Rusty wheel bolts

[Flyer]

Hi

The wheel bolts on my 99 CLK are rusting *again*. They have been replaced by my dealer 4 times, but as it is now out of warranty, I expect the dealer to refuse to replace them again.

My wheels are also corroding again (been replaced by MB once already), but they won't replace them again (already asked).

Until I can replace the wheels, are there any covers I can use on the bolts that can be removed when the wheels need to be taken off? Or can anybody recommend wheel bolts that won't rust?

Cheers

Andrew

[fuzzer]

Join the club , the wheel bolts on my A class used to rust too and i got the wheel bolts changed under warranty. ..


But , the last time they did it , it was a revised wheel bolt they used . Worked a treat...:bannana: :bannana:

[Shude]

My wheel bolts came from AMG with the wheels, they have different length heads front/rear (staggered) and they still look fine after 9 months. They have the MB star on them so I guess they're oem :)

When I picked up my locking wheel bolts, a guy wandered into the parts dept and asked for a full set of bolts for a w124 with alloys, he was given a price of about £50 and he wandered back out of the parts dept again looking upset. I'm glad I kept the bolts off my old wheels now :D .

[V12]

You think thats bad, we sold a set of wheel bolts from a 140 s-class for £60 as they are £130 new!!

Couldnt believe it, when my local dealer told me...

MB wheel bolts have a tendancy to rust quite easily if your wheels/bolts arent cleaned very regularly...;)

[zerocool]

crickey I did'nt realize they where that expensive.
Did you know when a new merc comes in at work,we pdi them and we have to put locking wheel bolts on them too.
the 4 bolts we take off are thrown in the bin,I must have thrown about 300 bolts in the bin over the past 3 or 4 months.
I think I will stock pile them now.
don't know of any cure for the rusting problem,but a classes especially are common for this.

[Flyer]

Well, if you come across any clk ones, send them my way <g>.

They have *really* gone rusty now :crazy: . Still saving for some AMG wheels ...

On the plus side, my car was finally repaired last week after the vandalism detailed in earlier posts. Looks great, but the £270 excess was difficult to part with :mad: .

Cheers

Andrew

[Orlando 300E]

Hello all,

just out of iterest, how many miles do you do each day & do you use your brakes!
Could be that you dont get enough heat into the rim or bolts from your brakes to dry them out.
This is when you all say 25K miles a year.............
best wishes

Orlando

[fuzzer]

about 6k :crazy:

[Flyer]

Not many. I work from home so during the week I only use the car for visiting clients, about twice per week, all local.

But surely they shouldn't rust like they do. My previous car, a Corrado, didn't. In fact, none of my cars have. Even my girlfriend's C*rsa's doesn't :confused:

Cheers

Andrew

[paresh]

Flyer,

My bolts on my previous W202 started to rust after I'd cleaned them with Wonder Wheels! What a mistake!

Anyway, my brother drives an Audi A4 and he has plastic covers on his bolts! You'd never tell that they were plastic even close up.

I bought a set to cover the rusty bolts on my 202 and they worked a treat.

Why can't Mercedes make similar covers for their bolts? They didn't cost much either - less than a pound each.

You can get them from an Audi dealer as a special order part. If you have problems then I can pull one of the covers off the bolts and locate the part number for you.

Hope this helps.

[Flyer]

Thanks Paresh. I actually bought a new set of 17" alloys off a CLK500, which came with new (longer) bolts. So far, so good! I have made a conscious decision though to stay well away from *any* type of wheel cleaner. I only clean them with car wash stuff, and then polish them with Autoglym (save the Zymol for the car!).

MB *should* supply covers. I saw a brand new A class (03 plate) at the dealers last week - guess what, rusty bolts! What kind of a message does that send to potential customers :confused: .

Cheers

Andrew

[jaymanek]

I got my wheels and bolts from mitcham wheels and tyres (in mitcham, south london), cost £20 for all 20. 3 years later and no rust. Though when i bought them, the guy did say 'they all rust up mate, expect to wanna change em in a cuple a years'....

Still good though..

[phillb]

my a-class is terrible for this.....
drives me mad!!!

[GrahamC230K]

Originally posted by jaymanek
I got my wheels and bolts from mitcham wheels and tyres (in mitcham, south london), cost £20 for all 20. 3 years later and no rust. Though when i bought them, the guy did say 'they all rust up mate, expect to wanna change em in a cuple a years'....

