Looking for recommendation for unsticking a stuck locking wheel nut

**jangles** · 03-09-2011,05:42 PM

Hi all.

This is not an unfamiliar issue, I've discovered, much discussion elsewhere in this forum. So I'm another 'victim' - I'm unable to remove one of the rear wheels on my 06-plate A4 S-Line as the locking wheel nut is totally stuck.

I had planned to take all the wheels off the car today in order to give them a good old clean and a bit of TLC. The trouble started with the first wheel: undoing the nuts was a devil of a job, but all came off. The wheel itself wouldn't. The wheels, btw, are all factory-fit 18" alloys, the standard 5-spokes that come with this model.

So I popped along to Kwik-Fit Wokingham, literally 45 seconds drive away; they were amazingly helpful. They got the stuck wheel off in a jiffy - basically, one of the blokes crawled beneath the car and whacked on the tyre from the inside until it loosened - and boy was it filthy with salt corrosion and other stuff.

But the other wheel, no luck. Four nuts removed, with some difficulty. Then the locking wheel nut wouldn't. Even with the 900-ft-lb pneumatic tool they use to take off wheel nuts, no luck.

They said it needs a special tool to remove a stuck locking wheel nut which they don't have in that depot. I could drive to the Reading depot (Richfield Avenue) which does, they said, and I'm minded to do that on Monday.

But I thought I'd ask here first. Does anyone know of a trusted service for this kind of thing? Should I ask my local Audi dealer in Reading? Or just try the Kwik-Fit? My experience with them today in Wokingham was good, quite a surprise in fact.

Thanks for any tips.

**GarJE** · 03-09-2011,05:57 PM

Tighten the other 4 up before trying to undo the locker. Relieves pressure on the locker.

**jangles** · 03-09-2011,06:05 PM

Thanks @GarJE, wouldn't have thought of that. The Kwik-Fit guys had undone and removed all the other nuts and then attempted the locking one. I'll even give it a go myself, see if I have any luck.

**darich** · 03-09-2011,07:39 PM

Two methods I've seen used -

1 - hammer a smaller socket onto the offending wheel nut. This will destroy the wheel nut and if you've got a low to medium quality socket, that too. A real high quality socket will probably withstand that abuse.

2 - slightly more drastic but welding a bolt onto the top of the locking wheel nut to give better purchase. Obviously destroys the locking nut and great care has to be taken to avoid damage to the wheel.

If you're going tomorrow I'd soak the nut ,if possible, the hub in WD40 to help loosen it off.

Third method (I know I said 2 but this one will be discarded.....for sure) is to drive the car with the one wheel nut in place - it's pretty certain to loosen it off but the consequences are obviously quite.....dramatic shall we say if you drive too far.
Probably best avoided....unless you're a mentalist and enjoy living on the edge!!!

**OVI82** · 03-09-2011,09:34 PM

And that's because most garages will do these nuts up to more than 120nm, a lot more.

**jangles** · 03-09-2011,09:50 PM

Thanks for those recommendations, @darich. Love #3

**jangles** · 03-09-2011,09:50 PM

Originally Posted by OVI82

most garages will do these nuts up to more than 120nm, a lot more.

Exactly what I think happened here.

**vwcabriolet1971** · 03-09-2011,10:21 PM

Most seized bolts are caused by bolt thread corrosion. A little TLC in cleaning the bolt threads with a wire brush and using a little copper paste anti-sieze on the bolt threads will eliminate seized bolts.
The problem with seized wheels is also mainly caused by corrosion between the alloy wheel and the vehicle hub/ mounting flange face ( disc ). A little copper anti-seize between these areas will also prevent further corrosion .This was the 1st job I did on my 1 day old MK6 Golf !
I once helped a stranded motorist in changing a punctured tyre/wheel. His Audi TT wheel bolts could not be moved with the std. wheel wrench ( & he was a big lad !) . I happened to have a 1 metre "breaker" bar and that only just undid the bolts. At one stage I thought my high tensile bar was going to bend ! Each bolt undid with a mighty "crack" when the corrosion joint broke. Even tightening the rusty bolts was difficult when ftting the spare wheel. Some times a few well placed blows with a heavy hammer ( at least 2.5 lbs) and drift will shock the corrosion joint free but it doesn't do the wheel bearings a lot of good ! Most good tyre garages will have the special sockets used to remove rounded head bolts or damaged anti-theft bolts as they meet this problem all the time ( except Kwik Fit).
A few minutes at home is often worth quite a few hours at the roadside !

**s-express** · 04-09-2011,07:14 PM

when i had this issue - i used a socket but heated it up first until it was cherry red before tapping it on. it then cooled over the buggered locking nut and came off ok.

**trioptics130** · 04-09-2011,07:49 PM

i had exactly the same problem with three of my wheels one front and both rear caused by tyre garage doing up wheel bolts with pheumatic gun set too high and then checked with a torque wrench set too low

. I managed to release the bolts with great effort, first tried long bar then bratt gun full battery and set high and left running on the bolts until two batteries had gone flat this had in turn heated up the bolt and with a few well placed blows with hammer and punch and an even longer bar the help of a mate(man mountain) him pulling on the bar and me pushing the locking wheel nut socket onto the nut they all eventually gave up their hold and duely removed and replaced with std bolts, each wheel took a good two hours to do