12 Helpful Ways To Easily Remove Stubborn, Rusted Bolts

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Whether you're trying to remove rusted bolts from your toilet tank or are trying to delicately remove them from a classic car without causing irreparable damage to rare parts, doing so can be immensely frustrating. Rust has a happy habit of forming in the places we'd least like it to, and once it's taken hold, removing the fastenings that are seemingly bound by it can cause untold damage if done incorrectly. Don't worry, though — it's possible to remove them, and you may just be surprised by how many ways there are to do it.

Rust forms when metal parts aren't properly maintained, and while that sounds an awful lot like an accusation, it's not! In the modern world, so many of the things we buy and need for our daily lives — cars, for example — come with metal parts that can eventually rust, including bolts. Keeping dutifully on top of them all, all of the time, represents an uphill, potentially unwinnable battle. In other words, rust is a fact of modern life, but with this guide to removing stubborn, corroded bolts, it needn't spell doom for the items affected by it.

When you realize that rust has gained its vise-like grip on your bolts, it can be tempting to reach for heavy tools that promise to break it clean off. The problem with this is that you'll necessarily have to find yourself a new bolt, and if you happen to be working on a vintage vehicle, finding a replacement part could be decidedly difficult. If you'd rather avoid this problem, one of the best alternatives to nut-splitters when removing rusted bolts is a simple can of WD-40. This household brand makes products for several household applications; in fact, if you work in an office, there's a good chance your office manager has a bottle handy to keep squeaky chairs from driving your colleagues up the wall.

You can also buy WD-40 products specifically designed for treating rust — namely, the brand's Special Penetrant spray — and once you've secured yourself a bottle, all you need to do is apply a small squirt to the affected bolt. Once it's had a few minutes to work its way in, grab a hammer and see if you can loosen the rust within the thread of the bolt with a few gentle knocks. The (gentle) shock of the hammer should help the lubricant to work its way in even further, thus making your job of twisting the afflicted bolt free much easier. You can then remove rust from the bolt with some simple kitchen vinegar and reuse it.

Another nifty way to remove rusted bolts is with the help of your trusty (not rusty) propane torch. It's one of two heat treatments on this list (more on the second shortly), and the way it works is surprisingly simple. When exposed to heat, the metal parts begin to expand slightly at different rates before contracting, which in turn helps loosen the grip of any rust that's caught up in the treads. There is one important caveat here: You should only use flames to heat your bolts for things that aren't located near materials that are likely to combust — like fuel tanks — or which could easily be damaged, and should try to avoid heating anything but the nut.

Provided that it's safe to use a propane torch on your bolt, you should start off slowly. Too much heat can often lead to damage, and besides, you might be surprised how little heat it actually takes to work the rust loose. Try to progressively get more aggressive, heating the nut gently at first, and only increasing the intensity if the last application didn't loosen the bolt enough. Give the bolt a gentle tap with a hammer to further loosen any rust inside, then try to turn it, being careful to protect yourself from burns. Repeat this process until the bolt comes free.

If you're concerned about using naked flames on your corroded bolts, then another way to benefit from the heat treatment is with an induction heater. This helpful tool can make removing rusty bolts surprisingly straightforward, and it works in much the same way as a blowtorch. The heat expands the metal, which in turn causes the rust within the threads to crack. This should loosen its grip, and hopefully help you to work the fastening free.

If you're working on bolts where materials adjacent to the fastenings are likely to incur damage from an exposed flame, then this is the way to go, provided you're not working next to a fuel tank. Like WD-40 and a propane torch, if successful, you won't be forced to replace the fasteners once they're loose. Instead, you can use some toilet cleaner to make your rusty bolts look new again before fastening them back in place and remembering to keep a better eye on them for future corrosion.

If you're spending the day working your way through an extensive DIY list while nursing a six-pack, you might want to consider sacrificing one of those beers to help make light work of those annoying, rusty bolts. Depending on where the bolts are, you may not be able to physically "soak" them in beer; after all, you don't want to go pouring beer into your machinery or merchandise. However, you can still try the beer hack on rusty bolts by soaking a rag in the good stuff and applying that to your fasteners.

