Courtshark

Just went through a sort-of tautology with Kinesis (who is now owned by Lexani, but still d/b/a Kinesis) with respect to the rust on my 3 pc wheel bolts. (see photo below) Kinesis says they cannot be cleaned/shined, and should be replaced. They also say I cannot do the replacement myself. They are concerned, as am I, about breaking the seal between the pieces.

As a very gracious "customer satisfaction" offer, if I pay the freight, Kinesis will replace the bolts for me for free. The catch was I had to contact a local dealer to set it up.

I contact the dealer, and he says why bother with all of that, just get the work done locally. Dealer gives me the name of a local tuning shop that will do the work. I call them and, of course, the shop says Kinesis is correct, but also that I could probably do this myself if I want.

My idea for doing this safely is as follows: replace one bolt at a time, going from opposite side to opposite side, like running in wheel lugs, except in this instance I have to do about 40 per wheel.

So now all I need is the bolts, right? Getting Kinesis to sell me the bolts might require a small miracle...

Previous semi-related thread:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...=kinesis+bolts

Again, I don't want to do what was done as shown in this thread, i.e. break down the wheel completely.

So what do you guys think? At this point, my options are
A) Send them to Kinesis, pay only freight cost
B) Have the work done locally
C) Get the bolts shipped to me and do it myself.

hacker-pschorr

Few weeks ago a friend and I took apart a complete set of Kensis wheels / put them back together. It was an all day job but not that big of a deal.

We had to change the outer lip since they are going on a different car.

You will not be seperating the wheel, just replacing each bolt one by one. Much easier than what we did. Find out the torque specs for the bolts, you sould be fine.

Chuck Z

I took my 3 pc RH wheels apart to paint the centers. It was no big deal and I put them back together as you suggest. RH refused to sell me the hardware instead they wanted $250/ wheel to take them apart and put them back together. RH was adamant about not reusing the nuts and bolts due to stress. I spoke with Mark Anderson who regularly takes the wheels on his race car apart and puts them back together using the same nuts and bolts as well as an engineer at American Racing Products and both said it shouldn't be a problem. I used a wurth black sealant and have not had any issues in the past 2 years. Good luck.

John V

I've always had good luck sending components back to the manufacturer for service. I've done it a few times and each time I get more than I expected. They'll go above and beyond to make sure the service is done properly, most times doing more than they said they would to insure their product performs to their standards. Since they usually have the right parts, tools and expertise on hand, there's isn't much that they won't be able to handle. I think they made a fair offer (it sounds like they are trying be helpful) and if you can afford the time, I'd send them the wheels.

Courtshark

Did you reuse your old bolts or find new ones?

Fortunately for me, Kinesis is not trying to jack me out of $1k like RH was to you, even though I bought these used (and told them so up front). But the freight on four wheels with mounted tires from MD to CA can't be cheap. I could break them all down first, but what a PITA! Just installed the tires this weekend. Live and learn...

fabric

It will be about $125-$150 to ship them UPS ground one way, so you're looking at $250-$300 to have Kinesis do this.
If you can be without the car and would rather do something else, this isn't unreasonable. But it is a lot of money to replace a bunch of bolts. I'd probably do it myself.

Courtshark

That's exactly how I feel... I can be without the car (see list below) and the offer is incredibly generous (I'm guessing they'd shine them up pretty nice, too, before sending them back) but it does seem pricey for replacing a bunch of bolts, as you say. Question is... how much are the bolts going to cost?!

Update:
Looks like Kinesis WILL send me the bolts. I am getting this crazy run around, still, though, as they can't sell them to me directly. They send me to a middle man (Dealers Direct), who sends me to a retailer near me (nolimitbmore.com). This is a bling shop; they do all of AI's cars. Personally not seeking to be blinged out... but I'm guessing this is a pretty interesting place. Check out their myspace page:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=88737980

They're willing to help me out. This could take a while...

inactiveuser92616

Those bolts are specialized, can not be reused (although not an issue here since replacing).

Personally, I would say its worth it to let the factory redo them, so long as they are not overseas. You get to keep the warranty and know it will be done right.

Courtshark

Does anyone think I could just take a dremel buffer to the bolts on there and shine them up? I have a ridiculous number of attachments for my dremel, including small grinders, sanders, buffer cones, etc. It might take me forever... but I could probably just shine them up and clear coat them. Crazy?

Garth S

For what it's worth, I have 3-pc wheels on a BMW that likes a particularly dusty brake pad: to 'really' clean the black crap out of the crevices around the 36 or so bolts( that normal cleaning misses), every year or so the fasteners are removed with tires on. Simply release the air pressure and remove every 2nd or 3rd bolt - that will give a mitt full to clean, replace and continue on ....
I've had these wheels for many years - no leaks.

Chuck Z

Yes, I did reuse the old bolts. Kinesis sounds like a stand up company compared to RH. I wouldn't hesitate to do it myself again.

BC

I'd say just dremel the rust off and go from there with some form of coating for now if you don't want the expense. Its just surface rust, so...

Koenig928

I restored an old set of BBS 3-piece wheels ~2 yrs ago with rusting/corroded bolts. And had exactly the same issues with BBS as you're having now.

Replacing the bolts yourself is not a big deal, just torque them properly. (And put a drop of clear paint on the heads to keep them from turning again).

I ended up sourcing original bolts, nyloc-nuts, and washers from HRPworld.com. (8mm head/12 pt. socket, M6 x 1.0 thread, 12.9 hardness) To my surprise, everything was drop shipped directly to me from BBS.

http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?fo...action=product

Not sure if they carry Kinesis bolts or not.

Courtshark

Many thanks for the link and info. I'll look into it. I think just replacing them would be a helluva lot easier than going the dremel route. BUT, I think part of the problem, and I'd only be starting the cycle over again with new ones, is that when you install them, you inherently rub off the clear coat with the socket teeth. Clear coating them while on the wheels requires a deft touch and a steady hand. Not my strong suit. Quite the pickle.

Tampa 928s

For what it's worth I purchased a set of BBS same design with bolts, that were in bad shape. The BBS rep was at the swap meet and spoke to him about re-doing 3-piece wheels. He told me the bolts are made of Titanium and to be used once a 3-piece wheel will leak if not assembled correctly. That said you should take the time to clean them. I spent many hours and thay came out looking new. You can use a Mothers ball to go around the bolts and a rust remover to lossen the rust.

Sanded 120
Sanded 320
Sanded 600

Rouge Med Cut with buffer attachment to your drill
Rouge Fine Cut with buffer attachment to your drill

Alum polish
Do it or send it out, forget the dremel tool you will scratch the wheels take your time than look back and see your smiling face in your work !