ACF 50 on bolts that are starting to rust

[Lemonwizard]

Been doing some "deep" cleaning for which I had to remove a bunch of bolts which I assume haven't been removed in at least half a decade. Some of these bolts had a bit of rust on them, and I assume the inside thread of these bolts are also a bit rusty.

My solution to this would be to clean the bolts and inside thread as best as I can and then apply a drop or two of ACF 50 (similarly to how one would apply loctite) to the bolt and put the bolts back in. Optionally, if easily possible I would replace the bolts with new ones and then apply ACF50.

Would this be good practice? Any better methods?

[UK_Vstrom650]

Grease on bolts would be effective to keep water out & prevent them rusting in place. Remember to reduce torque values if using a grease.

[Mr Nick]

Rust on the head does not mean there has to be rust on the thread. There are better things for threads than ACF50 as well: plain grease or anti-seize last longer, but adjust torque as above..

The bolts are rusty because what little anti-corrosion plating was on them has now gone - cleaning them will only open clean steel to the elements and that won't turn out well, ACF or not. You could look at a systematic replacement process with stainless, or look into re-plating with zinc. You can buy kits over here that give you the basic plating setup & I've had some good results with it.

[Lemonwizard]

Interesting, I would've thought that ACF 50 would be a good solution here as it claims that it can prevent rust and furthermore stop existing rust to spread by deactivating the rust cells (I think that was the wording).

Wouldn't stainless steel bolts also start to rust due to bimetallic corrosion?

[Flanners]

How about a double whammy and use ACF50 Grease?

I use ACF50 on my bike and cars, definitely helps arrest corrosion on steel sub frames and bolt heads etc.

[Breezy Rider]

ACF50 is great but it does need to be reapplied, for the threads I'd use copper grease to prevent them seizing...

[SuzukiSte]

I use this had no problems.
http://www.acf-50.co.uk/corrosion_block.htm

[Rixington43]

Looks similar to Vactan which I've used fairly liberally to great effect on the underside of several cars.