can't seem to remove the wheels off my cooper s after removing the 4 lugs....am i just being dumb or is there something i'm missing here! lol

 

Not dumb! Likely you've got a little galvanic corrosion happening. The two dissimilar metals are trying to weld themselves together. You could try spraying some penetrating oil through the lug bolt holes to try to get it into the mounting face (never tried this), or just start beating and kicking until it comes free. After you get them off, clean up both mounting faces and put on a coating of anti-sieze to keep it from happening again.
This is a fairly common thing with aluminum wheels, so don't think you did anything wrong.

Good luck!

 

get a rubber hammer/mallet and hit the tire face at the top of the wheel, then the bottom, top, buttom etc. It'll loosen anything holding it to the hub and you'll be able to take off the wheel

 

If the above methods fail, put the lug bolts back on, but leave them fairly loose. Lower the car to the ground, roll the car enough to give the wheel a full rotation, and then raise it back up, it should be broken free.

 

The best way to knock the wheel loose is to have it jacked up (jack stands underneath), lug nuts removed and give the bottom of the tire a good kick or tap with a rubber mallet. Before you mount the wheels back on, use Wurth copper anti-seize on the face of the hub (and hub centric area) so the dissimilar metals (steel and alloy rim) don't corrode again. Don't put too much on, only a thin film is needed. Keep it off the mounting face of the lug nuts also. Permatex makes a good anti-seize paste as well. This is standard practice here in New England.

 

I usually sit down on the ground and give the lower portion of the tire a good kick with the bottom of my foot. Works everytime and no feet were hurt performing this stunt!

 

I'd recommend a dead-blow mallet, rather than just any-old rubber mallet, that way if you hit your rubber (i.e. springy!) tire, the mallet doesn't come back and whack you in the head, or worse... Also, if you alternate hitting the top-bottom-left-right the wheel will break free pretty quickly, but you DO have to really whack it!

RM2k5

 

if you are going to tap your tires with a mallet, keep your lugs loosely on the
hub. otherwise the wheel will fall off the car possibly crashing on top of
your tools where it could traject into your face and possibly result in a
bloody nose.

i would loosen the lugs and do a circle or 3point turn.

 

good reason to do a stud conversion

 

why? the result is pretty much the same. the corrosion is on the center bore,
not the lugs.

 

the wheel wont fall off and go bouncing around, it'll just rest on the studs

 

you wanna bet?! jk

the only wheel that haven't fallen off the studs after loosening all the
lug nuts are my 19x10" 3pc GT3's running 275/35/19's.

almost always the wheels will work itself off the studs from the bottom
if you don't have lugs on.

 

Another Option -- When I tried to take the Slites of my car, none of these tricks would work. I pulled of the plastic hub cover and then used a very large wheel/pulley puller from Sears. With this, two clamps pieces fit into two opposite holes, and the center bolt pushes on the hub at the center of the disk. Popped right off.

A recommendation -- go to your local parts store and get a tube of anti-sieze to put on the hub when you re-install the wheels.

 

I use a light coat of WD40.

 

thanks for all the advice!..i used a rubber mallet and gave it a couple of whacks on the tire and it loosened up just fine..appreciate all the help!

 

hope you didn't loose a wheel weight.

 

I was going to chime in that I just had this problem myself and the rubber mallet made it a piece of cake.