Hi all,

 

Just managed to swap 3 wheels from summer factory fitted alloys to my winter Steel wheels today...

 

The wheel nut 'key' have deformed and will not take the last bolt off. grrr. (This happened last year and the dealer gave me a new key.) I should have replaced them then!

 

Im going to take it to the dealers and get the bolt removed.

 

Does anyone have any recomendations for a new locking nut set, that will work with the plstic covers on the (Summer alloys)

 

 

Cheers

They usually get damaged by the apes that work in tyre places. They over-torque the wheel nuts with their impact guns - 150% is usual and 200% is not uncommon. My local place had the guns set to 200Nm - mine should be 120Nm.

That's why you need a friendly well trained Ape

Joking aside, had an incident where a good friend had his R32 alloys gunned on too tight by a garage and had to take them off to do some work he ended up having to put so much leverage through his wrench that when it came loose the wrench jumped and chipped the wheel really badly.

haha, well the Ape was me,

 

The key just slipped of the bolt once and that was enough to make it unusable.

very poor design IMO, the patten is very shallow, and the key metal way too soft, so it is very easy for it to slip and get damadged,

I understand the key is softer, so you dont end up with an unusable bolt, but they seem to be way to soft.

I've been through these problems.
My advice would be to fit the alternative (earlier) type of locking bolt where the key has splines which fit into the bolt to a greater depth and should last better and not slip or break.

Example:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Audi-tt-A3-S3-Locking-Nut-And-Wheel-Bolts-Will-Fit-Mk5-Golf-Seat-Skoda-/221309423547?pt=UK_Cars_Parts_Vehicles_Wheels_tyres_Trim_Nuts_ET&fits=Car+Make%3ASkoda&hash=item338711cfbb#ht_337wt_1150

Edited 17 November, 201312 yr by XK140

Thanks XK140, I was looking at something simialr in Halfords this morning. about the same price

 

These nuts seem "ok" if you only need to change one wheel in an emergency, but using them to change all the wheels twice a year has took its toll on the key. (I think I have only used this one 3 times though.

Are you using a torque wrench to tighten the nuts? What torque?

If you're anywhere round Nottingham, I've got a set of spiral sockets, so chances are I can remove it for you, though it will knacker the bolt head beyond future use. 

Thanks chaps, just using standard wheel brace (With a bar for extra leverage...) , and this was trying to remove it...

 

The amount of torque is about two hnnrrrgs.....  not sure what that is in new money
 

I'm in Liverpool, (Insert jokes about removing alloy wheels) so Thanks for the offer StevesTruck. Bit far too travel.

 

Im sure a dealer will swap the bolts for me when I get some new ones.  There is one near where I work so I should be able to get it sorted.

 

 

Cheers

Edited 17 November, 201312 yr by Brin

Not sure if it's worth saying but Skoda (and VW) say that wheel bolts should be dry -- that is, not greased. The risk is that they may be over-tightened very easily if they are greased.

Thanks chaps, just using standard wheel brace (With a bar for extra leverage...) , and this was trying to remove it...

 

The amount of torque is about two hnnrrrgs.....  not sure what that is in new money

 

I'm in Liverpool, (Insert jokes about removing alloy wheels) so Thanks for the offer StevesTruck. Bit far too travel.

 

Im sure a dealer will swap the bolts for me when I get some new ones.  There is one near where I work so I should be able to get it sorted.

 

 

Cheers

 

No worries, wheel nuts should be torqued to one hnnrrrg, head bolts to a teeth clench+180 degrees and crank pulley bolts are generally set to being legitimately concerned if that is a fart you're inadvertantly pushing out. 

I had exactly the same recently, although it didn't wreck the key completely, just enough for it to slip easily when pressure was applied Luckily a friendly tyre place managed to get it undone for me using a breaker bar and a jack under the socket. The disappointing thing is that a Skoda main dealer had the wheels off last, I'd have expected better from them. From now on I'm removing the locking nuts from the car before it goes in for any work and putting them on myself with the bare minimum torque. They are way more trouble than they are worth though, alloy wheels aren't the big theft item they once were now every base spec hatch comes with them.

Whatever you do don't get the Peugeot-style pin design, they are useless!

Get yourself a torque wrench. Something like http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Professional-Torque-Wrench-Ratchet-28-210NM-with-3-8-Adaptor-Case-/231094154591 is fine.

