Rusty wheel nuts

[derek matheson]

I have a 10 month old "C" Class C160 coupe in iridium silver with standard Mercedes alloys. Unfortunately the nuts including the locking nuts, have gone rusty and generally ruins the overall appearance of the car.

I have tried removing the rust but it will not go.

Anyone else had this problem and how have you tackled the issue.

Is it covered under waranty?

I do not want to start painting the nuts on such a new car.

 

[andrewheaney]

My girlfriends A Class has exactly the same problem. When we contacted merc they told us we can buy new ones at £1.70 each! I have a 13 year old Mazda RX7, and the nuts on it havent gone rusty!!

The girlfriend will be buying new ones cos she says everyone stares at them and they do look awful.

 

[television]

My girlfriends A Class has exactly the same problem. When we contacted merc they told us we can buy new ones at £1.70 each! I have a 13 year old Mazda RX7, and the nuts on it havent gone rusty!!

The girlfriend will be buying new ones cos she says everyone stares at them and they do look awful.

If they are wire brushed and sprayed silver with "Hamarite" they do look OK

Mine were still ok after two years.

Malcolm

 

[grpar]

Mine were rusty after a year

Mine rusted to a lovely golden orange shade after about a year on my 54-plate C180 saloon. I think it may be something to do with the alloy wheel cleaner. I've used Wonder Wheels all the time, which gets the muck off ok, but is a relatively aggressive formula compared to other makes. Same for you ?

 

[television]

Mine rusted to a lovely golden orange shade after about a year on my 54-plate C180 saloon. I think it may be something to do with the alloy wheel cleaner. I've used Wonder Wheels all the time, which gets the muck off ok, but is a relatively aggressive formula compared to other makes. Same for you ?

You really should not use that stuff, it does not do the wheels any good, and that is the veiw of many here, Read whats in the tin.

malcolm

 

[bitonw]

Yeah, your right Malcolm.

I used it only once on the Mercedes Benz but I don't do it again. It makes the alloys duff.

I had this stuff for my LEXUS alloys since they corroded within a year... Now I use it for my Toyota Rav4 (2001) and it works very well. Alloys are already corroded on the Rav4 but psst the nuts are still NOT rusty!!! So the nuts of the Mercedes Benz are very bad in that behaviour...

 

[andrewheaney]

Mine rusted to a lovely golden orange shade after about a year on my 54-plate C180 saloon. I think it may be something to do with the alloy wheel cleaner. I've used Wonder Wheels all the time, which gets the muck off ok, but is a relatively aggressive formula compared to other makes. Same for you ?

This stuff is lethal. I use Turtle wax Alloy Cleaner, but it smells the same as Wonder Wheels. I have to admit that it does an awesome job. It takes the brake dust off the whole wheel including the inside just using a power hose.

 

[jberks]

I've said it before and will say it again.
Clean the wheels with water and detergent.
Tcut off any stubborn stains, and a general light tcut/polish to bring the lustre back up.
then a good thick coat of alloy wheel wax and top up every 3 months.
No corrosion, no need for wonder wheels and no rusty wheel bolts!
And the brake dust just wipes off. When it starts getting awquard, just repeat the process.

Additionally, Television recommends 'green' brake pads I believe, which don't give off the same dust.

Remember, wheels are simply painted metal so think, how would your paintwork manage if you cleaned it with acid? Treat the wheels the same as the bodywork and you won't go too far wrong.

 

[Blobcat]

Additionally, Television recommends 'green' brake pads I believe, which don't give off the same dust.

I thought it was 'Red' brake pads.

 

[geoffd]

re rusty wheel bolts

I tried the Hammerite and various other spray and brush on paints/laquers too. Not one of them worked - fine in summer, but all sufferred from the salt/road dirt in winter.

These bolts do seem to be a particular Merc problem - more so than other makes - probably because of how they are made (stressed steel rusts more easily than unstressed, and different manufacturing processes will introduce different stresses).

The only long term solution I've found is to have the bolts chrome plated. I got a new set under warranty (and a new set of alloys too) because they were badly corroded, and chromed the new bolts straight away (£30 for 16 bolts plated chrome over nickel). My locking bolts were already chrome plated and rust free.

You need to just bear two things in mind if you go this route. First, the bolts are high tensile, so don't let the platers use any high temperature plating processes which might affect the strength of the bolts. Second beware cracking the plating when releasing/tightening the bolts - use a good quality tight fitting socket (and a torque wrench to tighten), not the normal 'lug wrench' - and don't let tyre monkeys use an air driver !

Last but not least, as others have said, waxing the wheels helps clean off road grime/brake dust more easily, so coat the visible bolt heads with wax too - especially in winter.

Time consuming and a bit of a pain maybe, but it works for me. After all, why ruin the looks of a £30k car for the want of a bit of effort.

