Okay!!! so jacked up half of my mini and I got 8 nuts off two wheels. How the **** do I remove the wheels.
Its like cemented to the rotors! Much help needed. I have 17" S Lites



Since i bought the car I never touched the lug nuts but the driver side front wheel's nuts are insane.
Using the provided lug nut remover, the thing started to bend and came off my nut with a scar on my lug nut.
Anyone know how I can get these off!

 

Find a friend with an impact wrench. Or get a long breaker bar with a deep socket of the right size... And use a torque wrench to re-torque them to the right tightness (which does NOT feel very tight, really).

 

I bought an 18 inch breaker bar, placed it on the nuts, pulled and the car started to move... lol thennn it became loose. Thanks!

 

Congratulations!

Gotta love gorillas with lug wrenches. It's unreal how often "mechanics" (and I use that term VERY loosely) overtorque the bejeezus outta things just because they think that must be EVEN BETTER. Including "certified mechanics" at the stealership.

 

Okay so jacked up half of my mini and I got 8 nuts off two wheels. How the **** do I remove the wheels. Its like cemented to the rotors! Much help needed. I have 17" S Lites

 

a rubber mallet works nice. or a good whack with your hand.

 

I kicked it, I punched it, I wacked it, I pulled it... all really really hard... nothing!

 

I've heard of this approach. Put the lug nuts back on hand tight and very slowly drive the car a bit forward and a bit backward.

-I hope this is not bad advice, but if it is, this is the place to get it corrected .

 

I was actually thinkin about driving them without lugs for a few meters lol... but I gave up since the sun just went down.

 

Keep at least one lug nut on the wheel, loose. Then hit the wheel harder. I usually use a rubber mallet against the tire. Hit the tire, spin the wheel a little, hit the tire again, spin again. Eventually, it will come off.

If there's no rubber mallet handy, kick the tire with the heel of your foot from the inside of the car - kicking the wheel off the hub.

 

I had the same problem with the wheels stuck on. My trick was to spray WD40 between the hub and the wheel and let it sit for a bit. I then started kicking at wheel and it eventually came off.

 

Kicking it - aggressively (I mean, like you want to HURT it)- has worked for me with stuck wheels in the past.

I rotate and clean every 5K miles now - and haven't had this problem on the MINI yet...

 

The wheels become "sealed" to the hub from brake dust and heat, etc. It can be tough to break that seal if it's been a while-or is the first time they have been off. Keep working at it with a mallet or your heel and it will come off.

 

Kicking the wheel (tire) of a car that is up on a jack and or jack stands just doesn't sound like a good idea to me, especially kicking the back side of the tire. Oh well, what do I know?

 

LARGE DEAD BLOW HAMMER FROM THE INSIDE WILL DO THE TRICK.
CLEAN THE SURFACE WITH A SCOTCH BRITE PAD AND COAT WITH A THIN LAYER OF ANTISEIZE WHEN REINSTALLING.

OR YOU CAN TAKE IT TO A TIRE SHOP AND MAKE THEM DO IT.

 

Yea.. I gave up =p
Gonna bring it to the shop soon and time how fast they can do it.

 

I've been there, done that, as far as thinking they'll never come off. I've found that if I take the wheels off just after I've driven the car for a while, (while everything is "hot"), they come off much easier, than if the car has been sitting for a while, (while everything is "cold").

I also use WD40 or penetrating lube, let it sit, then get a piece of 2" x 4", and place it against the wheel, while I whack it with a small, hand-held sledge hammer.

They sell discs (called Wheel Mates), that keep the corrosion and brake dust from making that seal happen between the wheels and the rotor hats. They also help a lot. I got mine at Moss Mini. http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewPro...eIndexID=46627

 

Loosely put the lug nuts back on, lower the car so the wheels are touching the ground, then rock the car back and forth. Use a SMALL dab of anti-seize between the wheel and rotor next time.

