Style 5's...again

[spanish pants]

G'morning all,

I decided to polish up my style 5's this weekend prior to putting on new tires, so I read a few online tuts on how to go about it before digging in. It seemed fairly straight forward, so armed with the required tools i set aside my weekend for the task.

Problem one, the nuts that hold the barrels to the rim were six sided hex nuts. Sort of miffed becuase i spent my day's coffee money on a 12 sided socket. I don't know if someone previous to me had refurbed these and decided to replace the nuts with something else or this is just another one of those weird Europeen options.

Problem two came after i removed all the nuts and i prepared to punch out the bolts. Lot's of whacking but nothing, i couldn't get the bolts out no matter how hard i tried. So i just gave up. I didn't want to damage the bolts anymore so i sanded and polished the barrels with the centers on.

Since i need to do this to the remaining 3 wheels i want to see if i can do it right on the next one, perhaps a sledge hammer would be more appropriate to get the bolts out, but assuming i get them out, how do i get them back in?
Also the nuts rusted to feeces as soon as i cleaned them up, so i'd like to replace them. Will any similar six sided nut from the hardware store work?

It's a bit of a long read but i like me words and i'm still waiting for my socks to dry, but i'd appreciate any input you guys might have that would help me do this proper.

Happy Non-Denominational Holidays!

[Gregolas]

The bolts are splined, so you will need to reuse or buy new plated splined bolts ($$$). Some have run BBS RS bolts but they aren't the same diameter as the splined option (some if not most claim it's not safe either).

To remove the bolts, leave the nut screwed a few rotations onto the bolt threads, to create a recessed hole to keep the punch centered (this prevents it slipping off when you are driving them out with a handheld sledge hammer). Start whacking away and I recommend using earplugs or listening to music with earbuds in as it gets annoying as hell after the first bolt.

Hope this helps, let me know if I need to clarify anything (currently refinishing a set myself)

[spanish pants]

Thanks for the tips, i hadn't thought of leaving the nuts on while hammering out the bolts. I'll give it a try with the next rim. What i don't know is how do you go about getting the bolts back in?
What surprised me was that the nuts were 6 sided hex nuts and not 12 sided.

The bolts are splined, so you will need to reuse or buy new plated splined bolts ($$$). Some have run BBS RS bolts but they aren't the same diameter as the splined option (some if not most claim it's not safe either).

To remove the bolts, leave the nut screwed a few rotations onto the bolt threads, to create a recessed hole to keep the punch centered (this prevents it slipping off when you are driving them out with a handheld sledge hammer). Start whacking away and I recommend using earplugs or listening to music with earbuds in as it gets annoying as hell after the first bolt.

Hope this helps, let me know if I need to clarify anything (currently refinishing a set myself)

[Gregolas]

Thanks for the tips, i hadn't thought of leaving the nuts on while hammering out the bolts. I'll give it a try with the next rim. What i don't know is how do you go about getting the bolts back in?
What surprised me was that the nuts were 6 sided hex nuts and not 12 sided.

Someone must have already split them before...From what I have read, to get them back in you put the bolt into the hole (wheel assembled) and tighten the nut to "press" them back in.