Help me sort my aftermarket wheel problems...

[paulmon]

I bought a set of 17" ADR GT-Sport wheels locally, around 3 weeks ago. I brought them back in last week to have them rebalanced because they were a little off. When the car was ready I noticed chipping around the bolt holes of the wheels. I mentioned it to the owner of the shop and instantly he had new wheels on my car. Great I thought. Well, had my brakes bled on Friday and noticed just before leaving a little bit of chipping on the wheels around the lug holes. When the shop (not related to wheel shop) did the brake bleed I warned them about the issues I was having and to take care. They chipped the holes too. Well, as it turns out it seems these wheels require tuner bolts because the bolt holes are VERY narrow. In my case the wheel shop use their prefered tuner bolts. In this application the tool to remove them is like a long tube the goes over the bolt. The bolt has grooves and the tool fits into these groves. These are called spline tuner lugs. Problem is the second you start spinning the tool with an impact wrench to take the wheels off the tool starts bashing around inside the wheel hole chipping the hell out of the wheel holes. I discoved and witness this myself on Saturday when I had to yet again take the wheels off to change the rear sway bar.

So today I went back to the wheel shop and they have two possible solutions. Neither of which I'm terribly happy with. First, they'll swap my wheels out again and change my tuner lugs to an allen key type design. Like this:



This means the nothing has to go into the holes and should stop the problem. There are two problems with this, first is that the wheel place is saying this is a one shot deal. In other words if someone goofs and scratches the wheel taking them off with these bolts, unlikely, they won't replace the wheels again. However the big problem with this solution is that this type of tuner bolt has a high risk of rusting because they can't, supposedly, get the chrome into the hex hole so the hole ends up rusting.

Option two, they will gladly exchange my wheels for something else. The GT Sports are a 6 spoke wheel and they have a set of Rial Le Mans coming in that look almost identical. Problem is they are a new wheel and the dealer can't confirm what their weight is yet. I also don't know much about Rial wheels and haven't turned out much with Google.

As for the rusting problem I was thinking some tremclad rust paint on the end of a cotton swab applied inside the bolts hex hole would possibly take care of rusting. Granted they would have to be repainted any time the wheels were removed or the tremclad paint would scratch away.

As for the new wheels, I like the ones I have I'm just starting to get worried that they might not live up very well. Granted a large metal tube spinning inside a bolt hole is pretty nasty but it still makes me worry on the long-term longevity of thee wheels. However that being said I do plan on getting the wheels repainted at some point in the not too distant future to match the DS colour of my car.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Paul

[jre7star]

Quote:

Anyone have any thoughts?

Sounds like good customer service from the wheel shop
I'd go for the new wheels with allen bolts, i have always liked the look of the allen bolts and dont remember seeing any go rusty....its not too much hassle to treat them with something anyway is it

[paulmon]

Ya, considering I have custom acrylic logos coming for my existing wheels (from macncheese) that won't fit other wheels I've decided I'm going to just get the wheels replaced and use the allen bolts. I'll treat the inside of the bolt with some silver rust paint to be safe. Considering they've got to replace all my wheels I'm also going to get the new ones repainted DS to match the car.

Paul

[M3NTAL Kev]

You could have them powder coated which would be a tougher finish. Sounds like the wheel shop has been very helpful though.

[paulmon]

The wheel shop deals with a place that paints wheels. They offer a 2-year guarantee on the paint. Considering most manufacturers do 1 year that's not bad.

Paul

[Mugami]

Im aware of some Chrome Button type incerts for Hex head screws to give it the finished look. ive used them while customizing Harleys. What im not sure of is if they make them large enough for wheel lugs. This will not solve the rusting problem itself but you will have a good look even after taking the bolts on and off several times. just something to think about

[GordonD]

Paul are these the wheels ypu bought last year at Wheel & Tire Zone?

[paulmon]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mugami
Im aware of some Chrome Button type incerts for Hex head screws to give it the finished look. ive used them while customizing Harleys. What im not sure of is if they make them large enough for wheel lugs. This will not solve the rusting problem itself but you will have a good look even after taking the bolts on and off several times. just something to think about

This is something I was looking for but can't seem to find. Do you have a link or URL that might lead me to finding some? I don't mind if they rust in the inside if I can't see the inside.

Paul

[GordonD]

Quote:

Originally posted by paulmon
I don't mind if they rust in the inside if I can't see the inside.

Paul

Have you tried gum

[paulmon]

Quote:

Originally posted by GordonD
Paul are these the wheels ypu bought last year at Wheel & Tire Zone?

Hey Gordon. No those were for the winter, exactly the same as yours. These are summers that I bough around 3-4 weeks ago, it was at Wheel and Tire Zone. Andrew has been pretty good at making sure I'm happy but doesn't seem to have any real fix for my problem. None of the solutions are very good and I find it hard to believe that there aren't good quality hex-type tuner bolts available that won't rust. The inserts that Mugami suggested is a great start, assuming I can find them to fit.

I'm calling Andrew now to suggest the repaint. I doubt he'll cover the cost of the repaint mind you.

Paul

[GordonD]

I'm surprised they don't come in stainless - couldn't be that much more expensive - maybe you should try Pacific Mall where all the Honda guys go

[paulmon]

I just talked to Andrew. He's going to replace every wheel, even if the paint doesn't looked cracked, just to be sure there aren't small cracks that might later peel. We're also going to send out the bolts and have them painted at the same time. I'm paying for the paint but it's something that I wanted to do anyway. He's going to ship the wheels to the painter.

Now the question. They can match the dark silver of the car EXACTLY they just take the paint code from the car and presto. Should I get that colour or get a more generic colour like "anthracite" or "gun metal." Suggestions? I'm thinking that an exact match may not look as nice as something with a little shine to it. Arh! Why does this have to be so hard.

I think I might just keep the bolts the same colour because my center cap has a ring of chrome, it will try to keep it consistant.

Paul

[GordonD]

My plan is to have them done as close to the flat black wheel arches as possible. I'm not a fan of shiny wheels