uclachan

Hi folks~
my girl friend has GLK350. she purchased it little more than a year ago.
yesterday i noticed all rugbolts are rusted. some of them are bad. have you guys experienced this before? i saw other MB (E or C classes) and they aren't.

i searched but nothing came up. please help poor BF

rmfnla

What's a rugbolt?

Oh wait, don't tell me... Lug bolts?

anjy834u

take the vehicle to a dealet to check all the bolts. this is actually weird , A CAR glk NEVER gives such issues .

MKenM

PLEASE compose your Q & A in a program that has a spell checker then cut and paste it in your post or get a free spell checker for your internet posts or read it before you post it. Thanks.

http://www.iespell.com/

http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/

koojo

Amaxm

Rugbolts ! HA !!! I thought he was talking about the things that hold down the mats...

MBRedux

Well, yes... if you're indeed talking about rusted lug bolts on your wheels this can happen in one of these ways. Mercedes lugs bolts are simply painted with silver paint and if mishandled the paint easily scratches off causing it to rust. Over time this rust will spread over the entire lug. This can be simply fixed by removing the lug-bolts, sanding the rust off and repainting them with good rust inhibitor silver paint such as Rustoleum brand.

Now if the lug bolts are rusted on, where the threads of the bolts are rusted to the hub, then you have a real problem and a bit of a mystery. If this is indeed the case, most likely the car was in a flood or sitting in standing water for a very long period. This is much harder to repair. I would first use a good lube spray on each bolt such as Liquid-Wrench, letting it sit over night. Then try to remove each rusted bolt using a good hammer air wrench to loosen the bolts off. Any bolts that snap off will need to be drilled out and extracted using the appropriate size extractor tools. After they're all out, buy a complete set of NEW lug-bolts and blast any remaining rust from the hub using an external glass-bead blaster gun. Then coat the threads of the new bolts with a good grade Anti-seize Compound before installing.

Good luck!

rmfnla

That was my first thought. Then I thought he might be making fun of Asians.

Now I'm not sure what to make of it.

MKenM

Would love to have the UCLA guy chime in and tell us his thoughts.

uclachan

Sorry guys. I meant lug-bolt.
My SA misspelled the word also. XD anyway, I went to my dealer and the SA changed out some of rusted bolts. If it happens again, I’ll follow MBRedux suggestion.

I have owned many different cars, European, Japanese, and Korean brands. I never had experienced this before. And the car is only 1year and 2 month old. XD

rmfnla

If you think about it, lug bolts live hard lives.

Heat from the brakes, moisture from rain and puddles, air wrenches on and off... it's amazing they do as well as they do.

Glad you got it sorted out; best to the GF!

GLKKa2H

Just in case the GLK in question is not fitted with MB OEM wheels (rims) and hardware, could Galvanic Corrosion be a cause of the issue.

Cast iron Brake rotor, Chrome rims/steel lugbolts or Aluminum rims/chrome lugbolts, represents quite a range in the voltages with reference to the Standard Reduction Potentials. Driving on roads liberally sprayed with salt solution would provide the electrolyte required to speed up corrosion (rust).

iewoals

I've seen rusted lug bolts on many of the MB's around here. I noticed it last year and have been on the lookout. From what I've seen it seems to be pretty common. Doesn't help that there's salt here during winter.