Holy cow! After 5k miles I tried rotating my wheels. I took out the lug bolts and nada. Tried wiggling, nothing. Try turning, nothing. What the heck. so I rapped it a couple of times with a mallot (against some wood) and it budged. I rotated the wheel and kept doing this until finally it came free. What did I do wrong? I can't imagine having to change a tire without a mallot. After I rotated I liberally applied antiseize to the hub and wheel. Is this normal? Now I know the real reason they don't supply a spare, you can't get the flat off if you needed to.

 

does there not need to be grease between wheel and hub?

 

It seems fairly normal to me. The same thing happens on other cars as well.

The trick I've been taught is to losen the lugs a little bit (but still on the thread), and roll the car forward/backward to dislodge the wheel. If that doesn't work, out comes the mallet.

 

the hub just rusted onto your wheel. no biggie, happens to other cars
sometimes. I put a light coat of WD40 on the hub before putting the wheel
back on. Saves the hassle next time around. :smile:

If you get oil on the rotor, wipe it off with a degreaser before putting
the wheel back on.

 

Thanks for your feedback. I had this happen with my last car, but only after 10k and I was still able to kick it free. It just seems a little extreme after only 5k. I did use antisieze so that should help out quite a bit.

 

>>Thanks for your feedback. I had this happen with my last car, but only after 10k and I was still able to kick it free. It just seems a little extreme after only 5k. I did use antisieze so that should help out quite a bit.


I had this problem a lot; especially after winter. Like Ken said, a good coat of WD or your antisieze should do the trick. Just be sure to keep it off the rotors.

-J

 

I would use WD40 to clean the hub, and a bead of anti seize on your stub axel.

I personally am scared for pounding on anything with an implement.

I grab the wheel @ 9 and 3, and rock it off, pitching one in wheile other side out, then reverse. Never takes me more than a minute!

Alex

 

>>I would use WD40 to clean the hub, and a bead of anti seize on your stub axel.
>>
>>I personally am scared for pounding on anything with an implement.
>>
>>I grab the wheel @ 9 and 3, and rock it off, pitching one in wheile other side out, then reverse. Never takes me more than a minute!
>>
>>Alex

Alex, unless you are the size of Shrek, the "grab the wheel" method won't work on this car. :smile: It has always worked for me on others, but not the MINI. I had to use a mallet on the tire (wicked hard) not the rim. It can be a royal P.I.T.A.

 

Foolproof, failsafe method I use to get frozen wheels off of a car:

If the car has already been jacked up and the lug nuts/bolts removed, replace them leaving them about 2-3 turns loose and lower the car.

Push car forward or backward slowly then hit the brake hard. This will lock the rotor while the momentum of the car will act to break loose the stuck wheel. The bolts are loose enough to allow the wheel to move on the hub, but not allow the wheel to come off. Repeat this by pushing the car in the opposite direction until the wheel breaks loose.

Jack car back up, remove the bolts and wheel normally. Before reinstalling the wheel, take a wire brush and clean the rotor surface of looose rust as well as the wheel hub area and wipe these surfaces with a light film of anti-sieze or light oil such as WD-40.

This situation is unavoidable with any vehicle which uses aluminum wheels bolted onto a steel hub. Moisture and road salt combined with the dissimilar metals creates corrosion, and this coupled with the tight clearance between the hub and the wheel will bind the wheel onto the hub. How bad this will happen depends on how long it has been since the wheel was removed, and how much rain and salt the car has encountered in that time. Cleaning the mating surfaces each time the wheel is removed will help make the next removal easier.

 

I'm glad to see so many response. I have to agree with Bisch, Alex. There's no way on a MINI without antiseize or light oil that the wheel will just wiggle off. I have only 5k on mine. It comes stock without anything. So everyone out there, bear in mind, you will NOT just wiggle it off. It took several really hard hits with the mallot.

The loose lug idea I hadn't thought of. I live in Michigan and we salt the roads like french fries as soon as any snow hits. I suspect that where my corrosion was accelerated, but I think the MINI must have a much tighter fit around the hub.

 

We had the exact same problem. But at closer to 2000 miles. I used the "loose lug" technique to get them off. Now any MINI wheels I install (seems to be quite a few anymore...) get a good coating of anti-sieze before getting the torque wrench.

I asked the dealer about this shortly afterwards and apparently it's common. "Yeah, I've seen the mechanics whacking at the wheels to get them off..."

 

From the Northern Reaches of Michigan....Anti-Seize or a good water-proof grease. Blue boat-trailer grease (grey blue in color) or Phill Woods waterproof grease (green) available in any reputible bicycle shop. If you care about your bicycle, be sure to lube an aluminum stem and seat post yearly also for the same rusty reasons.

