I purchased new wheels six months ago that came with new bolts. The bolts are already severely corroded. This is in southern California with an absence of road salt or ocean air. The supplier claims incorrectly, the bolts are stainless steel (they are magnetic which means thay are not stainless steel.). They promptly sent me new bolts that are exactly the same, and also magnetic. I wonder what these bolts look like in places that use road salt or are near the ocean. Anyone with similar experiences with rusted bolts or wheels falling off after a couple of winters? I am currently looking for an alternate bolt, as I don't trust the supplier's bolts.

 

Do you wash your car and let it park in the garage till the next time you

take it out?

 

No, typically take it out to blow the water off before hand drying. I've never seen bolts or lug nuts rust like this.

 

Often times, hardware that comes for "free" is the cheapest garbage the supplier can get. I'd just order a new set of high quality bolts from another supplier.

 

Studs/Lugs? Where in SolCal? I just pulled 6 (of 16) lug bolt-rusted-solid studs I purchased from a SolCal dealer, and just bought 16 more studs from the same guy ($2per vs. the $4per seen thoughout the hoax directory)

Mine lasted 2 salty winters with numerous rotates and wheel changes.

 

The bolts I have were supplied by Tire Rack with new tires and wheels I purchased. I was a little miffed when they told me the bolts were stainless steel. I grew up in Michigan so I know what salt can do. I could not tell from your message....are you satisfied with the bolts that last two years? Got the vendors name?

 

im using my stock black bolts.

 

While I don't know why your bolts corroded, I can tell you from many years as a mechanical design engineer (in my past) that many stainless steels are indeed magnetic (mainly 400 series if I recall correctly). Here's a reference you might want to look at.

http://www.ssina.com/faq.htm

There are many kinds / grades of stainless steel. My guess is the supplier spec'd the bolts poorly and went with the cheapest bid. Some stainless will rust under high temp with only minimal salt or other corrosives present - that may be what's going on here.

In any case I don't blame you for not trusting the suppliers bolts. Will the stock bolts not work?

/gary mc

 

Hmm...

We use the stock, black bolts with the Winter seven-holes. I give the threads a light coating of anit-sieze, but otherwise haven't seen any rusting issues. The only rusting problem I've had is with the wheels "sticking" to the hubs, so I give the hub surface a light coating of anti-sieze after a wire-brushing.

The Summer-only Panasports came with a set of nice, chromed wheel bolts, supplied by the dealer where the wheels were purchased. Into their second season, they still look great, but of course have never seen salt...

 

Stock bolts were too short for the new wheels. I'm looking for a better quality bolt from another supplier.