Star headed wheel bolts

[EmilysDad]

Something like this perhaps: - ....

Perhaps the idea just needs a little more refinement

My Senators has a similar looking cover but it was bolted on with a security bolt (which rusted .... so I made some stainless ones )

 

[Craiglxviii]

Yes, but the only stainless bit on the 221 bolts are the pressed cap:

View attachment 48963

VS the zinc plated ones I use aftermarket:

View attachment 48964

Ahh.

Even more so then. The cost of the SS cap and its assembly operation will be way higher than the coating process. Sounds silly I know.

 

[Submariner1]

You can use a 17mm socket on them, but over time, it deforms the steel cap on the bolt, that makes the "Star" pattern and they get stuck.

Which is annoying, as when you have the right star socket, they also get stuck once deformed.

Once again, a cost saving measure, stainless steel cap instead of galvanised or phosphated bolts that don't rust.

Oh well I got that wrong, then
Mine were all mangled and dented, some blown with rust weeping out of the caps.
Obviously buggerred by air guns.


16 x £6.71
Plus locking nuts.

I didnt realise they made a proper star socket for these.
So I used a new crinkle cut type and the black impact flat-head one for the locking wheel nuts.

The bolts all still look ok, but then I am careful with them, all done manually.

The best One of the original bolts , kept as a spare.
Some were so distorted you had to tap them on, and 3 had to be tapped out of the socket with a short rod. (I didn't want to be doing that on a wet night)

 

[brandwooddixon]

Like you I had to replace all of mine due to a mixture of corrosion expanding the cap and mangled heads due to over use of air guns I suspect.
I had to hammer a socket onto several, which would have left me stuck by the roadside if I'd had a puncture.

Just use your impact socket in future and make sure that if you get tyres replaced that the final tightening is done by hand and not by an impact driver or air tool.

 

[peterws1957]

Getting the correct specifically designed socket was a must for me. About a tenner on fleabay Substantial design as well. Wouldn't be without. I put a set of new wheel nuts on it didn't mark them at all. Like others have done I did away with the locking wheel nuts. One was so badly deformed that it wouldn't move but a £5 socket with a blade inside got it off in a minute. Can't imagine that a wheel thief would be without a set of those.

 

[EmilysDad]

It's amazing what you miss when looking at a 'new' car .... I realise now that one wheel has 3 bolts with the stainless cap missing. fortunately there are 4 in the box with the wheel lock key