Hi all. I don't know much about wheels and rims, but one of my rims is causing my front driver's-side tire to lose air fast enough that I need to refill it every two days or I have a flat (a person I took it to told me it was the rim as opposed to the stem or the tire; he said the inside of the rim was a bit rusted).
I have been trying to find rims for the car and went to a few junkyards, but most of the ones they had looked rusted and a little dinged up. I have a few questions about replacing the rim:
1) After searching this forum, I found out that the stock rims are 14x5.5, 4 on 100 and +45 offset. Are there any other cars that have those rims (or ones that are close enough) that I can ask for so that the junkyards don't think that they don't have a rim that fits? Or do I just ask for a rim with those specs?
2) What am I looking for when I select a rim. How much rust is too much and where is rust acceptable. Are slight dings a big problem?
3) Where can I go other than a junkyard to get the rim (either used or new) and about how much should I expect to pay? (Ideally, I would like to receive it in the next week, so if you are in NJ and willing to sell one, let me know).
4) I got the current rim from a mechanic who I'm a bit annoyed with now after I was in a minor accident. The other rims are not stock rims and I'm not sure how they differ from the stock rims. Is it going to be a problem for my car to have three identical rims and one that is slightly different? Put another way, do I have to replace all four of them?
Thanks very much. I am enjoying doing some of the work on this car (I put on a new fender and bumper cover after that accident myself). Any help would be appreciated.