Originally Posted by
madpogue
I wonder if it would help to find a socket that's about the same OD as the rivets, and tap on that, in order to spread the force out around the edge. You'd have to rock it around some, to accomodate the curvature of the rivet heads
Sure, why not? However, you can easily just use a small hammer and give it that hand-hammered look that we usually have to pay extra to get. I've replaced a lot of those rivets. Also, if you need new rivets, or just want to upgrade the rivets in your B17, Use copper roofing nails. Cut them off to the right length and hammer them nicely. They are about $0.06 each vs the $6.00 apiece that Brooks will charge you for essentially the same thing. Once they are hammered-in, they are indistinguishable from Brooks OEM rivets.