KMC XD231 RG Race Satin Black Beadlock Wheels Rusting Bolts

JeepFan

JeepFan

Member
A month after installing a set of KMC XD 231 wheels on my JL, I noticed the bolts started rusting. The bolts are black so I assume they are black oxide coated. I contacted the company I bought the wheels from who in turn contacted Wheel Pros regarding my concern. Wheel Pros sent me a new set of bolts. From what I can tell, the new bolts seems to have a thicker black coating on them. Hopefully these new bolts won't rust. For the heck of it, I let one of the new bolts sit in a wet paper towel over night and so far no rust. Time will tell...

Day 1...
20180312_171158.jpg

After 1 month...this...
20180405_174852.jpg

New bolt...
20180412_050715.jpg
 

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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Damn, that sucks! The new one looks a lot better. Guess people should really be looking carefully at what they get before installing. Thanks for posting this up :thumb:
 

JeepFan

JeepFan

Member
wayoflife said:
Damn, that sucks! The new one looks a lot better. Guess people should really be looking carefully at what they get before installing. Thanks for posting this up :thumb:
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Yea, I guess I shouldn't have assumed the bolts were corrosion proof! ;) Hopefully this doesn't happen to the next guy!
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
NFRs2000NYC said:
Curious why these companies just dont use stainless hardware, is it a strength issue?
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The black wheels come with black bolts. If you get machined finish wheels, they come with what I believe are stainless or at least galvanized bolts. All my old ATX wheels have the same and they still look great after years of use.
 

WWRuby_Svi

WWRuby_Svi

New member
NFRs2000NYC said:
Curious why these companies just dont use stainless hardware, is it a strength issue?
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Socket head screws are a high strength alloy usually rated over 120,000 psi (up to 170,000 is common) tensile strength. Stainless steel will likely be rated much lower than this, around 80,000.

Also a lot of specs have been changing for hardware coatings to prevent rust. Essentially everyone is always concerned with environmental and health issues so the more eco friendly the coating, usually the salt tests are worse. Then on top of that, the coating is tested at the coating facility but then the hardware goes through vibrators for sorting, shipped in bulk and vibrates, dumped in bags, and then shipped to you or the company. There is a ton of wear that can happen to cause the coating to chip. The best coating right now is either paint or zinc flake dip which is what the grey bolts all over the Jeep are.

End of the day, if you don’t want them to rust... probably worth painting the heads to the color you want.


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NFRs2000NYC

NFRs2000NYC

Member
I have socket head stainless bolts that I use all over my tire carrier for various things. While stainless is weaker than say grade 8 bolts, it seems that amount of them on a wheel should be more than enough strength, eventhough they are weaker than grade 8. :thinking:
 

WWRuby_Svi

WWRuby_Svi

New member
NFRs2000NYC said:
I have socket head stainless bolts that I use all over my tire carrier for various things. While stainless is weaker than say grade 8 bolts, it seems that amount of them on a wheel should be more than enough strength, eventhough they are weaker than grade 8. :thinking:
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I doubt there would be any issue, just weaker and cost more. There’s also the personal preference factor of which color you like.


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JeepFan

JeepFan

Member
JKJKJKJLJL said:
JeepFan Btw. Where did you get your center caps?


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wayoflife said:
Yeah JeepFan, you should make a post about them :thumb:
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I'm sure KMC didn't feel it was necessary to design a center cap for these wheels because they are racing wheels! LOL! Anyway, I spent hours trying to find something that would work and just as I was about to give up the search, I found a solution....

Rugged Ridge 11525.01 3" Tubular Bumper End Caps. Fit snug and I think they look pretty good too! :thumb:
 

JeepFan

JeepFan

Member
WWRuby_Svi said:
Socket head screws are a high strength alloy usually rated over 120,000 psi (up to 170,000 is common) tensile strength. Stainless steel will likely be rated much lower than this, around 80,000.

Also a lot of specs have been changing for hardware coatings to prevent rust. Essentially everyone is always concerned with environmental and health issues so the more eco friendly the coating, usually the salt tests are worse. Then on top of that, the coating is tested at the coating facility but then the hardware goes through vibrators for sorting, shipped in bulk and vibrates, dumped in bags, and then shipped to you or the company. There is a ton of wear that can happen to cause the coating to chip. The best coating right now is either paint or zinc flake dip which is what the grey bolts all over the Jeep are.

End of the day, if you don’t want them to rust... probably worth painting the heads to the color you want.


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
Click to expand...
Speaking of bolts dumped in bags. The original bolts were thrown in small boxes with no protection. In fact, three out of five of the boxes broke open during shipping and were rolling around in the box the wheels were shipped in. The new bolts came individually wrapped in news paper. Notice the print on the paper!

20180412_160930.jpg
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
JeepFan said:
Speaking of bolts dumped in bags. The original bolts were thrown in small boxes with no protection. In fact, three out of five of the boxes broke open during shipping and were rolling around in the box the wheels were shipped in. The new bolts came individually wrapped in news paper. Notice the print on the paper!
Click to expand...

How nice of them to wrap the bolts in paper with decorative ornamentation :cheesy:
 

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