spent an hour trying to remove locking wheel nut.Soon as i put pressure locking nut the key keeps jumping out.If i took it to ats would air gun help to get it off.any advice welcome
tommy tess
spent an hour trying to remove locking wheel nut.Soon as i put pressure locking nut the key keeps jumping out.If i took it to ats would air gun help to get it off.any advice welcome
tommy tess
you need to be carefull mate not to strip the key or the bolt, its probably been put on with an air gun thats why its solid, they might be able to do it,
the bolts are normally worn.... so they won't undo very easily..
an airgun may well help as the fitter can lean into the gun to put pressure on it to stop it jumping out.. but be warned, the bolts and keys are very brittle and do have a tendency to snap.... that leaves it up to a specialist 'ripper' socket then to get it out..
went and bought impact driver,ten blows with hammer and off it came,what a relief.Have taken them all off do not think they are worth the trouble can not see any one wanting to pinch my wheels..
tommy tess
After having similar trouble twice in the past - once each on 2 diff cars - I treat locking wheel nuts like consumables now - new ones every couple of years and certainly when I buy a new (but 2nd hand) car. They get damaged each time a grease monkey gets his airgun on them behind your back, and the damage accumulates until one day they refuse to budge - and Murphy's law says it will be just when you're about to do the brakes in preparation for an MOT.
They're still worth having though - even if your wheels are nothing fancy, crims will take them just for the tyres. And as an ex-claims manager, I know that if they drop the car on its belly after stealing the wheels, thats a lot of damage to repair. Similarly if it's dumped somewhere minus its wheels, it's a job and a half getting any garage/recovery agent to go and pick it up (even the insurers own approved agents are reluctant), as they can't simply drag it up a ramp onto the back of their truck, and they're responsible for any further damage they cause.
hi rebellion never really thought of them doing that.think i may buy some after market ones perhaps the quality may be better..
This is how I got around the problem when it happened to me on my old Cavalier I used to have.
Using an extra pair of hands, a star wheel brace, hydraulic bottle jack and a small block of wood, I first parked close to a sturdy brick wall, then fitted the locking key onto the damaged wheel bolt. I then put the star brace on the locking key and then held the small block of wood against the other end of the star brace. I then put the bottle jack horizontally between the brick wall and block of wood - pumping it up to remove any slack and to force the wheel brace tight against the wheel bolt so that it couldn't slip off when turned. Use the extra pair of hands as you see fit when you want something holding while you operate the bottle jack, and then get that extra pair of hands to turn the wheel brace while you steady the bottle jack, etc to stop it from slipping off the block of wood, etc. The locking key was unable to be pushed off the wheel bolt as the heath robinson method I used prevented it from doing so.
There's an easier solution nowadays: Lots of places, including Halfords, sell an unlocking tool (£10ish) - it's like the key, but instead it has a reverse thread on the inside that mates to the collar of the locking wheel nut. You "screw" it on using an impact wrench (electric or air-powered), but with the wrench going anti-clockwise (from the operator's persective), as if you were simply trying to undo a normal bolt. The reverse thread means it bites into the nut and unscrews it. It's the common availability of these unlocking tools that makes the "spinning shroud" wheel locks a must.
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