Seized Wheel Nuts

[design guru]

I have a CLK 2001 W208 which has been in my garage for several months.
I noticed the wheel nuts are impossible to remove. The bolts are rusted and one or two did come off after applying a fair amount of pressure but the rest are stuck.

Beside applying a serious amount of pressure are there any other solutions. My biggest worry is the bolt snapping.

 

[Rory]

A power impact driver - if you just lean on them with a long bar then chances are they will snap.

 

[renault12ts]

Mine were seized also after the winter. A long (4 feet) bar did the trick.

 

[design guru]

Not really looking to snap them, I am hoping to save that as plan B if all else fails. just thought there may be some trick of the trade out there.

 

[BlackC55]

Use a long bar and a quality socket and brute force. If they snap they snap and they other methods can be used,.

 

[Rory]

Use a long bar and a quality socket and brute force. If they snap they snap and they other methods can be used,.

Why would you not use an impact driver? I've had them snap even in normal domestic situations.

 

[BlackC55]

If there that tight it wont budge them. An inch drive one might though.

I have a high quality very powerful Snap-On one coupled to a 10 bar high flow system that wont budge tight wheel bolts.

I had two wheel bolts on on car (locking bolts) that were seized solid and NOTHING would budge them. We welded bolts to them used diamond drills etc and in the end I cut the wheel off with a petrol disc cutter!

 

[N7OGP]

i had 5 of mine snap this year, only on the front

 

[proser]

try hitting the head of the breaker bar whilst applying a lot of pressure on the bar. You mave have to give it a good whack several times, but it has worked for me in the past.

 

[Rory]

try hitting the head of the breaker bar whilst applying a lot of pressure on the bar. You mave have to give it a good whack several times, but it has worked for me in the past.

Well that's what the impact driver does!

Olly is a million times more experienced than I am, but I used a cheapy 12V impact driver to get the nuts off daughters Ibiza wheels and they were absolutely solid - I'd tried using normal tools and was seriously concerned something (the tool or the stud) was going to snap. The impact driver banged them off with a few hits. It would make a mess of chromed bolts though.

A few years ago my FIL, who has no sense in such matters, snapped several studs off his car using a length of scaffolding over the wheel wrench.

 

[proser]

Well that's what the impact driver does!

I know that, but just in case the OP doesn't have one, then it just another way to try

 

[Spinal]

My totally unprofessional and unqualified advice would be to soak the area in WD40 overnight.

Next, try tightening the bolts just a tad - it may be enough to break the bond - before trying to unscrew them....

but then again, I'm just a bloke on t'internet...
M.

 

[jaymanek]

I find battery powered impact guns more effective than air guns...

I have a Bosch one that cost me around £300.

 

[cplnoonoo]

Heat up the bolts with a lighter or heat gun or something then soak them in wd-40 as the metal cools down and contracts it will suck in the wd-40 and help to break the bond.

 

[design guru]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Hopefully I will not be posting another thread 'Wheel bolts snapped...What do I do now!'

 

[design guru]

Almost there!

Thanks everyone for the advice. Hopefully I will not be posting another thread 'Wheel bolts snapped...What do I do now!'

We your advice has worked on 18 of the 20 bolts. I am left with 2 locking nuts which I have 2 keys for but they are damaged to the point where they will just fit but when you turn and apply so force they pop out.

One of the locking nuts is all intact on the car but the other the outer chrome ring has come away. The pic attached shows the nut still in the wheel and I have place a locking nut removed successfully to show what it look like, you can see the chrome outer part on the nut. That has come away from the nut still on the car. I have invested in a set of laser locking nut removal bolts which I am hoping to try out but on first attempt they don't seem to fully fit on probably due to the design of the alloy wheel holes.
I am not concerned about the locking nuts as they will be disposed of once removed. (sorry for the poor quality picture)

My main reason for posting this is to ask if anyone knows of a mobile person who can do the job. I am in Bedhampton, Hampshire. This is my plan B if the laser nuts don't work.

 

[jefrs]

One more tip, and yes the long bar and shock/impact does work - try tightening the nut/bolt, this sometimes breaks the corrosion.

Plusgas

And if your lever is not long enough, get a longer lever - once upon a time, we used a scaffold pole on a Landrover, with the weight of the vehicle on it, then bashed it with a Big hammer, and it came off sweet as a nut, it just unscrewed.

 

[proser]

can you hammer an impact socket onto the end of it - just small enough so it wont slip on, but needs wedging on solidly.

Then long bar and shock treatment.

 

[Neiltodd]

had a similar problem,my local garage used a blow torch to heat them

 

[joshmerc]

Big spanner- cover it with material where you are going to hold it (in the middle) then hit the other end of the spanner with a lump hammer. This WILL break the rust and release the bolt. It wont break the bolt or the spanner. The material is because of the shockwave sent through the spanner when you hit it. Done it hundreds of times!