Beware: Excessive rust on suspension parts
 

During the process of installing my Ohlins, I'm surprised by the amount of rust I've found on the threads of various suspension pieces...

One notable piece was the front anti-roll bar endlink threads:

http://i.imgur.com/yaQgg7N.jpg

My car has approx 10k miles on it (10150 as of 11/19/13), and the end link bolt already shows excessive amounts of surface rust. This is probably the worst I've seen in recent cars I've owned...

Everything will come off in a couple of weeks once I let the suspension settle more, but this is something that should be addressed if you are looking to do any work on the car. I think areas with salt on the streets should pay special attention to this, as I am located in Los Angeles.

-alex

Uncoated steel will rust. Also note many components have had lots of cost reduction implemented in order to keep the base price of the vehicle low. Use some WD40 to clean up the threads and coat it with anti-seize. This will reduce the wear on it and provide a layer of corrosion prevention coating on it. :)

Somebody showed me this when we were talking about rusty camber bolts.

Looks like an awesome product.:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DZrjXSsfxMQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DZrjXSsfxMQ[/ame]

A lot of rust stays at the surface and is pretty much harmless.

... it's not just the endlinks, there's several other areas as I noted.

In any case, surface rust is surface rust, but one should be aware of them when working on suspension.

Of interest: the wheel studs also showed rust, but inconsistent across different studs. I know someone else had virtually new stock studs snapping, and there may be some rust buildup in there.

Either way, threads like these should be cleaned up when the opportunity presents itself. Rust may not be an issue, but rust buildup + lack of cleaning may lead to seized bolts/damaged threads later on if left unchecked.

-alex

That vanishes through time, even more so when subjected to heat and cold.

that's japanese steel for ya..

poke undernearth an Audi or Merc, won't find that type of degredation.

Cheap Japanese steel. :)

It's just the composition make up of the material and the lack of "exotic" materials. When planning a project, this is what keeping within budget means. :mad0260:

I wish that were the case, but the ~7+ Nissan/Infiniti vehicles I previously owned + the last 2 Toyotas never showed this level of surface rust after 5 months and 10k miles.

This is a very minor thing, but again it's an issue that needs constant monitoring whenever you work on the suspension. Or this is just an excuse to get aftermarket endlinks.

Well played Subaru, well played...

-alex

Infinity is a higher level than Subaru...

and AFAIK these are subaru bolts and nuts...

Infiniti and Nissan uses the same hardware/fasteners, just because it's a "luxury" brand doesn't mean the basic hardware is a higher quality.

And yes I am fully aware these are Subaru hardware. I guess the main point I'm making here is, 1) this seems to be excessive for 10k worth of driving in 5 months (keep in mind the car is garaged when I'm home), and 2) it would be wise for anyone to clean up thread rust whenever they work on their suspension.

-alex

i get surface rust on OEM subaru nuts/bolts in less than a week of driving, it is what it is.