There seem to be two basic designs for the lower cost wrenches - 28-210Nm and 42-210Nm. For some reason the 28-210Nm wrenches are more accurate and robust. Places like Machine Mart have the same wrench. Sometimes Lidl and Aldi have them at good price too.

When you use it for the first time, you will probably think it's not tight enough but it will be. In the absence of a torque wrench, most owners overtighten them and then give them a bit more just in case.

AnotherGareth is right - you shouldn't grease the bolts. Just make that the bolt threads and conical seat are clean.

No worries, wheel nuts should be torqued to one hnnrrrg, head bolts to a teeth clench+180 degrees and crank pulley bolts are generally set to being legitimately concerned if that is a fart you're inadvertantly pushing out.

Yup, one tortoise head is fine for the crank nut, but a prolapse is way to much

haha, 1 Metric Tortoise head. (Noted)

 

Thanks chaps Local dealer took the last bolt out, but didnt have enough time to swap the wheel, I was on a lunch break... so had to run.

Just took all the other bolts out now and the wheel will not budge.

Im going back to the dealer tomorrow to pick up a new set of bolts. I have asked them to swap the wheel as well, I was scared of knocking it off the jack with the force I was trying to use.

 

 

I will invest in proper wrench and nuts soon!

 

Thanks All

Edited 18 November, 201312 yr by Brin

I always crack the wheel nuts off before jacking the car. That way you've got the tyre traction to pull against, and no worries of pulling it off the jack. 

yep, I do the same, its the wheel without any bolts in at all that would not shift... 

 

Almost seems like too much hastle swapping the wheels, next time Im just going to get the all weather tyres fitterd to the proper alloys, and leave them on all year!

Is it a rear wheel?

 

Loosen all the bolts to just above finger tight, drop it off the jack and drive for a few metres, it should crack the seal and come off fine. Don't drive far though obviously! Mine were an absolute pig to get off, but doing the above got them off no problem.

If you're anywhere round Nottingham, I've got a set of spiral sockets, so chances are I can remove it for you, though it will knacker the bolt head beyond future use.

Going to be really worried now next time I go to Long Eaton. Might have to fit a spare so you can't nick the full set...

As for cracking the nuts off before jacking the car - well anybody who tries to 'jack my car...

It wasn't like that back in my day :-)

Oops - Nearly forgot. There's 25% off McGard at Halfords with a voucher in Auto Express. And they do sexy black ones too.

Edited 18 November, 201312 yr by Jeeves

Going to be really worried now next time I go to Long Eaton. Might have to fit a spare so you can't nick the full set...

As for cracking the nuts off before jacking the car - well anybody who tries to 'jack my car...

It wasn't like that back in my day :-)

Oops - Nearly forgot. There's 25% off McGard at Halfords with a voucher in Auto Express. And they do sexy black ones too.

Sadly the Mcgard sort are the same as the Skoda type which gave the OP the problem!

The type I pointed out in my earlier post are more durable IMO.

I fail to see the need for locking wheel nuts these days - with the spiral type removal tools so cheap. they aren't going to stop anyone after your alloys.  Battery powered rattle gun and they'll be off before you know what has happened.

Isn't the idea to make it harder for thieves so they move on to something easier? 

Also,the pro thief may come tooled up to acquire really expensive wheels from something upmarket but,with due respect,we are on a Skoda forum here!

To be fair,leaving off the lockers is one way you can invalidate your insurance and get away with it, because if you have all four wheels stolen no-one will know whether you had lockers on or not !!! 

.

Thanks for the discussions and tips.

 

All sorted now, the guys at the garage said it was a struggle to get it off as well, so I dont need to give up my man card just yet!

 

 

They said the new ones are the only type they had on the system. so maybe the spiral type ones are not used any more?

 

The new ones look just like the link above from xk140

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Audi-tt-A3-S3-Locking-Nut-And-Wheel-Bolts-Will-Fit-Mk5-Golf-Seat-Skoda-/221309423547?pt=UK_Cars_Parts_Vehicles_Wheels_tyres_Trim_Nuts_ET&fits=Car+Make%3ASkoda&hash=item338711cfbb#ht_337wt_1150

 

Bring on the Snow and trips to the mountains... Ready for Camping in the snow now. yay

 

---- edit ---

They came to about £32... and no charge for the faffing around...

Edited 19 November, 201312 yr by Brin