Loosening overtightened wheel nuts?

[gilly]

Its just one thing after another!

I had planned to pick up Corys wheels tomorrow so I can get the legnum registered on monday, however I went to remove my 18s today and the wheel nuts are completely stuck. They wont budge at all.

Any tips to get these buggers off? Im using a cross brace, not the standard one in the boot. And yes I am am putting some elbow grease in.

Things Ive tried:
- Jacking the car up a little to releive the pressure on the nuts
- RP7
- Lots of elbow grease

But still no movement.

 

[bogan bob]

Lol i had this trouble as well, absoluely ripped up my hands and destroyed my back using the wheel brace.

But try using the standard brace, put it on the nut ~ horizontal and stomp on it!! Be sure to land your heel on the very end of it and you're laughing.

Just make sure you do it the right way or you problem is compounded

 

[Guest]

i have a 600mm breaker bar, took a bit of effort with that too.

 

[bradc]

I've seen the bolts actually shear off as well, fortunately you don't need to replace the entire hub, just the bolts.

Just use a big piece of bar, it shouldn't be too hard to get them off.

 

[gilly]

I've seen the bolts actually shear off as well, fortunately you don't need to replace the entire hub, just the bolts.

Just use a big piece of bar, it shouldn't be too hard to get them off.

thats good news! I had a cracked wheel nut on my gsr, and had to get the stud drilled out, and then the hub needed to be pressed out to put a new stud in!

The big peice of bar trick worked - I didnt have the correct tools, so my RAA membership came in handy and they were happy to help out. So all 20 nuts have been nicely loosened now!

 

[hawks]

On another note, always check your wheel nuts yourself if you have had new wheels put on by a tyre place, or the wheels taken off by somebody else when serviced etc.

I once assumed that a mate had done my wheel nuts up on my old Cordia, only the find that the wheel nearly fell of going down the road.

Double check it

 

[Rasi]

Yeh... good point. Also, don't put the jack away after lowering the car back down until you have tightened the wheel nuts fully. Otherwise you may forget to tighten them and some time later that day you may see the wheel roll right past you down the street. Not that this has happened to me. No really.

 

[Guest]

The factory wheel brace with a long piece of pipe on it to get heaps of leaverage, it will either come undone or snap the stud but there is not alot you can do to avoid it if they are that tight.

 

[RaZZa137]

i had this problem before, i got a 2 metre pole on the end of the wheel brace although this is after i made a ratchet explode, pieces of it flew like 20 metres away, lol, n i ended up twisting the wheel brace until the socket part was on the nut still and the rest of the wheel brace just fell on the floor, i was dumbfounded by the mechanic that put my rims on but i was happy that nobody would be able to steal them easily, lol

 

[Guest]

a impact wrench is a good investment, i use one for everything, i dont think i could half the work i do without one..

 

[SiliconAngel]

Those of you with chromed nuts won't like this suggestion, but if your wheel nuts are on rediculously tight hitting the end of them with a hammer fairly hard before beginning your removal can often help release a nut seized onto a bolt that otherwise might have snapped off just using a breaker bar. I'm usually very much against resorting to unneccesary force, but in such a case its entirely warranted!

There's utterly NO need to do up wheel nuts that tight. Freaken cowboys with airtools really piss me off...

 

[Guest]

quote "Freaken cowboys with airtools really piss me off... "
__________________

hahaha good call,

 

[gilly]

There's utterly NO need to do up wheel nuts that tight. Freaken cowboys with airtools really piss me off...

Thats exactly it! I now know which places in adelaide to go to in regards to wheels and tyres. Those that do up nuts by hand, and those that dont. I almost had to have a nice gold 17" rim destroyed because a nut they did up was too tight.

 

[RaZZa137]

a impact wrench is a good investment, i use one for everything, i dont think i could half the work i do without one..

lol, i tried using an impact wrench on my wheel nuts, it didn't have enough torque, just kept on clicking, lolz, 2 metre fence pole works well i find, lol

 

[SiliconAngel]

Are you sure you had it at the right setting, Razz?

Thats exactly it! I now know which places in adelaide to go to in regards to wheels and tyres. Those that do up nuts by hand, and those that dont. I almost had to have a nice gold 17" rim destroyed because a nut they did up was too tight.

The other problem is of course that airtools can chip painted or chromed rims pretty easily if not handled with extreme care. I suggested to my bro just last week he should make tyre shops sign a memorandum of understanding when he gets his tyres done, stating that detailed photographs have been taken of the rims and any additional scratches or chips will require replacement by the tyre shop. Being $1800 apiece and only available in the US, they're somewhat difficult to replace... But as he said, you'd never get anyone to touch your rims then, so what options do you have? You still have to get tyres fitted, which means SOMEONE else has to do the work.

Hmm maybe sit there field stripping a Desert Eagle while you're waiting?

 

[RaZZa137]

yea im pretty sure it was on the right setting caz it would tighten n loosen everything else but it just didn't have enough torque, cheap crap, lolz, i was trying everything on those wheelnuts, lolz including jumping on and kicking the wheel brace, ppl don't know what they're doing if they tighten wheel nuts that much, lol

 

[BuzzPuppy]

Actually, a mate of mine got some worried looks when he brought his car in for a tyre service and they were quite friendly after they moved the car onto the ramp. What was in the footwell of the drivers' side rolling around?

7.62mm empty brass shell casings

 

[SiliconAngel]

LOL nice, I should try that, maybe slip an undischarged round into the coin compartment as a friendly reminder?

 

[Guest]

haha im going to leave my 12gauge cartriges in my car next time.. and ill make sure they are buck shot and a f$&ken case of em..lol