Are they jerking me around?

[songzunhuang]

So I bought some 20mm spacers and bolts for the rear of my car. Unfortunately, it seems that the bolts that came with the kit are about 1/8" too long and are causing a clicking sound when I drive. This is not good.

I called to some shops to get these shortened and one told me that cutting off 1/8" of the bolt will compromise the "hardening" and may not be safe.

Does this make any sense? How could cutting off 1/8" off the end of the bolt compromise the strength of the main shaft of the bolt?

Remember that we talking about the end of the bolt that is extending past the normal flush surface and causing it to sightly contact something that is making a clicking noise. It seems that it's a slight clearance problem. In any case, I don't want to deal with the clicking and also don't want whatever it is to break or wear through something it's not supposed to be touching.

Anyhow, has anyone ever heard of this problem?

[Ralph in Socal]

Hitting the emergency brake parts inside the hat (drum section) of your rotor. Contact Amazon and see what they can do. Cutting will generate heat that can change the metallurgical structure of the section that gets hot enough. Slight risk but not a deal breaker as only the end will experience the heat generated.


Ralph

[songzunhuang]

Hitting the emergency brake parts inside the hat (drum section) of your rotor. Contact Amazon and see what they can do. Cutting will generate heat that can change the metallurgical structure of the section that gets hot enough. Slight risk but not a deal breaker as only the end will experience the heat generated.


Ralph

Thanks for the feedback Ralph. I've sent a message to ECCP via Amazon to see if they have bolts that are just a tiny (3mm) shorter. We will see what they say. If not, I may just have a machine shop grind it down. I called on today that said "no problem".

Like you mentioned, we are talking about a bit off the end. I'm not a metallurgy expert either, but it seems unlikely that it'd compromise the entire bolt. But then again, the end that is screwed into the wheel hub (brake drum?) is what matters and we would be generating some heat near that area.

[Brucey]

not all cutting generates any appreciable heat; if you want to shorten the bolts with no risk of overheating, don't grind them, just trim the ends off with a hacksaw.

Once they are shortened, it is an excellent idea to dress the thread start using a file; if you fail to do this and leave a burr, you can knacker the threads in the hub, and that will spoil your day for sure.

BTW you are lucky that your bolts are not a tiny bit longer yet; if such bolts are fitted the protruding part can destroy the handbrake and/or the ABS parts etc.

cheers

[songzunhuang]

I got the bolts back from the machine shop and have installed them in my car. They appear to be perfect now.

I have to say, the shop did a heck of a job. The ends are finished better than original. I posted a picture in my project thread.

The only down side was that it cost me $60. Since I paid $80 for the spacer and bolts, this shortening added significantly to the cost. Oh well, I'll never have to worry about wheel bolts again.