Wheel Nuts - rust

[Howard]

I've got a set of these on my car.

When i bought them , i thought ' These'll last 5 minutes ' , but over a year down the line they are as good as new and look smart too.

Make sure you keep the removal tool in the glovebox or a pair of long nosed pliers.

Only thing i found was it is best to give the insides a wipe with some silicone ( like round your bath ) to let them grip the nuts as the first ones i put on came off like a machine gun as i accelerated briskly out of a road , peppering some people at a bus stop.

CHROME WHEEL NUT BOLT COVERS MERCEDES A C E CLASS CLK S on eBay (end time 24-Sep-10 07:43:53 BST)

You can just see them in the photo below.

 

[Mad4Coupes]

You don't mention whether your new motor is coming from MB dealer or indie used car dealer. If it is from MB I would certainly push them to replace the bolts or I may consider the deal off.

 

[krisw123]

Mine are only rusty on the front and not on the back. Why would that be I wonder?
Are you saying they can be replaced under warranty?

 

[markjay]

...Are you saying they can be replaced under warranty?

Yes, mine were. The dealer did say that this was the result of using too-aggressive cleaning detergents on the wheels (which does not really make sense because it seems that the bolts on every other make of car on the market are perfectly immune to car wash detergents), but then the dealer said they'll replace it so I can't really say that they were being difficult. The car was 2 years old at the time. The car is now 4 years old and the bolts started rusting again, so this does seem like and inherent MB issue...

 

[ched999uk]

You don't mention whether your new motor is coming from MB dealer or indie used car dealer. If it is from MB I would certainly push them to replace the bolts or I may consider the deal off.

Its an indie, as MB didnt have any coupés with a pano roof Only 1 day to go to collection. Just popped in to dealer and they are having to replace cat for MoT! Is a cat normally knackered after 7 years 56K?

 

[portzy]

Portzy,
Your Avatar, of course !!

Portzy.

 

[SAFC]

Portzy

SAFC.

 

[markjay]

It's a common MB issue... just had a look at a few C-Class (2008-2009) on sale at cargiant.com, and most of them have rusty wheel nuts... see for example on this 2008 W204:

 

[ched999uk]

Cheers markjay. Mine were worse, they had no silver at all!!! The indie painted them silver. So not a perfect solution but OK for now. Just loving driving it at the moment. Its so relaxing to drive, so effortless. Haven't really had time to see how quick it is yet or how well it goes round corners. In comparison to my old td4 freelander its soo much nicer

 

[SAFC]

Ched999uk,

Try this:
Put a piece of dowel or a thinish tube or a drill bit (you get the idea) into a drill chuck and tape round some sandpaper. Touch the spinning make-shift tool onto the top of the rusty nuts and take off the excess loose rust - it'll take you no more than 10 mins to do the lot.

Get a dry brush and brush the top and around the offending wheel nuts that you've just sanded up.

Next - Apply some Hammerite "On Rust" Silver paint (£5 or less for a sizeabale tin and you'll never use it all) and give all the Nuts one coat with a small brush - wait an hour.
Then, paint them again. Wait an hour then paint them again.

They look really good against matt alloy finish wheels and so far no signs of rust coming through.

Have a go - you'll be pleasantly surprised !!! I was and it's a very economical and effective solution.

 

[SAFC]

It's me again - regarding my solution for rusty nuts. One month later and the nuts still look great.
Am happy with what I did and it deffo seems to be working.