Hi guys, hope everyone is well and getting the little cars ready for the summer! Quick question as she has just failed her mot on a few bits, but when they took one of the wheels off they sheered a wheel nut. Now I've seen them on eBay from middlebarton but in a pack of 4 and with a delivery charge, so not keen on spending £10 for a wheel nut. So question is...... Are they the same wheel nuts as any other more readily available ones where I could probably pick one up from somewhere local? Thanks in advance.

I had two sheer off, but decided to replace them all as I thought likelihood is, It'll happen again. Might be worth doing the same.

ciccio500 said:

Hi guys, hope everyone is well and getting the little cars ready for the summer! Quick question as she has just failed her mot on a few bits, but when they took one of the wheels off they sheered a wheel nut. Now I've seen them on eBay from middlebarton but in a pack of 4 and with a delivery charge, so not keen on spending £10 for a wheel nut. So question is...... Are they the same wheel nuts as any other more readily available ones where I could probably pick one up from somewhere local? Thanks in advance.

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They are M10 x 20 bolts. I got some stainless steel ones off Ebay which you can buy singularly or I can send you my old ones if you want?

Hi Paolo, that would be great if you could? How much would you want for them?

ciccio500 said:

Hi Paolo, that would be great if you could? How much would you want for them?

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PM me your address. Just cover the postage will be fine

Be careful with stainless Damian---it isn't as strong as people think it is. In fact, stainless is a relatively 'soft' metal, which is one of the reasons it is such a bitch to hack-saw (there are other reasons, but that is one of them). I agree totally with 'Hodgy'--if 1 has sheared, they may all be going that way, so replace them all---relatively small amount for peace of mind. Also, a lot of tyre technicians STILL think that the only way to do wheel nuts/bolts up is with the air-wrench set to maximum. The correct torque setting for the wheel bolts is:--32.5 ftlb--39.8 ftlb (not THAT tight).

Brilliant, I'll do that now.

the hobbler said:

Also, a lot of tyre technicians STILL think that the only way to do wheel nuts/bolts up is with the air-wrench set to maximum.

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I have always torqued wheelbolts since I noticed that at my local Kwik-Fit (which defies some people's expectations by being very good), the duty manager goes out to do the final torqueing on wheel nuts once the wheels have been secured.

Interestingly I found that Kwik-fit was the only place where I could get my wheels balanced after new tyres were fitted. All other tyre shops (including so-called experts/specialists) couldn't fit the wheels onto the balancing machine because of the size of the wheel, the central "hole" and the raised bar for the hub cap.

On the flip side they were also the ones who, in the process, sheared of a wheel screw/bolt. At least they drilled out the hole and provided a new bolt (so yes any standard one will work). Like others have suggested I then replaced all of them just to be sure.

When I bought my 500L I discovered that the car was quite well known to Proietti's in North London as the previous owner would not spend a penny more than he had to keep the car on the road. It came with an MOT and the longest list of advisories I have ever seen. The seat covers were basically brown packing tape and it broke down about every 10 miles on the 90 miles drive home. The wheel bolts were so stretched that the thread pitch was distorted to the point that it was damaging the threads in the brake drums. There was no wheel brace with the car or spare wheel in fact. I guess that the wheels had been fitted with an air gun on the bolts and successive tightening had left the bolts looking like samples from a tensile testing machine. I would say have a carefull look at your wheel bolts and replace if they look worn or stretched from the original 20mm length. Re material the original bolts are only plated mild steel M10 x 1.5 pitch. Stainless bolts are just as good and do not corrode and an indication of the torque required for suitable tightening is the wheel brace in the standard Fiat 500 tool kit.

If going for stainless, look to get A4-80 bolts. They will cost a few pounds more for a full set, but you'll know they are at least a good quality, and have a suitable strength for this type of application.

Cheers, Steve

Please don't fit stainless wheel bolts. They're just not strong enough and the fatigue life isn't great either. Source some plated steel bolts, ideally 10,9 grade or minimum 8,8.
Read this for a nice summary
http://www.volksbolts.com/faq/basics.htm
As an aside, I bought some replacement wishbone bolts when I was replacing front hubs etc from vdl and they were 8,8 grade. The original fiat ones that came off were 10,9 grade. The 10,9 ones were cleaned up and re used.

cambio said:

Please don't fit stainless wheel bolts. They're just not strong enough and the fatigue life isn't great either. Source some plated steel bolts, ideally 10,9 grade or minimum 8,8.
Read this for a nice summary
http://www.volksbolts.com/faq/basics.htm
As an aside, I bought some replacement wishbone bolts when I was replacing front hubs etc from vdl and they were 8,8 grade. The original fiat ones that came off were 10,9 grade. The 10,9 ones were cleaned up and re used.

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Personally, I don't use stainless steel bolts or nuts for any of my cars past or present, however, A4-80 has the equivalent strength to 8.8 bolts and can be used as an alternative without any increased risk.

As per your post, when replacing a bolt you should replace like for like, 8.8 for 8.8 or equivalent, 10.9 for 10.9 etc.

In the case of a classic fiat 500, 8.8 or A4-80 is going to be more than strong enough for the four fixing bolts per wheel. As per hobbler's post, the 8.8 or A4-80 wheel bolts are going to be more at risk of damage/breaking from ham fisted tyre fitters who don't torque to the correct level.

As per a previous post, the fiat wheel bolts on my 1970 fiat 500 didn't have any grading, only the FIAT logo - so you can only assume they are just standard cold drawn steel bolts used from the factory. Hence using 8.8 or A4-80 will be more than strong enough in this application, and theoretically you could even use A2-70 and still be stronger than the factory fitting.

Not an issue for me at the time, as I changed to alloys, and so changed out all bolts for those suitable for alloys.

Cheers, Steve