingo - might explain why it's the case on all 4 wheels and not just the fronts, assuming the fronts get hotter under braking and therefore are worse than the rears. If you look at the pics you can see where the hot grease has been running down the wheel after driving!

Might also explain why Mr T can find 'no fault' if it's standard practice to grease the hubs like that. Will wait for better weather then attempt to remove a wheel

[toweylowey]

I'm not familiar with that product at all - I've been told that some wheel cleaners are acidic and can break down finish of the wheel and this eventually causes them to rot. I suppose I am going to have to use something fairly strong though to get this mess off, even if it means removing the wheels altogether from the car to clean them and trace the cause of the grease.

me an all my mate's have used this product for years an no problems with ruining the finish of the wheels. I've even used this on my mate's wheels which are fox racing RS5's these have a chrome outer an it's not reccommended to use on chrome but he wanted rid of tar spots an other bit's that usual washing won't get rid of an there has been no problem ruining the finish on these. the kit comes with small wheel cleaning brush as well an it's effortless to use, your wheels will look brand new again. also if you manage to get them clean you could wax your wheels this will help prevent such staining in future but does attract more brake dust. good luck tho