Cleaning wheel bolt threads
 

RE: a 1984 300D... My firend's car has been sitting for 1 year without moving. He's finally getting it back on the road. Over the past few years the wheel lug bolts have all rusted on the surface and there's even some rust on the threads themselves. That also means there's some rust on the threads in the wheel hub. We bought 20 new lug bolts, so half of that problem is solved. The question is how do you "clean" the rust or junk out of the female threads on the wheel hub? Would a long, coarse, fat bristled brush on the end of a drill work? I don't think I need to chase them--or maybe I do?? None of these bolts were ever cross-threaded. Any ideas?

I would blow them out with air and chase the threads with a tap and some lubricant.

Take one of the old lug bolts and chuck it in a vise. Use a three corner file and cut about three grooves spaced around the bolt in the threads. You will be cutting with the file in the direction of the length of the bolt. These sharp cuts in the threads will make a perfect thread chaser. Just run it in and out of each lug bolt hole and THEN blow out the gunk with compressed air.

Good luck,

If they are not cross-threaded, try just putting anti-seize on the new bolts, and put them in. If there is not much resistance putting them in, call it good enough.

Chasing the threads with a tap (or Larry's slotted bolt) is good if the rust is really pervasive. Otherwise, I have found that a small caliber brass cleaning brush and solvent works well. Just chuck it in a small drill and run it in and out a few times. Don't try to reverse the brush to bring it back out as the bristles don't usually last long being bent back and forth.

just my $.02,

Wes

A word about using a tap as a chaser vs. a slotted bolt - The tap is designed to create the female threads you are cleaning, and will thus do the best job of refinishing and cleaning them of rust. The modified bolt is actually slightly smaller in diameter, and will leave more residue to seed future oxidation. This is why a particular size tap will not thread into its complementary die.

Steve