[V8] RE: Broken Wheel Bolts

[Fred Munro]

I'm assuming these twisted off while you were removing the bolts, Kneale.

At the risk of reviving an old debate and offending the dry torque purists -
antiseize, Kneale, antiseize. I don't see any traces of this magic elixir on
the threads in the hub but I do see rust. If you don't use antiseize,
VW/Audi studs can rust at the threads, seize, and twist off. It's hard to
see clearly in your photos, but it looks like the sheared sections may have
a ring of rust around the outer edge. This could indicate these bolts were
cracked at the thread root and a bit of crevice corrosion weakened them.

I'd recommend drilling them for your largest extractor, heating the bolt
section with an oxy/acetylene torch, letting them cool at bit, melt candle
wax on them (the melted wax wicks into the threads to lube them - old
mechanics trick), drive in your extractor and back them out.

At least you can remove the hub to get at both sides if worse comes to
worse.

A good hand with a cutting torch could burn them out without damaging the
hub threads (I've seen it done), but don't try this at home, kids -
professional torch drivers were used in that stunt.

Good luck!

Fred Munro
'94 S4

-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Kneale Brownson
Sent: January 27, 2005 6:51 PM
To: 200q20v at audifans.com; quattro at audifans.com; v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Broken Wheel Bolts


Anybody faced this before:
http://www.pbase.com/kneale_brownson/image/39122017  Those holes you can't
see through have broken-off ends of wheel bolts in them.   The broken bolts
are at    http://www.pbase.com/kneale_brownson/image/39121870

I was wondering why I was hearing a strange noise.

The Bolts were tightened by hand and torqued with a torque wrench, a
process I've done many, many times.   I checked bolt tightness again after
about 100 miles of driving.   Nothing was loose.

Any guesses as to why the bolts broke?

Any suggestions for removing the broken off stuff?  Since taking the pix I
have bathed them in Kroil.  I have a set of those reverse drill bits with
extractors.  Do I need to be accurate in centering one of the bits?  The
exposed surfaces are uneven.  Should I use the largest size I have?
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