Rust Through and Steering Wheel question

[Alex Kowalski]

Once this snow melts and the temps. are in the 40's on a weekend (this upcoming weekend looks like a candidate) one of my projects is a full over/under body panel rust survey and ground point inspection.  The '87 I have looks to have been an Illinois car all its life, but has relatively low miles and seems not to have had any bodywork done.  Right now, there are almost no visible signs of corrosion, but I expect to find a few as I get really up close and personal; I want to stop them before they get any worse.  I do have a couple of stone chips to repair, which fortunately did not breach the galvanization.


I'll be making an online photo essay with the results.

Now the question:  I'll be taking off the steering wheel to remove the instrument cluster, as per the Bentley.  Is it OK to reinstall the wheel with the original hardware or should I get a new nut/washer?

Cheers,
Alex Kowalski
'87 5KCSTQ


> The panel between the rear fenders, under the taillights (the bottom lip of the 
> trunk) is the only (stupidly) un-galvanized piece on the type 44. It
> is not uncommon
LL Wrote:
> that there is rust there from the supports for the stupid chrome trim
> strip of the
> rear bumper. (heck, mine's even doing it). Other than that, as Ti and Fred have
<SNIP>
Then cobram wrote:

> From: cobram at juno.com
> Subject: Rust Through  WAS: Oil temps in the North East USA?
> To: bob at audisport.com
> Cc: quattro at audifans.com
> Message-ID: <20050130.195557.3888.4.Cobram at juno.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> The post is specific to type 44's, not all Audi's.  Having seen my fair
> share of them in all stages over the years, besides old bodywork,  I
> haven't even encountered rust through on the early bodies, which
> supposedly were not galvanized.  These were all rust belt cars too, it's
> one of the main selling points for me, I'll tackle anything mechanical
> but I hate bodywork.