Giles’ 360 Modena on-line scrapbook

[giles]

Agree....my car had VIP1 on it early in its life which is now on Roman Abramovich’s Corniche and prior to that had been on the Pope mobile..... I could never find any pics of my (ex) Silver 360 on that plate though but no doubt someone will reply with one in about 10 minutes

Wow! VIP 1 must be one of the most expensive plates ever!
Abramovich and the Pope in the same sentence, an achievement in it’s own right!

[giles]

Thoughts on my wheel bolts.....
When I picked up my 360 it had done 144k miles and the wheel bolts were pretty heavily corroded......

So as part of my plans for improving the car I bought a set of Hill Engineering wheel bolts and the tool to ensure the bolts didn’t get damaged on fitting and removal.
Less than a year later these new HE bolts were rusty. I sent photos to Superformance where I bought the bolts from, they were brilliant and sent me a new set without quibble.
Less than a year later and 6 k miles these replacements are now rusty as well......





My garage has used the ‘safe’ socket and only been undone and retorqued once.
So my thoughts are, why is this happening, what is different about these wheel bolts? It doesn’t happen on any of my other cars.

I can’t keep buying bolts and I can’t keep sending them back, so what’s the solution?
It does seem pretty unacceptable that the chrome finish is simply not durable, especially as you need to buy a special socket to ensure this doesn’t happen.

Do the titanium bolts suffer like this? From memory they are not chrome so I guess not.

Cheers, Giles


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mon the fish]

Are you using an especially harsh wheel cleaner, or something like that that would attack the finish?

[achaddy]

that's not good.

When I had the chrome bolts on my 360 I'm sure they didn't corrode like that at all. They weren't perfect but only few minor rust spots on show which almost disappeared when polished. Yes, I used to remove them occasionally to clean them up properly.

Problem went away once the titanium bolts were fitted. They don't rust.

As Mon says, what wheel cleaner do you use? do you blow out the water from the wheel nut holes after washing. I've got one of those Metro Vac Sidekick blasters to blow all the water out of the nooks and crannies.

[Modificato]

that's not good.

When I had the chrome bolts on my 360 I'm sure they didn't corrode like that at all. They weren't perfect but only few minor rust spots on show which almost disappeared when polished. Yes, I used to remove them occasionally to clean them up properly.

Problem went away once the titanium bolts were fitted. They don't rust.

As Mon says, what wheel cleaner do you use? do you blow out the water from the wheel nut holes after washing. I've got one of those Metro Vac Sidekick blasters to blow all the water out of the nooks and crannies.

All of My Ferrari's with chrome bolts rusted just like yours - both of my current ones have titanium on them in part for this reason...

[Mark Blanchard]

Looks like a very thin chrome finish. I used to run chrome Magnum 500s on my classic cars and I used to have to keep them dry and dirt free all the time.

This is what North Hants Tyres says about chrome:

"Chrome wheels are VERY HIGH MAINTENANCE and must be kept clean at all times."

https://www.northhantstyres.com/magn...magnum-500.php

[phillg]

I had a problem with Hills bolts going rusty.
Like you I had the Hills nut socket.
They would not refund or replace
They ( Hills ) said they had no other complaints , and it must be down to me.
I now have titanium bolts and have no issues of any sort.

[Nosevi]

Looks like a very thin chrome finish. I used to run chrome Magnum 500s on my classic cars and I used to have to keep them dry and dirt free all the time.

I think that's the point - chrome wheel bolts look great but they're hardly practical. Had mine redone when I had my wheels refurbed 10 years ago and they are no different today than they were then, but they've been kept clean and the car is never left damp (she lives in a climate controlled atmosphere). If you want to use the car as much as you do, Giles, I'd steer clear of chromed bolts.

[giles]

Are you using an especially harsh wheel cleaner, or something like that that would attack the finish?

No, just Meguiars Gold car wash and a wash mitt. I don’t use a jet wash but I do use it all year round.

[Mike01606]

No, just Meguiars Gold car wash and a wash mitt. I don’t use a jet wash but I do use it all year round.

The chrome saver socket is Alu and wall drive so the chrome isn’t chipped on the bolt corners. They should last longer than 12M in my opinion as they aren’t cheap at a tenner each. That’s just poor quality chrome plating IMO.

I had the Acer Racing Ti bolts in mine and they were very good quality with issues and only slightly more expensive than the HE ones.