I'm waiting for my new one to arrive, along with a bunch of other suspension and steering parts. Gerstl suggests to grease the leafs regularly. Do you use grease or something else? It would seem that grease would collect and hold dirt.

On a similar vein: We use our car regardless of inclement weather, I'm wanting to keep the new parts from rusting. What do you coat new, unpainted metal parts, with? I'm thinking parts like nuts, bolts, threads, etc. that I don't want to paint over and don't want gummed up so as to cut down on the mess factor next time they need work. Oil, from what I've read, is just a temporary fix. I have a gallon of Fluid Flow but I've also read that it stays waxy/greasy.

I'm not going to argue with the knowledge and experience of Axel G. , but I thought that the whole idea of the plastic interleaves was to act as an anti-squeak and lubricating device. Getting a lubricant properly in there involves dismantling and not only will it degrade the plastic, it might also retain abrasive dirt from the road. If you really want to grease the springs they should also be wrapped in tape or custom gaiters...unnecessary I think.

I can't think of any product which isn't effectively a paint or grease which will keep new, exposed, fasteners and components from tarnishing and rusting. I make a point of coating the threads of most "chassis" fixings with copper grease or threadlock but this obviously does nothing for the exposed parts which I agree, do deteriorate remarkably quickly.

On Land Rover leaf springs that didn't have any plastic inserts, we used to lay them on their side and drip 3 in 1 penetrating oil between the leaves. This used to stop them squeaking.

For the fasteners, you could spray a coating of copper grease from the can once fitted. It's surprisingly resilient and would last between servicing and yet it is easy to remove with a rag when needed.

cheers, Steve

On my first ever vehicle a 1969 Mk2 Triumph Spitfire, when i restored this my Dad told me a trick they used to use years ago.
The leaf spring is basically a number of layers of steel formed in an arc. Trouble is they corode in between the layers which then stops them from moving and hence the spring locks up and your suspension suffers. The 500 has plastic fitted between to aid this problem.
What my Dad did was to place a layer of thin Brass sheet between each layer with a smearing of copper grease. My Spitfire had the quietest & smoothest ride you could get out of a standard spitfire.

A lot of older vehicles had leather gators on the springs to keep the lubrication in and the muck out. Sometimes they were fitted with a grease or oil nipple.
As for fasteners when I try and replace the nuts and bolts with stainless steel. I was impressed by the range of stainless fixings that you can get off the shelf in Bunnings in NZ , can't do that in Homebase or B&Q in the UK

Toshi 975 said:

As for fasteners when I try and replace the nuts and bolts with stainless steel. I was impressed by the range of stainless fixings that you can get off the shelf in Bunnings in NZ , can't do that in Homebase or B&Q in the UK

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Really??

Neither B&Q or Homebase stock Stainless in the UK. The trick is to seek out a local engineering company. When I lived in Felixstowe I was very lucky--a company in Ipswich called 'Suffolk Fasteners' stocked just about everything I needed--they never failed me. Now that I am living just outside Chester, I am having to start all over again sourcing suppliers---it is testing my humour somewhat!

the hobbler said:

Neither B&Q or Homebase stock Stainless in the UK. The trick is to seek out a local engineering company. When I lived in Felixstowe I was very lucky--a company in Ipswich called 'Suffolk Fasteners' stocked just about everything I needed--they never failed me. Now that I am living just outside Chester, I am having to start all over again sourcing suppliers---it is testing my humour somewhat!

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Thank the Lord for the internet & E-bay

I would be very very cautious putting bolts from Bunnings on my car. They are low tensile strength stainless steel and they won't stand up to the punishment that a car will give them.

Get good quality bolts from a fastener supplier.

Chris

Agreed, be careful.
Check the markings on the bolt head:
http://www.hi-tensilebolt.com.au/Head Markings.html

looigi said:

I would be very very cautious putting bolts from Bunnings on my car. They are low tensile strength stainless steel and they won't stand up to the punishment that a car will give them.

Get good quality bolts from a fastener supplier.

Chris

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Stevehg that really cracked me up that looks like the Rotorua Superstore.
I guess I should have been more precise about the use of stainless fasteners as I was referring to applications that are exposed to the elements and where there are no tensile strength issues.
I also buy most fasteners from ebay.