Cobalt drill bits

[Jonathan]

Anyone out there enjoy drilling out rusted screws on our cars as much as I do? Hate it. One of the most frustrating things on the car for me.

Today, I was working again on replacing the gaskets behind the 4 marker lights. I had 3 of them done a while ago, but the 4th was stubborn. The screws in there were rusted and stuck in place and there was nothing for a screw driver to grab a hold of. I had tried and tried drilling the head off the screw, but wasn't getting anywhere.

Then today I discovered cobalt drill bits.

Oh my!

I was literally laughing part way through when I saw how easily it did the job! I mean, little effort, no huge force behind the drill, and this drill bit went through the head of this screw like it was butter.

I had asked around at the hardware store what kinds of bits they had or would recommend. I have the "titanium coated" set like most people and in a "Tim the Toolman Taylor" kind of way, I was like "I'm good, got my titanium drill bits so let's have at 'er."

Wrong. They just aren't the right thing for the job this time around.

I bought a two pack of 9/64" bits and it was about $8 with tax. Not cheap, but like this youtube clip I found says, well worth the investment.

I can't believe how easy it took the heads off. The package says for stainless steel and it was right. How does a stainless screw get rusted in there you ask? Not sure. And I don't care. Even if it was actually something other than a stainless screw, the fact that it is out and came out easy, I am thrilled to be laughing about it.

Maybe everyone already knew this? But if not, I wanted to share, as it was such a relief to get these out when I have struggled with similar ones in the past!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wnfnL7ajww

[DMC5180]

The original screws are plain steel and they have posi-drive head. Not Phillips! There is a difference. In fact, most all screw heads used in the Delorean are posi-drive type.

[jawn101]

Also weird that they could rust in place on the side markers - since they screw through the plastic housing of the marker and into a threaded plastic insert in the steel panel, there's no metal to metal contact.

[dmc6960]

I will second the awesomeness of cobalt bits. Very good drill bits.

[Dangermouse]

I'll be looking out for a set, even though that video was starting to go a bit Billy Mays

[Bitsyncmaster]

Drill bits get dull with use. A good quality standard drill bit should have no trouble drilling a screw head off. The cobalt bits stay sharper longer. You should never have to put high pressure on the drill, that will dull the bit for sure.

[Jonathan]

Good call on the posi-drive style. I think my tail lights have those in them. I have seen them in different spots on the car, but realize my car's POs likely changed a few out over time. Case in point, the ones I picked as my replacement screws for the marker lights are Robertsons. Imagine the confusion on that face someday in the future :)

Yea, I'm not convinced they were rusted in place so much as just rusted away at the face to not let you grip anything. You're right about the plastic sleeves they screw into, those were in good shape once I got the lens off. I took a pair of channel locks to the remaining studs of the screws and they dialed out quite easily once you could get a grip on them. It may not have been related to galvanic corrosion, as like you said, it wasn't really touching another metal. But might have been attributed to some other process of deterioration.

I popped in to the Canadian Tire today and saw a 15-20 piece Cobalt set for $34 on sale from $44. That to me was less than I was expecting, so I think I'll go back and get the whole assortment.

+1 on the dull bit thought too. I can imagine that was as much a factor as anything else. The video did get a bit sale-sy, but when he mentions the odds and ends drill bit coffee can, he's right about that for most of us.

[SS Spoiler]

Anybody notice he was running the drill backwards to show how dull the bit was!

[Farrar]

Anybody notice he was running the drill backwards to show how dull the bit was!

Yeah, and intentionally wobbling the drill.