I bought a M7 Strut tower brace a few months ago. Some of the bolts are rusting now. Is this normal? If so, can I just replace those bolts with some different ones? I don't really want to take a chance on rust running down into the engine bay and getting on stuff. The brace is also accumulating a white colored something. I'm not sure what it is, but I scrubbed it with a mf sponge during the last wash. It seemed to help, but it's still there. Has anyone else seen this? What did you use to remove it? Thanks in advance.

 

Is your hood insulation wet? If the bar and bolts are wet all the time they will not weather well.

Steve

 

I'll check that tomorrow. I hope it's not wet. Thank you for the reply.

 

I'm also getting this white stuff on my bar... I tried vinegar on it, but it won't go away...

 

I have a little bit on mine as well, but I haven't tried removing it yet. I've heard of people putting an application of light oil on the bar to prevent it, but I don't know if that will remove existing corrosion.

 

A dry silicone lube would be better so it won't attract dirt. If the hood insulation gets oil, dirt, salt or other chemicals in it, it will be hard to protect the bar. I remove the insulation from all my vehicles because I hate the crap that builds up and it is hard to keep clean.

Steve

 

The white stuff is road dirt and salt accumulation from the hood insulation. The hood insulation invariably gets wet when driving in rain. The hood insulation pad soaks this up, and it tends to stay damp around the bar, corroding it and rusting the bolts. The bolts can be cleaned up with chrome polish and a brush, and can be coated with a light oil or WD-40 to keep them looking better longer. There is no getting around this other than to never drive the car in wet conditions and always keep it parked in a garage.

 

The rust is occurring only on the bolts, right? Are there any replacement bolts on the market that aren't metal, but have the same strength? If so, then a simple replacement could solve the rust problem.

Out of curiosity, are the bolts made of a different material than the strut towers? If so, then the corrosion could be resulting from that. I know that ship designers protect steel hulls by putting blocks of a different material (aluminum or magnesium?) against the hull--the blocks will corrode instead of the hull, but they can be easily replaced and the ship won't suffer the inconvenience of sinking.