[rob]

Hello Insight lovers,
Has anyone removed the cover on the rims, and found rust on the side walls around the center (bolt?)? Probably no big deal, but just in case. I have a 2000 MT.

 

[Will M]

Hello Insight lovers,
Has anyone removed the cover on the rims, and found rust on the side walls around the center (bolt?)? Probably no big deal, but just in case. I have a 2000 MT.

I know that things are often challenging to describe, but I can't understand what you are talking about. Please offer more context.

Until I get more context, I'm making some wild guesses here. I'll guess that "the cover on the rims" might be the fender skirts. It's a wild guess because usually when someone says, "the cover on the rims", I think "hubcaps", since the rim is the wheel and the cover is the hubcap, but Insights don't have hubcaps. They have custom mag wheels. This is an aluminum/magnesium alloy, so there's no rust. So, back to guessing, are you talking about the fender skirts? These are the plastic pieces covering the rear wheel wells. Most cars built since the 1950s don't have fender skirts.

I'm guessing that the side walls are the body parts around the wheel well. Normally, when someone says "sidewall", I think the white stripe on the tire, but in this case, I can't make the sidewalls have anything to do with the rest of the description.

I'm guessing that "around the center (bolt?)" means around one of the spring clips or screw-fasteners that hold the fender skirts in place. I'm guessing this because the Insight has body panels made of either plastic or aluminum, and neither of these rust. The spring clips are ferrous, as were the original screw fasteners, though newer ones seem to be made of carbon fiber. These new ones cost about $15 each, but they don't rust. The old ones did.

At any rate, if I'm guessing right on all these counts, the rust is from these little spring clips or screw fasteners. They are sturdy enough to take a good bit of rust before they rust through, and the rust won't hurt the body panel because the body panel doesn't rust. It's just cosmetic, and doesn't show unless you take the fender skirt off.

I don't recommend driving with the fender skirt off. It costs you slight gas mileage at highway speeds, and it is butt ugly.

I've had to do it, myself, having lost two of those $15 fender skirt attachment screws, but I've gotten better at not losing them and don't intend to lose another one.

Anyway, let me know if I guessed right.

 

[Armin]

if Will is right

If Will is guessing right, I'd point out that we had discussed this in the original Insight group on yahoo at length. Back then we found that Southco makes a stainless steel fastener that can replace the rusting one.

 

[nnielsen]

rust

i am going to guess that he popped the center cap off of the wheel and is talking about the lug nuts. i have not taken mine off yet to see if there is any rust there.

 

[rob]

Now that I've re-read my original statement, it does sound vague and too concise. Forgive me for the poor explanation, and thanks for pointing it out. Maybe this one will be better(?).

nnielsen is correct. When I popped off the small cap on the rim, there are four "lugnuts" that attach the wheel to the car. Located equidistant from the four lugnuts (i.e. the center of the rim), there is a hexagonal piece, perhaps some sort of nut, excuse me for not knowing the terminolgy. The area aound that center piece is where I discovered the rust. I remember seeing this only on the front rims. But even after a recent tire rotation, I still see this on the front rims (didn't check the rear). So assuming that the front tires were swapped with the rears, perhaps the area with rust is not actually part of the rim, but of the wheel axle. I think the color of the metal under the rust is yellow or gold.

 

[Billy]

rust

Hello Rob; I can shed some light on this. I regularly (every 2 weeks) remove all 4 wheels (rims) and clean the entire wheel well and brakes, and then wax the back side of the wheel. The part you refer to is only on the front wheels, and is the outer section of the brake disc, also known as the rotor. Yes, they commonly get a little rusty, but it is not a big deal. However, I wipe mine down with some WD40 lubricant on a rag, and it takes off the rust. And yes, the Insight has 4 small hub caps, more properly called center caps. The list price is $38.40, but I purchased a spare one from Majestic Honda for $29.10...........Billy......

 

[Guest]

wheel well and brake maintenance

Hi Billy
I'm impressed with your dedicated maintenance schedule. could you give me some more info on the how and why? Do you use manual wrench to undo and redo the lug nuts? Is there a torque value for the lug nuts? Are there other areas of the Insight that you service frequently?

rodney
'03 silver MT no A/C
driven barefoot