Stuck wheel bolt

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Hi,

I went to change my wheels now that the temperature is dropping. I have a set of alloys with summer tyres on them and a set of steels with winter tyres on them.

3/4 changed no problem, the last one I could not get off, managed to get 4 bolts off with an impact wrench but the last bolt will not budge.

I had a new tyre fitted in Spring to this wheel so I'm guessing the tyre place tightened them supidly tight.

I have an impact wrench which does up to 500nM which won't shift it. I've tried my regular spider wrench and all my brute force. I've also tried 18 inch breaker bar including standing on it and whacking it with a rubber mallet. Just cannot get the %^&* off.

I've ordered some loctite freeze and release that'll be here on Thursday. I don't need to go anywhere til the weekend so have a couple of days to play with. Does anyone have any other tips and tricks please whilst I wait for the loctite or cave in and take it to a garage?

Car is a Skoda yeti and its not a locking wheel nut.

Cheers
 
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Hi John, Thank you for the quick response. Had a quick look on Amazon and oculd see 24/30/36. Do you think 36 would be overkill?

Cheers
 
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Was gonna suggest similar, 500nm is a lot! can't really think of anything that would appreciable cool the nut down to make much difference, and you can't be applying any appreciable heat to an alloy. I suppose a whack of penetrating oil won't hurt, but seems like in the main brute force is the answer here.
 
Breaker bar with a scaffold tube over it should shift it (or break the bar!)

Thanks Motman, I saw that on youtube and was tempted as I have a long hollow bar from a shelving unit outside. I trust you guys more on this forum than some youtube channels mind!
 
Was gonna suggest similar, 500nm is a lot! can't really think of anything that would appreciable cool the nut down to make much difference, and you can't be applying any appreciable heat to an alloy. I suppose a whack of penetrating oil won't hurt, but seems like in the main brute force is the answer here.

Thanks Eddie. I googled in haste earlier and paniced into buying the loctite, am I liable to damage things with it?

Cheers
 
You’ll never go wrong with a long breaker bar - great when you are working on JCB’s :mrgreen:
Pop the other bolts back, and head for Kwik Fit with the price of a packet of fags? They’ll shift it!
John :)
 
In the past, to loosen a very tight wheel bolt, I’ve held the pressure on the bolt with a breaker bar while someone strikes the end of the breaker bar directly onto the nut/bolt with a big ‘ammer!

Hold pressure on in direction of green arrow, strike bar in direction of red arrow.

 
If I was undoing the nut in the picture, I'd turn the steering a wee bit to the left. That keeps the breaker bar away from the bodywork and gives you more room to move. Also, that breaker bar appears to be have a short extension on it, in which case I would try to support it near the wheel. I like to keep the distance between the bar and the wheel as short as possible.
 
First - put all the other nuts back on!!!

There is now 1 single nut taking a lot of tension. Use the other 4 to relieve that tension and the 5th will come off. It's "Fitting 1.01". Just like when you torque them up afterwards, you wouldn't just bust in and do one up to full tension, would you. WOULD YOU?

Second - having the full weight of the car on the ground is fine to slacken the nuts, but also recall the above - it means the whole weight of the car is now acting through one lug nut alone. Chock it FIRMLY, stick it in gear, stick the handbrake on, jack it up a little to take the weight off the hub, if only a little. Problem with this are two fold - might not be enough friction on the handbrake (if dealing with rear wheels of FWD car) and most major - you might pull the car off the jack if it's up too high and the chocks are loose. (This can also happen through driving the other wheel opposite direction through the diff)

Nozzle
 
Bung the other nuts back on so that the stuck one can be undone.
Sometimes even a hot air gun can provide enough heat to crack off a nut
 
Thank you so much for the suggestions guys. Gives me some things to try tomorrow.

First - put all the other nuts back on!!!

There is now 1 single nut taking a lot of tension. Use the other 4 to relieve that tension and the 5th will come off. It's "Fitting 1.01". Just like when you torque them up afterwards, you wouldn't just bust in and do one up to full tension, would you. WOULD YOU?

Nozzle

Yep I put them back on when I threw in the towel earlier, don't want anyone to drive off with one nut on, although that might help remove it haha
 
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