garage overtightened Wheel Nuts Locking nut sheared

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

tjamesbo

Active Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
706
Location
Sutton Coldfield Midlands
Car
CLK430 ,Vito V6 sport ,Jaguar 2.5 X type ,W124's 1993 220TE , 1994 320TE ,Mastercraft X5
Tyre losing pressure on the W202 and went to remove the wheel to drop it off at the Tyre fitters for investigation Went to undo the wheel nuts Holy Moly they had been tightened by superman or no brain monkeywrench . out of 5 got 3 loose using spider wrench last one neither me or fit nephew could do so used an extension on the Merc wrench pictured it went with a crack and undid that only left the locking nut which wouldnt move with the spider wrench and locking socket so used a bit more leverage again with the extension Bang and the locking nut pattern shears off leaving locking nut sheared on the car . The wheels were swapped over by a reputable garage on here just 2 weeks ago which unfortunately is not local ( 40mls away )
so now the wheel is stuck on and the remains of the locking nut are jammed in the socket giving a potential problem removing the other 3 wheels
I am livid and am worrying that when I take it in I am going to be met with well you shouldnt have used that much force on the locking nut should you to which my indignant reply is going to be you shouldnt have F*****g overtightened them ! So where from here how big a problem is this should i take it to some specialist bolt remover or back to the indie ?
Boyd
BD560823-7D9A-4DFC-AEFA-67ADFEC548DF_zpsa5ivfs0y.jpg

BAFD8EDD-29E5-47CE-8719-1B3BE6841159_zpsfl7sej37.jpg
 
Sadly this is very common issue these days. I would call them up and explain what has happened and suggest that they remedy it. They should have the tools to do so.

Alternatively you can buy locking stud removers on ebay. They are a faff and as it is not of your making, I would urge you to go back to the place that over tightened them causing you the pain.
 
As above the garage should have the means to remove it.

Failing that, if you have breakdown cover they may do it for you.

Some will weld onto it and remove it.

I had an over-tightened bolt which ended up getting rounded off as it was so tight. Bashing a socket on didn't work either. Eventually the breakdown truck arrived and the chap used THIS along with a 5 foot bar and got it off.
 
I feel your pain.

I had a similar if not catastrophic experience when I bought my current car and posted about it here.

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/wheels-tyres-brakes-suspension/188257-locking-wheel-bolts-too-tight-2.html

What is it with some in the auto trade that they feel the need to grossly overtighten wheel nuts. Perhaps it's a macho thing with the rattle gun set at max. Whatever the reason you might as well leave the spare wheel and jack at home for all the good they will do in the event of a puncture.

I've also seen welding a nut on through the centre work if access is good enough. There will be a way and the people that tightened them should be given the job of getting them loose.
 
Top tip.
When someone other than yourself has fitted wheels to your car, slacken each bolt and retighten to the correct torque. That should ensure you can deal with a roadside puncture should you ever experience one.
Deluxe job sees removal of bolts and a dob of grease applied to the threads and on the taper seat to prevent them corroding solid.
 
That's happened to me too..its was at Kwikfit and had to pay someone else £60 to remove that key for me and slightly damaged my alloy in the process
 
ATS sheared off one of my lock nuts during fitting my last set of tyres. They simply went to MB, collected a new set and spent 20min removing the failed bolt. The bolt security "wiggle" had corroded and simply snapped off the bolt head, the other 3 were on their way to the same end!

All sorted without any damage and all foc
 
Top tip.
When someone other than yourself has fitted wheels to your car, slacken each bolt and retighten to the correct torque. That should ensure you can deal with a roadside puncture should you ever experience one.
Deluxe job sees removal of bolts and a dob of grease applied to the threads and on the taper seat to prevent them corroding solid.

Agreed. I did this with the wife's car, slackened all the bolts and did them back up with a torque wrench.

With the Merc, I cleaned the bolts up as there was surface rust and dabbed a small amount of grease on them as they were a pig to get off.
 
Hugely debatable practice, greasing wheel bolt threads....
 
whitenemesis said:
Hugely debatable practice, greasing wheel bolt threads....

I now use copper grease on all my 4 tyres. Never had any issues of bolts becoming loose on their own
 
Hugely debatable practice, greasing wheel bolt threads....

