[MC Mayank]

Thanks for your suggestions, held up with work and other things so it won't be before this weekend at least that I get a chance to show it to the tyre wallah. Will let you guys know.. any slated time for which WD40 must be left on?

[knp]

I am also seeing this for my one month old car, where I also bought the alloys from Sai Iyengars.
I got the WD40 for around 150/- from Car Automobiles, JC Road and will try sparying.

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by MC Mayank

Thanks for your suggestions, held up with work and other things so it won't be before this weekend at least that I get a chance to show it to the tyre wallah. Will let you guys know.. any slated time for which WD40 must be left on?

Good luck man, hope you don't get any damage on the alloys or the wheel stud.

@knp, I would just use the OEM wheel nuts. Haven't seen any problems in 5years with them. And no need for any maintenance/spray etc...

[Atul-C]

Originally Posted by MC Mayank

Went to Bimal in the morning. My alloy wheel nut is rotating along with the stud that assembles to the hub. He has tried to use this all in one solution from 3M in an effort to dissolve the rust but it hasn't worked.
What the service guy is saying is that he will have to remove the entire hub and rotor assembly from the axle and hammer all the parts lose (thus damaging the bearing assembly and possibly the hub). This will allow him to reach the stud from the bearing end and probably cut the head off (at the moment the stud is slipping inside the hub). This will allow him to then remove the nut and broken portion of the stud together. This is what I understood from him anyway.
Damages: Changed bearing assembly and maybe a changed hub.

For the moment I have asked him to hold off. I plan to get a second opinion from a tyre shop in whitefield where I was planning to do a head for a balancing and allignment.

Please advise guys, thanks

For once it is a security too tight that the owner himself is not able to get through it.

[torque.steer]

hey I am having a problem with my alloy wheels actually there are small spots of rust on them.. how can I remove those spots of rust (I don't have an option of changing the rims) ?? even the nuts are rusted... :( help needed...

[PrideParts]

Hey guys, Marcus here from Pride Performance Parts in South Africa. I signed up to give you some advice on the rusty nut problems. I found you while Googling for pics of rusty nuts.

Firstly, do NOT spray any kind of lubricant on your nuts - this is extremely dangerous!

The problem you guys have is common worldwide, but I have a solution for you.

The internal hex nuts you use currently leave the studs exposed and naturally they begin to rust. The rust spreads onto the nut and the chrome finish is affected also.

The only way to counteract this problem is to use what we call a Tuner Nut - a fully enclosed, small diameter nut that uses a special spline key. Check the pics attached.

It's a simple, yet really effective system. Also with these you get more thread engagement, better contact area, and of course the problem of splitting nuts / worn keys etc is taken away as the force is placed on the outside of the nut, not on the inside like when using the Allen Key socket.

Any reputable distributors there should know about these and have them available?

BEWARE cheap imitations!

Hope this helps guys, get rid of those old nuts!

Cheers

Marcus

[debugged]

I know this thread hasn't been active for a long time, but I'm trying my luck here. Even my swift alloy lug nuts are rusted and I'm starting to worry.

Has anybody found any solutions for this or any kind of preventive maintenance other than changing the lug nuts every year? Applying a lubricant is risky but has anybody tried using some thick wax? I'm afraid that the wax might jam up and makes things worse even before the rust takes it's toll.

Searching for "tuner nuts" as mentioned by PrideParts didn't yield any useful information on google.

[Torqy]

As soon as i found rust, i switched back to ordinary ones.
In fact, while trying to remove one, it broke....luckily it happened within the city and we had to break the nut.

Imagine your wheel nut breaking in the event of a puncture...in the middle of the night.

-- Torqy

[lancer_rit]

Agree with Torqy 100%

@debugged, please change back to OEM nuts - I did the same, and earlier in the thread you can find details of the long neck adaptor you require to use OEM wheel nuts on alloys (with recessed holes).

OEM wheel nuts don't rust even over years:-)

[debugged]

Thanks Torqy and lancer_rit. I'll check with Bimal this weekend and change back to the OEM nuts and get the adapter. I was going to get the existing nuts replaced with similar nuts from Sai Iyengar's. Good that I asked you guys.

[AJ-got-BHP]

Learnt a Lesson that "All That Glitters is not Gold"

I have non OEM Alloy Rims on my Figo (which is 11 months old now) which previously had stock wheel nuts. Here is a picture of the Wheels :


A comparison picture of the Stock Wheel Nuts on the Right to the Extra Long Chrome Wheel Nuts on the Left which I installed a couple of weeks back :


A picture of the wheels immediately after I Installed the Extra Long Chrome Nuts :


The Issue :
The stock wheel nuts were getting rusted and the usage of the OEM Wheel Spanner was scraping the inner lackering of the Alloy Rims. So, I decided to replace the OEM wheel Nuts with the (19 No.) L Key 12mm 1.5 Wheel Nuts for Alloy Rims. I made this purchase from a renowned tyre outlet in Kolkata (which I do not want to name) where I was assured that the stuff I had bought would easily last me for a year with no rusting on it whatsoever. However, it's been 15 days and they have already got partially rusted.

My concern is that the rust might spread over to the threading of the bolts on which they are fastened. This can get fatal !!

I am not being able to find the correct product and the correct medium to buy a suitable product to suit my needs and resolve the issue.

Need prompt suggestions on what to do next.....

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

My concern is that the rust might spread over to the threading of the bolts on which they are fastened. This can get fatal !!

I am not being able to find the correct product and the correct medium to buy a suitable product to suit my needs and resolve the issue.

Have you tried WD-40? It does work well on rust and clears it. Plus spray it for inhibiting rust.

Else try painting them in some color that it does hamper the looks.

[kutlee]

Almost all of these are cheap imports and do not have the quality. Permanent solution - Get a set of lug nuts from US. Fit it and forget. www.gorilla-auto.com makes some good nuts. I have got some black nuts and year after no spot of rust.

[Chetan_Rao]

Gorilla is a good brand if you can find genuine stuff to import, not available off-the-shelf in India easily, if at all. There are a lot of good fakes going around so it's hard to distinguish unless you're well-versed with the product.

There are some Taiwanese brands (I used Wepro on my ex-car) that are as good, if not better than Gorilla. Wepro is another widely counterfeited brand in India, unfortunately.

Most importantly, use closed-end type instead of the open-ended hex-key type that you've got. No guarantee that they won't rust, but at least not as soon as yours have.

Here's a pic of the ones on my ex-car. The nuts were nearly two years old when this pic was clicked, and were removed only a week prior during an alignment/balancing job, no rust on the stud or the nut's internal threading.

A precautionary 6-monthly check and replacement as necessary is all I did for maintenance. You can have a good set for about 1200-1500 bucks INR. Avoid cheap ones. They rust, get stuck to the hub stud and cause a royal mess to remove (personal experience on the front-right wheel with an earlier set I used, thankfully damages limited to FOUR replacement hub studs).

[gthang]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Have you tried WD-40? It does work well on rust and clears it. Plus spray it for inhibiting rust.

WD-40 is one of my best friends, honestly. It works on rust amazingly. BUT, it is also a penetrating lubricant, and I would not recommend it on wheel nuts/bolts that needs to remain tight.

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

Need prompt suggestions on what to do next.....

Looking at the picture you posted, it already looks like your nuts were tightened and/or loosened with either the wrong size tool or improper use of the tool leading to slip. Damaging the chrome is not good, no matter how expensive or good the nut.

I would suggest you find a correct match OEM wheel nut, perhaps someone can suggest a suitable make/model, and have it installed properly in a decent tire shop.

Cheers