What is the term for two disimilar metals that rust together? It is one of those 1,000 point scrabble words

 

seems like we need a rubber mallot as part of our normal bag of tools, doesn't it?

 

A small rubber mallet should be a included with the tools you carry in your boot. You never know when you are going to need to whack something

 

>>What is the term for two disimilar metals that rust together? It is one of those 1,000 point scrabble words

 

NAM comes through again! I turned 5K this week, and jacked the car up this evening to rotate the tires. Everything was going well until I got to removing the fourth wheel and it wouldn't budge! (front passenger side) After wrestling with it a little, I came inside to take a quick look at NAM. A search on "frozen wheel" turned up this thread.

I ended up having to both rock the car+brake, and use a mallet, but eventually got it off. Unfortunately, the driver's side was already done, and I didn't want to take the wheels off again to coat the mating surfaces in oil, but at least I'll know what to do if that side freezes in the future.

Thanks to all who posted!

 

I have taken to using copper based anti seize grease on the mating surfaces on all vehicles........

 

I have white powder-coated Rota Slipstream wheels. Two weekends ago I took my car to an autocross and tried to change the wheels for the first time (1500+ miles on the car). All four were stuck/frozen but I was able to get them off by sitting on the race wheel, on the ground, and kicking the frozen wheels' sidewalls and rotating the wheels. It took a lot of effort but I eventually got them off. A professional mechanic friend came by and told me to use anti-seize compound on the wheels when I re-installed them, after the weekend, and I did. This weekend I attended another autocross and could not get the wheels off. I tried the kicking technique but got nowhere on one wheel, tried the other three to see if any were looser and they were not. So, I did not participate, came home and found this thread. I used Greatbear's technique (but actually drove the car forwards and back) and was able to break three wheels loose, initially, and the fourth, after a second application of braking.

I'd been afraid that the powder coating was causing the sticking, even though I've used powder coated wheels for years on other autocross cars, but, after reading this thread realized that wprobably was not the reason, and discovered that the powder coating was worn away in limited spots with rust stains on them.

Last time I only coated one side of the matching faces, this time I did both sides so I hope this works.

I use Eagle One Tire and Wheel Cleaner, I wonder if it is leaching away the anti-seize compound and contributing to the galvanic (?) action causing the wheels to stick, again, in such a short period of time.

My other cars were not front wheel drive and did not require such high torque for the lugs. I wonder if that's a factor, too.

Several alternatives to anti-seize compound have been suggested, above. Has anyone experience with more than one of them? What is most effective?

 

galvanic corrosion?

 

Just got the new Moss catalogue and it lists "wheel mates" a gasket-like device that fits between the wheel and the hub to prevent seizing. Has anyone used them? How well do they hold up with frequent wheel changes, e.g. racing and autocross swapping?

 

yes...or 'galvanic action' which is the term used in the world of architecture...

 

BTW I have this exact problem now... I was not keen on beating my MINI with a mallet so I like the roll trick... I'll try it this week.

 

OK, here I go exposing my age, but WTH? Back in the old days of wire wheels on British cars with knock-off hubs with little ears on them to hit with the mallet that came with the car, it was absolutely ordinary for the poorly painted steel splined wheels to rust solid to the unpainted steel splined hub. No rocking, no mallet on the planet would get them loose. The customary practice was to loosen up the knock-off hub a few turns and then drive the car in a circle with the wheel you wanted to loosen on the outside of the circle. The weight of the car against the rolling wheel would almost always pop the wheel loose.

By almost always, I mean that I have seen cases where wheels had to be air-chiselled off the hubs, usually destroying both.

But loosening the lug nuts/bolts (whichever you're using) and driving slowly in a circle ought to work. And be kind of a tip of the Kangol cap to those who came before us.

 

One week after having all four wheels seized so badly that they couldn't be kicked loose, getting them off by the loosen lugs/nuts - back and forth and brake method, and applying anti-seize compound to both mating faces of wheel and brake hub, they were again seized so badly that they could not be kicked off. I loosened them with a combination of two methods suggested in this thread: loosened the lugs/nuts, drove slowly in a tight circle and braked hard. That broke them loose. I then cleaned the wheel and hub surfaces really well with wheel cleaner and brake cleaner and installed "Brake Mates". Will see next weekend at the autocross if there are seizing problems removing them but I don't see how there could be. Another great advantage, if they work, is no anti-seize compound on the wheels, which is even harder to remove than brake dust.

 

You should see what a tube of anti-sieze does when it breaks open in a motorcycle saddlebag full of clothes. I don't think I ever got it all out of my t-shirts.

On the other hand, it makes an excellent sun-block for your nose while crossing the Rockies.