Now, it's worth addressing any concerns you may have about this method, such as "does it even work?" and "am I just going to waste a precious beer?" It does sound unlikely, but here's how it works — rust is essentially iron oxide (the result of rust and oxygen interacting over time); both the carbonation and acidity of beer work to weaken the hold that rust has on your bolt. Just make sure to clean it with a bit of soapy water before returning the bolt.

If you've started the New Year determined to take a break from alcohol but run into a rusty bolt while attempting some DIY tasks, then you may be regretting the fact that you didn't replenish your beer fridge. Don't worry, though. Soft drinks like Coca-Cola can be highly effective at unscrewing rusted fastenings, as they contain acid just like beer. You may be surprised to learn that cola's high content of phosphoric acid lends it a pH level of 2.37 — just barely less acidic than distilled white vinegar, which has a pH of 2.5. Diet colas are an arguably better choice, as they don't contain any sugar that could attract ants or become sticky.

All you need to do is apply a few drops to the problem area, then give it a few gentle taps with your trusty hammer to help it seep inside. It's a technique that many Redditors swear by for loosening bolts. As one explained, "I put some cola on the screws that were completely rusted and stuck and banged on the screwdriver slightly with a hammer and waited, tried again and repeated the process, after a few times the screws came out easily." In other words, if you happen to have a few cans lying around, try giving cola a go before heading to your nearest hardware store for a dedicated tool.

If you read the earlier tip about lubrication and wondered how PB Blaster compares to WD-40 when it comes to busting rust, the answer is that it's equally as effective. Which one you use really boils down to whichever is more readily available. Similar to WD-40, PB Blaster is designed to loosen rust and corrosion. It also comes in a can with a handy "squirty" straw, meaning you can aim it precisely at the fastenings you're most furious with, without creating an oily mess.

Do the same as you would with WD-40, applying the lubricant before gently tapping the bolt with a hammer to help it work its way in. The beauty of these kinds of products is that not only do they help to make light work of stuck and rusted bolts, but they are also designed to help protect your fastenings against future corrosion. Having said that, depending on just how rust-stricken your bolt is, you'll need to give it a good, thorough cleaning to ensure it's rust-free before you tighten it back in place. However, if the rust has started to seep deeper into the metal and can't be removed with a surface scrub, consider replacing it with something fresh.

Paraffin or beeswax are superb complementary methods to use if you decide to go thermal with a propane torch or induction heater. It's especially useful if those treatments failed to loosen the bolt. While everything's warm, all you need to do is apply some paraffin candle wax, doing so at the coolest end of the bolt. As the wax melts, it will be drawn towards the warm end, working its way through the rust-bound threads as it does so, and hopefully allowing you to more easily loosen the bolt.

Using beeswax is another method that works in precisely the same way as paraffin. Beeswax is positively recommended on Reddit, providing what one contributor described as "a wonderful lubricant for getting the stuck fastener out." If you're working on old bolts that are probably tricky to replace — those used on a vintage car, for example — then it could be worth adopting this method straight away. The last thing you want to do is accidentally damage old, irreplaceable bolts by using heat and force. Both beeswax and paraffin wax are readily available online and at hardware stores. They'll cost far less than buying a dedicated tool, and are sure to be gentler on your fastenings, too.

This approach requires just a single tool — a locking wrench — and some effort. The idea is to latch the wrench onto the bolt head, and then "rock" the bolt gently in both directions, clockwise and counterclockwise, so that you're tightening a bit and then loosening a bit. The motion should help to crack and loosen the rust's grip within the threads to a point where you're able to undo the bolt and pull it free.

To give yourself the best chance of success, try to ensure that the wrench is tightly locked into the head of the bolt. This is especially important if the head has also become corroded, as any surface rust is likely to flake and cause the wrench head to slip, potentially damaging and "rounding off" the bolts' faces. Finally, while this method could theoretically be successful on its own, you're likely to see the best results when using it in conjunction with heat or lubrication. Ideally, use all three — some gentle heat, a drop of paraffin, beeswax, WD-40, soda, or beer, and a locking wrench — and rock the bolt gently until it begins to shake off the shackles of rust.