Still good though..


Mitcham Wheels and tyres have been there for years. Has a good reputation despite their small premsises. Used to love driving past as kid and begging my dad to get somebetter wheels for his car!

Good that your expctation was set lower than the outcome.

[Ian B Walker]

I once had a set of wheel bolts made up out of Stailness Steel by a friend who owns an engineering company. They were still on the car and clean when I disposed of it a year later. I am not sure of the rights or wrongs of this but for me it worked ok.

[Tan]

Do the newer (Non rusting) wheel bolts have any particular codes?

Our new ('03 plate) A-class is suffereing from the rusty wheel bolts syndrome.

Regards

Tan

[Shude]

How about some chrome caps to cover the bolts? I saw some on ebay. If you don't like chrome you could always paint them silver and they'd never rust :)

[Flash]

Just make sure u all clean ur wheels very regularly (including the nuts) with shampoo and sponge - DO NOt USE any acidic wheelc leaner i.e. Wonder Wheels... (big mistake)

Flyer: Did MB replace ur alloys with brand new ones or were they refurbs? When u say corrossion which parts were worse affected? Accoring to DC when replacing alloys under warranty they only provde refurbs (which sucks as refurbs are never as good as teh OEMs as different lacquer is used as per my local MB approved bodyshop...).

Flash

[Shude]

Flyer: Did MB replace ur alloys with brand new ones or were they refurbs? When u say corrossion which parts were worse affected? Accoring to DC when replacing alloys under warranty they only provde refurbs (which sucks as refurbs are never as good as teh OEMs as different lacquer is used as per my local MB approved bodyshop...).
I heard different. "Pristine" refurb'd alloys (as used by Whitefield among others) have a better and longer-lasting finish than oem!

My oem wheels have bubbled and corroded paint on them, the paint is literally flaking off. They have become my winter wheels...

[Flash]

I heard different. "Pristine" refurb'd alloys (as used by Whitefield among others) have a better and longer-lasting finish than oem!

My oem wheels have bubbled and corroded paint on them, the paint is literally flaking off. They have become my winter wheels...


I’m only going by what my MB approved body shop said (all work was sub conracted to them for all bodywork) – when I had my 5 double spoke MB Electra wheels (which one of them was curbed by the Stealer and was refurbed by them as they refused a brand new replacement) – the first refurb was very poor – I then went directly back to the bodyshop and made then re-do the refurb and specifically requested they applied “extra” lacquer for the silk smooth shiny mirror finish of the OEM wheel. Second refurb was spot on but not as good as the OEM and bodyshop informed that the lacquer in comparison to the OEM MB is different. The bodyshop had top of the range MB cars sitting in their w/shop for major bodywork/accidental damage and it was their "top man" there that told me that refurbs are NEVER as good as OEMs and that the lacquer is different to the OEM. However, to anyone else they never could tell which wheel was refurbed.

Flash

[Flyer]

Flyer: Did MB replace ur alloys with brand new ones or were they refurbs? When u say corrossion which parts were worse affected? Accoring to DC when replacing alloys under warranty they only provde refurbs (which sucks as refurbs are never as good as teh OEMs as different lacquer is used as per my local MB approved bodyshop...).

Flash
They replaced them with refurbs, as Sude says, by Pristine. The finish was not as good as the original ones (which were very shiny). The refurbed ones were a duller finish, but I dare say that most people wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

As you know, my new alloys are off a 209 CLK500. The bolts came with the wheels. The bolts are now rusting :mad: . Never had any wheel cleaner, just washed (regularly). MB still haven't got this problem licked. :rolleyes:

[Murray Systems]

Does anyone want part numbers/prices/lengths for all Mercedes Bolts...?
It'll take me an hour or so but if it'll be useful...

[zerocool]

I still have plenty of bolts left for sale if any one wants any

[plgibson]

Got my dealer to change wheel bolts under warrenty on first service also the bolts that hold the actuauting arms on windscreen wipers just below bonnet line. Friendly Fitter put covers on these ( same size as door hinge bolts which have plastic covers.) Now had another set of wheel bolts supplied under warrenty. Told dealer i would fit and took them to local firm and had them chromed No problems now.

[Roy]

Heard many times that 'Wonder Wheels' is responsible for the rusting of wheel bolts. I have quite a few friends who have kicked it into touch.
Personally I will not touch the stuff o my alloys !

[zerocool]

still plenty of bolts left if anyone wants any :)