Ive always used it on the wheel surface were it touches the hub.
A mate of mine has a unit were he keeps about 20 cars outside, the ones we don't do this too the wheel weld on solid due to the cemical reaction. The ones we do treat, even 10 years of untouched standing the wheels come off. 30 years of doing this it seems to works for us.

Why it may not work in theory would be interesting to know though.