If you're working on heavy bolts and have tried the above methods with no results, and a regular wrench just isn't giving you the leverage that you need, then this method is for you. A breaker bar is like a socket wrench, but with an extended handle that ups the leverage and allows you to exert maximum pressure. The important thing to remember with this method is that, if the bolt has corroded too severely, too much pressure could easily cause the head to shear off, leaving you with a bolt plugged in the affected surface and no easy way to extract it.

With this in mind, it can pay to apply some heat and lubricant to the fastening first. Even then, try not to use too much force too quickly. Try to be smooth and constant, and build the pressure gradually, using your body weight if you need to. Like with the locking wrench, aim to work the breaker bar steadily in both directions to help crack and loosen the rust. Try to concentrate — if you're focused on something else, you could easily miss the warning signs that your bolt is about to break. Stay focused, and if the bolt starts to feel soft or spongy, consider trying another method, as this often means that the bolt is about to break off.

Considering that heat is such a strongly recommended means of freeing up rusted bolts, you might think that freezing them would have the opposite effect and would not be any help. However, you'd be surprised by just how effective this trick can be. Whereas heat works to expand the metal (with the nut expanding more than the bolt, creating a gap), it's really the contraction that comes immediately after heat application, which can help "break" the rust that is built up inside the thread. As such, the shrinking that freezing causes makes bolts easier to remove.

Freezing rusted fastenings with products like Loctite Freeze and Release and CRC Industries' Freeze-Off Super Penetrant is thought to be a much gentler method than others in this guide, causing less damage to the bolt and the surface to which it's attached. That makes sense — flames aren't especially fussy about the surfaces they burn and melt! What's more, as with products like WD-40 and PB Blaster, freeze sprays by brands like CRC and Loctite also help break down the rust. With that in mind, this might be the best approach for more delicate jobs where finesse is key, such as removing original and irreplaceable bolts from vintage vehicles.

Admittedly, using an angle grinder with a bolt extractor is certainly not the method we would first advise, especially if you're working with old, hard-to-replace bolts or are not equipped with the right tools. However, if you've tried and failed to remove your rusty bolts with the above methods, then it may be time to break out the angle grinder. If you don't own one, Amazon carries a highly respected Dewalt angle grinder.

Be sure to wear the appropriate protective gear, like goggles, gloves, and a spark-proof apron, and then get ready for your simple goal: to cut the head off. You'll need to ensure that your angle grinder and its disc are up to the task of removing your bolt heads. A cut-off wheel is usually the best type of disc, and when using it, you should try to avoid using muscle and putting pressure on the wheel, as this can cause it to break. Carefully follow the instructions that come with the tool.

With the head removed, you'll then need to remove the actual bolt. If you don't have them already, then you'll need to arm yourself with a set of bolt extractors. Manufactured with reverse threads, these can be screwed into the bolt from the bottom and used to push the bolt out, without destroying the thread. Once it's out, replace the old bolt with a new, rust-resistant fastening — ideally one made with something that's resistant to corrosion like stainless steel or titanium.

If you've gotten to the end of this article through an exhausting process of trial and error, then you'd be forgiven for feeling exasperated and ready to give up. Sometimes, corrosion can cause fastenings to feel like they're fixed in permafrost, and despite your best efforts with heat, lubrication, and less brutish tools, they can simply refuse to budge. If this sounds familiar, then we're afraid it's time to grab your nut splitter.

To remove stubborn, rusted bolts with a nut splitter, you'll need to make sure that you have a head that matches your bolt's nut size. Before applying any force, you should also ensure that the cutting part of the head lines up with one of the nut's flat edges. You should find that once the nut is cut away, the bolt itself remains intact. Of course, depending on how badly the rust has set in, you may need to grab your bolt extractor to push the bolt out and then replace it. However, if it's clean, then you can simply screw a new nut in place and call it a job well done.