Geoff

 

[djb]

rusty nuts on my 53 c

I have just had mine replaced under warranty, full set and full set of rims, which had blistered particularly where the contacted the steel on the discs

vehicle fully serviced by supplying dealer, since I bought it over 2 years ago, rims & bolts ordered on last service (a guy came up from milton keynes) & fitted on MOT.


car returned in washed & valleted in purfect condition & Mot included quote " MOT is not charged for as we service your vehicle"


Full marks to Drayton Stafford

 

[woolf]

I have a 10 month old "C" Class C160 coupe in iridium silver with standard Mercedes alloys. Unfortunately the nuts including the locking nuts, have gone rusty and generally ruins the overall appearance of the car.

I have tried removing the rust but it will not go.

Anyone else had this problem and how have you tackled the issue.
.

I find chrome/plastic wheel nut covers solve the problem nicely

 

[geoffd]

rusty wheel bolts

As well as all the paints and whatnot, I tried some of these plastic covers too - the ones I used were Saab items.

They were fine at the front, but my rears are wider and the bolt heads are recessed about 40 mm below the wheel face. Fitting them was easy - getting them off was something else. Never again.

One other comment. I also have a 5 year old Honda Civic which has these chromed plastic covers over the locking wheel nuts - or it did have - all of them have lost the chrome finish and are now black (and of course unobtainable). The ordinary nuts are chromed and are fine and rust free. That's really what persuaded me to chrome the Merc bolts.

Geoff

 

[television]

As well as all the paints and whatnot, I tried some of these plastic covers too - the ones I used were Saab items.

They were fine at the front, but my rears are wider and the bolt heads are recessed about 40 mm below the wheel face. Fitting them was easy - getting them off was something else. Never again.

One other comment. I also have a 5 year old Honda Civic which has these chromed plastic covers over the locking wheel nuts - or it did have - all of them have lost the chrome finish and are now black (and of course unobtainable). The ordinary nuts are chromed and are fine and rust free. That's really what persuaded me to chrome the Merc bolts.

Geoff

My Volvo chrome bolts are still like new, the 129 original bolts had stainless end caps but the rest were very rusty, I sprayed with hammerite and they kept well for the couple of year I had the car.

Malcolm

 

[Phil D]

Sorry to be such a late respondent to this thread but I had a similar issue on my late 2004 C class - the rusty nuts made the wheels look awful
the dealer's explanation was that they needed to use steel nuts and that over time the paint would peel off & the underlying nut would corrode - this was a warranty issue & at my last service I had a full set replaced under warranty
what happens after warranty is up for grabs & I expect I'll have to buy new ones if the problem reappears
Phil

 

[television]

Sorry to be such a late respondent to this thread but I had a similar issue on my late 2004 C class - the rusty nuts made the wheels look awful
the dealer's explanation was that they needed to use steel nuts and that over time the paint would peel off & the underlying nut would corrode - this was a warranty issue & at my last service I had a full set replaced under warranty
what happens after warranty is up for grabs & I expect I'll have to buy new ones if the problem reappears
Phil

As in my post above yours,, Hammerrite works well and last.

Malcolm

 

[harrison644@btinternet.co]

I've had the same problm on my 2 year old C220 cdi. Thy were replaced free of charge under warranty during routine service at Mercedes suggestion.

 

[Pipemaster]

Well I never did

I have just made lunchtime jaunt to the local stealers. After calling to see if they have any replacement bolts for my wheels as the exisitng chromed heads are looking decidedly dodgy. I pitched expectantly. The (helpful) man went out the back and returned with a plastic bag of what can only be described as sorry looking "new" bolts that were galvansied and grubby. He told me that this is all they do now and pointed to the nice shiny new cars in the showroow all of which had recessed wheel hs so you could see the bolt head very easily. He had these becasue they replace one bolt on each wheel of each new car with a locking bolt.
I let him know that those weren't really what I was looking for and trundled outside to show him my - what now by comaprison were very shiny - bolts. Naww we dont do those anymore.... I think they're caps.
So now it's Malcolm's solution of a stiff brush and hammerite or can anyone recommend a good chrome paint - I think Humbrol used to do an enamel one for model kits..

 

[television]

I have just made lunchtime jaunt to the local stealers. After calling to see if they have any replacement bolts for my wheels as the exisitng chromed heads are looking decidedly dodgy. I pitched expectantly. The (helpful) man went out the back and returned with a plastic bag of what can only be described as sorry looking "new" bolts that were galvansied and grubby. He told me that this is all they do now and pointed to the nice shiny new cars in the showroow all of which had recessed wheel hs so you could see the bolt head very easily. He had these becasue they replace one bolt on each wheel of each new car with a locking bolt.
I let him know that those weren't really what I was looking for and trundled outside to show him my - what now by comaprison were very shiny - bolts. Naww we dont do those anymore.... I think they're caps.
So now it's Malcolm's solution of a stiff brush and hammerite or can anyone recommend a good chrome paint - I think Humbrol used to do an enamel one for model kits..

The ends of the no longer obtainable bolts have stainless steel caps that can be polished. A file is a good way to remove the rust without damaging the end caps.

The short bolts look awful in those wheels.

malcolm