Chuck Z

I just talked to the RH Alurad wheel company, they have their US office here in Charlotte. I was calling to ask if I could buy the special socket/wrench needed to take the 3 pc wheel apart so that I can have the centers painted.

They told me I could not only not buy the wrench but they recommend replacing all the nuts/bolts (38 sets of them per wheel) when the wheels are taken apart for refinishing.

Questions:

1. Does anyone have the wrench/socket I need or know where I can get one? Or, does anyone know where I can buy one? I attached a picture of the out side of the nut/bolt. It looks like the negative of a torx (sp?) driver.

2. Does it make sense that ALL the nuts and bolts should be replaced if you take the wheel apart once? These wheels have approximately 4,000 miles on them and its not like they were ever stressed in any way!

Mark Anderson

They look like the same ones that Kinesis uses and they recomend replacing them as well but when in doubt error on the side of caution. I have reused them on my race wheels many times and in over 10 years of racing on Kinesis wheels I have had no failures. I use a 12 point 8mm socket and torque to 15 ft lbs.

Chuck Z

Mark,

Can you get the Kinesis nuts and bolts for me? If so, email with price: czach928@aol.com

RH will not sell them to me.

BTW, the belly pan showed up today, AWESOME piece!

Mark Anderson

Glad you like our undertray. We are very proud of it.

I just talked to David at Wheel Enhancement. They sell both RH and Kinesis and David says that the hardware is a different diameter and length so you could not substitute them. You may want to just replace the nuts and reuse the bolts.

Garth S

Ditto with mark's experience (minus the racing): I've taken apart the 32 bolt 3 - piece wheels on my 535i , and a Gotti set for a 928 using a 12 pt. socket on front, and either 6 or 12 pt on the rear nut. There's a tremendous clamping force from 16 studs, 32 is v. large , and some of the wheels have 40+!
The only trick is to assure the sealing faces are clean, and the gasket/O - ring is centered. The hardware reuse is not a problem.

MBMB

It looks to me like an internal star socket is the right tool for the job. Like these.

Chuck Z

They are a 12 point 8mm socket on the outer side and a 10 mm nut on the back side. Looks like I need more tools.......

Garth S,

Tell me more about this gasket/o-ring seal?

I know I have to seal them with a silicone sealer (according to the guys at RH Alurad).

Lizard928

the bolts have an anti loosening piece on the back or they should, you should be able to get away w/ using locktite on the nuts so they dont loosen

Garth S

Ha ha, any 'ol excuse to get more tools...
Chuck, on the one's I've opened up, there was no mystery; Just hold the stud head tight with the 12 pt., to avoid marring the wheel, and do all (lots of ) the spinning from behind with a std 10mm socket. If you have an air ratchet, great - if not, break the nut free and chuck up the socket in an electric drill ( about 2 batteries worth of spinning).
Couldn't begin to tell you what form of sealing is used in your wheels; the set on my BMW have a flat neoprene gaskets either side of the center spyder: some types sandwich the rim halves together with one gasket on one side of the spyder ( Gotti). Your supplier is the most accurate source of what's in there - other that stepping over the issue of new hardware, perhaps they could give you the rest of the procedure?
If not, open it up and see what's there; a picture perhaps?

bergstsm

Chuck,

Sorry for the thread hijack, but where in Charlotte are you at? I just moved to town.

Shawn

Chuck Z

Garth,

I plan on cracking them open Friday. Will post pics when I do. Air rachet, hum.... ANOTHER excuse for more tools!

Hi Shawn,

Welcome to Charlotte. I live in South Charlotte, how about you? Are you a PCA member? Meetings are okay..... go to www.carolinas-pca.com to see the schedule and location.

Chuck Z

BTW Shawn,

You missed a fun event at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Sunday. 150 Porsches of which 11 were 928 and three of them were GTS's!

Check out the pics here.....

Vilhuer

I believe design is called XZN and is also used in connecting rod nuts. So far have only found male sockets, no female. Who makes these? Looks like I'm not going to finish block teardown this weekend.

Erkka

1992 928 GTS 5-speed need more tools
Oak Green Metallic 22L
Classic Gray MX

Chuck Z

I bought an 8mm 12 point socket at Sears (sorry, this is probably the only time I'll need it) for $1.99. Going to get the tire/wheel broken down today and will start taking the wheels apart tonight or tomorrow. Pics to follow....

bergstsm

Chuck,

Bummer, that looked like fun! I am awaiting my new construction in Cabarrus (love those taxes!) and work up that way, too. I'm less than 10 minutes from Lowes.

I should have my project down here in the next couple of weeks. If you could, keep me in the loop!

Shawn