Self-Piercing Rivets

Rivets, most commonly self-piercing rivets (SPRs), have replaced resistance spot welds for joining structural and non-structural parts on some vehicle models. These coated steel rivets are found primarily on aluminium-intensive vehicles.

What is a Self-Piercing Rivet? A self-piercing rivet is a tubular rivet by design, with a partially hollow shaft. This allows the rivet to pierce through the material it is going to join without pre-drilling any holes. After piercing the top panel, the rivet radially expands into the bottom panel.

When you look at the backside of an installed SPR, you dont see the rivet, but the impression of the rivet flared out in the bottom panel. This joining process provides very strong and reliable joints, without changing the property of the material around it or using as much energy as resistance spot welding. SPRs may be used to join coated and dissimilar materials of varying thickness, as well as being used for multiple layer riveting, as long as the material hardness and rivet length allow.

Use and Removal of Self-Piercing Rivets SPRs are currently found on the 1997+ Audi A8, 2004+ BMW 5 Series, and the 2004+ Jaguar XJ. These three vehicle makers all have different procedures for removing SPRs. Audi recommends pressing out the rivets with a pneumatic multi-purpose riveting tool. BMW recommends using a weld-on bolt extractor for SPR removal. This involves cleaning any coatings off of the rivet head and welding on a bolt that is used to extract the rivet. If the bolt extractor repeatedly fails, or the rivet is inaccessible, drilling the rivet and punching out the remnants is an option. Grinding SPRs is only recommended by BMW if the panel being ground is also being replaced.

Jaguar recommends using an electronic dual-purpose riveting tool for removing SPRs. If they are not accessible, drilling or grinding with a belt sander is also an option. If an SPR falls into the body cavity during removal on any of these models, attempt to remove it with a magnet. If it cannot be removed, use anti-corrosion compound in the area to coat the lost rivet. This will help prevent galvanic corrosion. Replacement of Self-Piercing Rivets Just as there are different recommendations for removal, there are different recommendations for replacement of SPRs.

Currently, Jaguar is the only vehicle maker recommending installation of SPRs when making certain repairs to the XJ. SPRs are installed using the same electronic dual-purpose riveting tool that is used for removal simply by changing the dies on the tool. Jaguar-specific, coated steel blind rivets are used where SPRs are not.

Audi uses specific aluminium solid rivets and aluminium MIG plug welds to replace SPRs. BMW uses specific coated steel blind rivets to replace SPRs. All of these vehicle makers recommend using adhesive in conjunction with rivets, also called rivet-bonding, in their respective repairs.