Lazy Daze Owners' Group

Hi NaDaze;  Your 2002 has the same problem as my '99. I believe the motion of air with small sand particles erodes the thin coating of zinc on the factory original screws, allowing surface rust to form. I wish that LD had used stainless steel, but often paint doesn't adhere well to polished stainless.
   Eventually I plan to get stainless screws and finely sand blast the heads and paint them white with the Ford White color.  Then replace the screws (and touch up the paint).
    The wear is mostly the screws under the cabover outside, and along the side roof  toward the ends. Without wind tunnel testing, I suspect air turbulence is worst in those locations.
    So far I've had great luck with a porcelain repair product: The Original Superglue(r) 19061 Porcelain Repair - Electronics - Amazon.com  .  Easy to apply, it is superglue mixed with white Titanium dioxide. I use a small painters brush, (clean with acetone).  I go over the screw heads with a  cotton swab and acetone first.  Then paint over the rust. If you had a Dremel tool wire brush, you could try that first. I didn't want to risk the surrounding paint.  All of the screws appear to be seated ok, and no rust from under the heads. I check for tightness of the screws first before I clean them.  If they are still tight after 20+ years I didn't want to disturb them further just for surface cosmetics.
    I do try to massage the contents of the tube to mix it, The thick part tends to separate, You can't spread it out to mix a quantity. It dries very quickly! just a minute or two. It appears to hold up well to sunlight and weather. One tube goes a long way. I just stick the brush in the tube directly.
   I did replace rusted heads, of the screws holding the roof rack together with stainless. 1/4"x20 I think. About 2" long to reach an embedded nut.
     Good luck.   RonB

Well, no I didn't want to disturb the screws that are there. None of them were that rusty. So I painted the existing screws that are there.  I'd have to pull one out to find out what size they are.  If I were to replace all of them I would go with truss head SS.  I'll guess that they are #8, about 1" to 1-1/2" long.  An estimate: 100 Qty #8 x 1-1/4" Truss Head 304 Stainless Phillips Head Wood Screws...   Stainless aren't as strong as regular steel, but these aren't stressed so that shouldn't matter.  The screws from the factory could be #10.  Reminder, never never use self drilling screws. They will destroy the threads already set in the wood, sacrifice the integrity of the connection and will usually strip out within days and fail to seal also, letting water into the wood.   RonB

  Ok, maybe you meant the screws on the ladder and baggage rack. Caps?  Remove the screws and duplicate in stainless.  RonB