Central locking nut corrosion

[DrSimon]

Hi all,
As an owner of a 997.2 turbo I must apologise for jumping onto the 991 board. This invasion will hopefully become clear in a second.

I've just bought my turbo, which has the 19 inch RS central lock wheels. As more 991 cars are now being fitted with these I thought this forum area might be a better place to seek advice. Unfortunately, the central lock nuts have all corroded, possibly due to corrosive wheel cleaning fluid in the past. I've been told by Porsche East London that it will cost over £1k to replace these, which seems a ludicrous amount of money. I'm guessing I'm not the only one to experience this problem. I'm wondering if it's possible to get the nuts refurbished, by a wheel refurbisher, like Lepsons for example. However, due to the massive amount of torque required to secure the wheels I'm thinking that any refinishing would simply be removed when I have new tyres fitted. My wheel nuts are the bare metal variety, not the black ones I've seen.

Any thoughts on how to get them looking new again?

simon

 

[Geoff_Fields]

Nice new red ones here:
http://www.carnewal.com/products/P97Turbo/p97114/Red-Center-Lock-Wheel-Nuts
Assume same as 991, would need to verify.

 

[DrSimon]

Hi Geoff,
Thanks for that. I wish I could find the bare metal versions, although I'm sure red would look rather sexy on the silver wheels. I've been checking out other people's centre lock nuts (I'm sure I'll be locked up for it at some point) and I notice that many of them are missing paint. I suspect the paint simply doesn't hold up under the massive amount of torque necessary to keep the wheels in place.
Simon

 

[Lancerlot]

It's unclear where the corrosion is, but I assume it is on the outer exposed areas rather than the mating wheel clamping surfaces, but if the latter, then discard them right away.

In Porsche parlance, they're actually called bolts and are not one piece units but an assembly of components capable of being dissembled, leaving the bare alloy bolt that can be refinished, but this should only be carried by a specialist engineer, following crack testing and taking the utmost care.

To state the BO (bleedin' obvious ), they're critical to safety and shouldn't be compromised. Better to spend a grand on new bolts than a lifetime in regret [] - and don't forget your PCGB discount!

Here's an article found in the Members Only Section, Technical Articles of 997 Register that may be of some help to you. https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=804343

You are fortunate to be enjoying ownership of a wonderful, ultra high performance sports car, but it needs to be kept in tiptop mechanical condition. []

Regards,

Clive

 

[DrSimon]

Hi Clive,
Thanks for the advice. It may be divine providence but I decided to take a quick spin in the car this morning and found I had a dirty great nail in my rear nearside tyre (only three months old - ouch!). I limped the car into Porsche east London this afternoon where they'll fit a new tyre and check the wheels too.
Simon

 

[DaveyGTS]

Just refurbed mine... bit tricky to strip but now look A1.... not painted.... anodized

 

[Shortshift]

Oh - refurbing by anodising; that's interesting, Davey. Can you provide some more details? And have you been able to 'reproduce' the lettering and markings as per the original bolts (nuts)?

James

 

[DrSimon]

Eventually I took to them with wire wool (very, very carefully) and they came up sparkling. They've remained that way for the last couple of years, so as I originally suspected, corrosive wheel cleaner must have been used at some point.
Simon

 

[DaveyGTS]

Stripped and anodized mine ...they look new

 

[DaveyGTS]

I've had mine anodized.. you can have any colour... stripping them is a little tricky but the results are amazing

 

[keithrobinson997]

Have you any photos after the wire wool? mine are looking really dull and would appreciate any advice in sorting them.

 

[DrSimon]

The anodized one in the photo looks amazing! I'll try to see if I have a photo somewhere in my archives of the wire wool job I did on mine. They're starting to look a little dull again so I may take my ones off for a proper job with a Dremel.

 

[fredbloggs]

DaveyGTS - that does look impressive! Can you explain how you stripped them, please?

James

 

[Nigel99]

Fantastic result. Can you please detail the process?

 

[DaveyGTS]

The locking wheel nuts are in 5 pieces, there is a spring retaining clip that holds all the pieces together it's a little tricky to get out but one you have the first on apart it's easier to do the rest.... once stripped I removed all the grease and took the to my adonizers who stripped the original coating off and re agonized the with careful attention not to get any on the threads.....its not massively costly but fiddly