Thought that would come up somehow.
It's fine, just stick to the torque figure and don't go beyond it. Anyway, torqueing dry tortures the threads.

I now use copper grease on all my 4 tyres. Never had any issues of bolts becoming loose on their own

Copper slip dries out then the thickener base is a sponge for water. A good (one that doesn't bleed its oil) water resistant grease is much better.
 

This needs a short length of pipe slipped over the bolt and welded to same. The pipe will protect the alloy rim. Then a large Stilson wrench on the pipe will get the bolt out especially while it's still hot and expanded slightly.

Remembering to disconnect the alt and battery when welding.
 
We've had this debate before about greasing threads. From an engineering standpoint no question that technically you shouldn't do it but if it makes the difference to being able to remove the locking wheel bolts in the event of a puncture I come down on the side of pragmatism and I do grease. I also reduce the specified torque by 20% in compensation which should always be done.

For anyone not prepared to grease the threads you could just grease the conical contact part of the bolt to prevent corrosion producing additional stiction over a significant surface area.

If the wheels are not particularly valuable and I include mine as well as the OP's in that category, the smart thing to do would be to throw the locking bolts in the bin as they are simply not up to the job of coping with ham fisted tyre fitters. As evidence of that I'll quote the instructions that come with MB locking bolts:

"On no account must these bolts be tightened with an impact wrench"

I know good Technicians will use a torque wrench but that's an utterly unrealistic expectation for the auto trade as a whole. That makes locking bolts in their current form not fit for purpose.
 
ATS sheared off one of my lock nuts during fitting my last set of tyres. They simply went to MB, collected a new set and spent 20min removing the failed bolt. The bolt security "wiggle" had corroded and simply snapped off the bolt head, the other 3 were on their way to the same end!

All sorted without any damage and all foc

I recently bought tyres from blackcircles and chose a local ATS Euromaster outlet as the fitter.

These guys are trained for the job, rather than learn on the job.... they did everything by the book.

Balanced all 4 wheels (back street tyre fitters often don't bother with balancing the rears), tightened to torque (some fitters font even have a torque wrench), and inflated to the correct pressures for the car.

Well done ATS.
 
The 'click, click' of torque wrenches was very much in evidence in the tyre bays at my local ATS, top guys...
 
As a slight diversion from the OP.

I no longer use locking wheel studs or bolts.

WHY?

1) They get stuck.
2) The tools to get them of without a key are sold on ebay
3) Lots of wheels that are stolen were using locking wheel nuts anyway.

They may provide a small deterrent but if somebody really wants your wheels they will also have tooled up with a removal tool.

I gave up after being stuck on the hard shoulder with lock nut that snapped when I had a puncture. The AA guy took about ten seconds to remove it with an e-bay tool and zero extra effort (that I could see). It was him that told me that he considered locking nuts a great business but of no real practical use.

Fifteen years on and multiple cars with nice wheels later!! I have never had a set nicked. My near neighbour with a BMW CSL M3 has had TWO sets of wheels pinched both with locking nuts left on the ground.
 
As a slight diversion from the OP.

I no longer use locking wheel studs or bolts.

WHY?

1) They get stuck.
2) The tools to get them of without a key are sold on ebay
3) Lots of wheels that are stolen were using locking wheel nuts anyway.

They may provide a small deterrent but if somebody really wants your wheels they will also have tooled up with a removal tool.

I gave up after being stuck on the hard shoulder with lock nut that snapped when I had a puncture. The AA guy took about ten seconds to remove it with an e-bay tool and zero extra effort (that I could see). It was him that told me that he considered locking nuts a great business but of no real practical use.

Fifteen years on and multiple cars with nice wheels later!! I have never had a set nicked. My near neighbour with a BMW CSL M3 has had TWO sets of wheels pinched both with locking nuts left on the ground.

I agree that locking wheel bolts are next to useless, saw new cars lying on their bare wheels a few times around here, but at the same time I also believe that if the wheel bolts are properly maintained (both standard and locking bolts) then they should not give any bother at all.

Wonder if removing the locking bolts will affect insurance... though how would they know :D
 
Wonder if removing the locking bolts will affect insurance... though how would they know :D

Our Vito didn't have them from new (factory 17" alloys) ... so was adding them a 'modification'?! :devil:
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom