2009 Rusty wheel nuts??!!

[A140driver]

A wheel sealant such as the one from Poorboys would work well. Collinite 476S will work very well too and can be used on the whole car but is fine on wheels as it has pretty decent heat resistance.

 

[prprandall51]

Hope the new bolts last

Whatever happened to plain old good quality stainless steel? It seems to stay shiny and rust free on exhausts well enough! and has a much harder life than any measly bolt! heh

I am pretty vague on the metallurgy, but Stainless steel is not suitable for high tensile bolts.

 

[jimbob35]

The exhaust header bolts on my motorcycle appear to be stainless..

If their not stainless then I think Mercedes should talk to Suzuki and find out what incredibly strong and shiny bolts they use hehe

 

[Eyeball Tickler]

i've just come across this old thread.....is it really possible to have the wheel nuts replaced under warrenty due to rust?

just bought a clc200 from an approved merc dealership and all wheel nuts are rusty

 

[l5foye]

I too got tired of rusty wheen nuts on the ML . My solution was to buy plastic chrome covers (which came with a little gadget to remove them) -cost £9.00. They greatly improved the general appearance of the wheels.

 

[damgve]

Rusty wheel nuts seem to be an ongoing problem for mb.
I did the same and got some covers for the wheel nuts.
Job done for around £10.
Took the locking ones out and painted them with rust resistant paint,
All good but time will tell.

 

[MB-BTurbo]

I too got tired of rusty wheen nuts on the ML . My solution was to buy plastic chrome covers (which came with a little gadget to remove them) -cost £9.00. They greatly improved the general appearance of the wheels.

How do you put them over the locking wheel nuts?

 

[l5foye]

They don't fit on the locking nuts. In my case it is not an issue as they are not rusting like the other nuts.

 

[219]

It was never an issue on the earlier cars ( up to the W123 and its peers ) where you had steel wheels and chrome wheel trims which hid the bolts so they couldn't be seen ; mind you I don't recall the bolts back then rusting either .

 

[kid-jensen]

How do you put them over the locking wheel nuts?

I took the Locking wheel bolts off and replaced with standard. Then covered with chrome plastic caps which look great for about a fiver on ebay.

Got round the security problem by moving to a nicer area.. Working so far, the wheels are still on there...

 

[Lotiman]

I had the wheel nuts replaced every year throughout the warranty period of my '07 CLK due to rust but was assured the problem was resolved when buying my '12 C Class. Was it buggery! At the end of the first year, they too were starting to rust so I had them replaced again and then invested just over a fiver on these:-

20 X Alloy Wheel Chrome NUT Caps Bolt Head Covers 17mm Mercedes Seat Skoda | eBay

I painted Waxoyl on the wheelnuts then pushed the chrome plastic covers over to finish them off and 2 1/2 years later they still look good and the wheel nuts underneath are still rust free. I still can't quite understand how MB are just happy to replace these nuts under warranty. Surely it would be cheaper to finish them with a decent protective plating in the first place?
My wife's 14 year old Ford Ka still has perfect rust free wheelnuts after all this time!

 

[MB-BTurbo]

I don't get it either...really don't understand why mercedes do this.

 

[DonVitto]

I had the wheel nuts replaced every year throughout the warranty period of my '07 CLK due to rust but was assured the problem was resolved when buying my '12 C Class. Was it buggery! At the end of the first year, they too were starting to rust so I had them replaced again and then invested just over a fiver on these:-

20 X Alloy Wheel Chrome NUT Caps Bolt Head Covers 17mm Mercedes Seat Skoda | eBay

I painted Waxoyl on the wheelnuts then pushed the chrome plastic covers over to finish them off and 2 1/2 years later they still look good and the wheel nuts underneath are still rust free. I still can't quite understand how MB are just happy to replace these nuts under warranty. Surely it would be cheaper to finish them with a decent protective plating in the first place?
My wife's 14 year old Ford Ka still has perfect rust free wheelnuts after all this time!

I've just ordered a set of these. I read in some of the feedback that people had to cut 3mm off the end of them in order for the removal tool to work correctly? Did you do this and did you have any issues removing them at any point? I don't want to clip them on and then find I end up having to mark the wheels up struggling to get them off again.

 

[Lotiman]

No I didn't need to remove any material from mine and the little supplied removal tool works very well to pull the caps off when required. There are quite a few chrome plastic caps of this type available on eBay which may be of a slightly different design.

It is important to paint a bit of Waxoyl or similar on your wheel bolts before slipping the new caps in place as that will protect them in future whilst still having the bright chrome look of the caps.

 

[DonVitto]

No I didn't need to remove any material from mine and the little supplied removal tool works very well to pull the caps off when required. There are quite a few chrome plastic caps of this type available on eBay which may be of a slightly different design.

It is important to paint a bit of Waxoyl or similar on your wheel bolts before slipping the new caps in place as that will protect them in future whilst still having the bright chrome look of the caps.

Thanks, I've ordered the exact same ones as in your link so hopefully I won't have a problem.

I will put a little grease inside the caps but I'm hoping to just push them over the bolts and forget about them, rather than starting to sand the bolts down and paint them. I know the rust will still be there but I just want it to be out of sight.

 

[DonVitto]

Thought I would provide an update as I purchased the plastic wheel nut covers as mentioned above.

I did find that if you push the cover on all the way, there is no way to remove it as there is no gap for the removal tool to pinch into. I tried this on a spare bolt I had.

Rather than cut the covers down with a hacksaw (tedious job) I placed 3 thin washers into each cover to "pad" them out. This left just the right gap for the removal tool to get them off. I also shaved a fraction of the plastic off the ends of the removal tool with a blade and lightly sanded them smooth to provide a better fit, as the ends were a little bulbous.

Obviously less of the cover is in contact with the bolt now so I have to see if any of them go flying off, but I covered 70 miles yesterday on dual carriage ways and all bolt covers are still in tact at the moment!

 

[C180CGI]

My C class 2012 has only 15k miles on it and been garaged YET it still has rust on all 4 wheel nuts and even the number plate screws??????? Gives the car a tatty look and also looks like a high mileage car. I would expect something like that from a Nissan, NOT a Merc.