 

1. Put all the lugs back on, but not too tight and drive around. Get the car warmed up and try to brake a lot. (Braking often will get the wheel nice and warm.). Jack car quickly and try to remove wheels. Kicking should do it.
2. If that doesn't work, then go for a drive again. With the car on the ground, just free each lug nut. (1/4 to 1/2 turn only). Steer in the opposite direction. (If taking drivers side, then turn to the passenger side. If passenger side, turn to the driver side). This should pull the wheel from the rotor. Jack the car quickly, and remove the wheel.

Good Luck!

M.

 

I put the wheel mates on last fall, and am soon going to be putting on some new wheels for the summer road trip to Philly.... I'll let you know then how easy they come off! I also remember putting a dab of lube right at the axle, where the wheel touches. They haven't come flying off, so I guess I didn't put too much in there!

Sir M.

 

Follow up:

Yesterday put on new wheels (the OEM's) and 3 out of 4 wheels popped off with no effort... thanks probably to the wheelmates. The last wheel required two brisk raps to the tire with a rubber mallet. The old wheels had been on for about 8 months.

I did notice that the anti-seize compound I put on each axle end had pretty much dried up. So this time I used the anti-seize compound on one axle and the other three I'm going with a traditional synthetic grease. (Tri-flow)

Wheelmates did work though, for the record, if anybody cares at this point on a dying thread....

Sir M.

 

I had the same problem the first time I tried to put on my snow tires 3 winters ago. I got the wheels off using the remove lugnuts then put them back on hand tightened approach, then I lowered the car and drove back and forth about 3 feet braking hard...then they were easily removed.

Using a thin coat of anti-seize and I've had no problems since....but it is IMPORTANT to note that you are supposed to use only a thin layer of anti-seize and be careful NOT to get the anti-seize anywhere near the lug nut threads

 

Two data points on this topic

1) not unique to MINI. My neighbor with a TOY' TUNDRA came over the other day and asked sheepishly "if I took off the lug nuts WHY can't I get the wheel off?" It took ALOT of kicking to finally get the wheel to break loose. We cleaned off the centering hub and wheel ring

2) On a local site we were discussing WHY an oil change at the dealer costs so much and discovered the service performed at an oil change {one you PAY for however}:


***************

From {dealer name removed} maintenance scheduling web site

Oil Service [MINI] $164.88

Change oil and filter while engine is at operating temperature, replace micro filters when required, check overall thickness of front and rear disc brake pads, clean brake pad contact points, grease wheel centering hubs, check parking brake acuation adjusting if necessary. Reset service indicator

***************

Being one who believes in tire rotation I know that there was never any evidence that this dealer had greased my hubs when the car was in for pre-paid maintenance. Isn't it curious that they DO IT (or claim to) on a paid oil change?


BTW - how do you feel about grease this close to brakes???? Antiseize is what I use....

 

Working in the industry now.. I see a lot of this come in.

either over tight, and when we take them off, they snap the wheel bolts.. and try telling a customer the previous shop over-tightened, or dude, it's a 92 corsica..

We hand torque all of our wheel nuts and all other nuts that we are playing with. Caliper bolts, engine, you name it. all hand torqued.

We also get a few weird noises from customers and find that the wheel nuts are only hand tight...

 

Just a couple of points about all this.

Do put antiseize on the cernter hub where the wheel fits over the hub.

Do remove the torx screw holding your disk alignment and apply antiseize

Do not tighten this torx very much when you put it back. It is only there to keep your disk aligned with the lug bolt holes in the hub. It cannot come out when the wheel is in place even if it was really loose.

Do put antisieze on your lug bolt threads.

Do put a tiny amt of antiseize on the conical part of the lug bolt head where it fits the conical part of wheel.

Everytime you rotate your tires (nice time is every 5K when you change your oil, assuming you change your oil and haven't drunk the BMW kool-aid, hehe) remove and clean and re-antiseize that torx screw on your rotor.

Whomever does your brake job (you or someone else) will be very appreciative of the antiseize on the torx screw. If you don't mind a little aggrivation when changing wheels (aligning the rotor with the hub) you don't even need this torx screw. I've been thinking about removing the rotor and adding a little bit of high temp silicone (very thin layer) between the hub and the back of the rotor to hold it from turning when the wheel is off and then eliminating the torx screw.

good luck to all and hope this makes sense and helps

YD