Ronny Dahl says that “your spare wheel and tyre should match the wheels on your car exactly”, and this is sound advice. I have always made sure that I carry two spare wheels when we go bush, but both my spares are standard issue factory Patrol wheels, and the car has wider wheels with mud terrain tyres. This is not a great idea, but it was the way it was when I purchased it.

The first thing is to find spare wheels that match those on the car. Of course, there are none in WA but, with a little research, I located some in Queensland. In Queensland they are $100 cheaper than they are in WA, but I must pay the WA price, plus postage, why is that?!?

Anyway, it arrived, and I compared it with the existing ones. I expected the new one to be nice and shiny against the old ones, but I had no idea how rusty the false bead lock nuts had become, it looked like a different wheel.

I blame my son Matthew for this, because he makes me use tyre foam to make the tyre shiny black, and it is this that rusts the bolts. Patrol tyres should not be shiny, they should always have at least a hint of red dust.

So how to get the rust off my bolts? My first attempt was to coat them with CLR while the wheels were still on the car. That was a waste of time.

There are 72 of these rusty bolts, so it takes a while to remove them, but I did it and then soaked them in white vinegar overnight and low and behold, the rust was gone. Marvellous, until they started to dry, and the rust appeared like magic.

Debbie says, “you now need to soak them in bicarbonate of soda”, so I give that a go. Lots of fizz and bubbles and there you have it, the rust has gone, even after I had dried them. So, to put the 72 bolts back on the wheels. How proud am I? Lovely shiny wheels, that is, until it rains, and the rust is back, worse than before!

I need another plan.