Just checked (a few !) and all correctly tightened.

By the way, are those wheel nut caps really necessary? They hardly show and can be a pig to get off.

My dealer says I have the right tool already (a metal ring with a short arm on it, with a small right-angle bend at the end of the arm) for this, but I think there should be a different one, shaped a bit like a pair of tweezers? I'm going by the illustration and description of tools supplied, in the owners manual. I think the tool he described is for wheel trim removal

The plastic tweezers are the right tool to remove the plastic caps

It can't be attempted theft, how many scally's decide to replace the caps over the loose nuts after being disturbed

35 psi. Tyre pressure is dropping with the cooler weather.

 

You should notice some higher mpg with the extra air in.

The plastic tweezers are the right tool to remove the plastic caps

So I thought but my dealer denied this. However, all is not lost, I made my own tonight, out of a small strong strip of 50 thou. brass, 5 mm wide, shaped as per the tweezers, and they do work well!

(The old story - if you want something done, do it yerself !!!)

The thing which make me belive this was not a theft attempt is the rear n/s wheel having 5x loose nuts yet still having all 5x caps in place. A theif would not replace the caps if disturbed. The other possibility is that someone is trying to knock me off.

Ah makes sense then, still strange for them to take so long to come loose.

I also swapped front-to-back wheels today. After 5500 miles the fronts are half-worn but the rears had 80% left. I guess they'll all need replacing soemwhere between 10-12K.

I need to do this too, got about 2mm left on the fronts after 7,800 miles, should check the pressures too, jacked them up for a long holiday run in August and haven't reset them yet, lazy I know !

I prefer swapping wheels around so that I can replace all 4 tires at once. It means that I can easily swap brands, pickup 4 for 3 and similar offers, and share out the curbing my wife adds to the front alloys.

I prefer swapping wheels around so that I can replace all 4 tires at once. It means that I can easily swap brands, pickup 4 for 3 and similar offers, and share out the curbing my wife adds to the front alloys.

Climbing the curve < 5 degree angle. Priceless.

.

 

Is 30PSI correct for standard 18" VRS wheels?

 

Sounds very low. 

I'd be running 36 or 38 psi all round.  This will minimise the chance of rim/tyre damage if you hit a pothole.  It will also give better fuel economy, longer tyre life & slightly crisper turn-in.

 

I'm aware that you folk in the UK are very conservative about tyre pressures so at a minimum, use the guide inside the fuel filler cap.

The plastic tweezers are the right tool to remove the plastic caps

 

So I thought but my dealer denied this. However, all is not lost, I made my own tonight, out of a small strong strip of 50 thou. brass, 5 mm wide, shaped as per the tweezers, and they do work well!

(The old story - if you want something done, do it yerself !!!)

 

If you look around the spare wheel there should be a small black pastic piece to remove the plastic caps.

It works really really well.

I will try to upload a picture of it with the part number tonight.

You can get it from the garage as an accessory (something like 80p) so you dealer should be able to provide you one for free seeing as the gave you some bad information.

Upon inspection I noticed straight away that one of the wheel nuts (the locking security nut) was completely missing from the front near-side wheel. I popped the boot open and removed the jack for the very first time (glad that I ordered the spare wheel option). After jacking the front up I found that the remaing 4 wheel nuts were also loose. All apart from one nut were loose enough to be removed by hand. After tightening the wheel (minus one nut) I checked the other wheels. Both off-side wheels were fine, but the rear near-side also had 5 untightened nuts. I could not remove these by hand, but they each needed the merest touch of the wrench to move them.

 

Glad you caught it before nothing more serious happened.

 

This is also great advice for people change winter wheels themselves at the moment, especially if using new bolts.

Check the torques are corrected every 100km for the first few weeks to ensure all is still secure.

It can't be attempted theft, how many scally's decide to replace the caps over the loose nuts after being disturbed

Ones that weren't disturbed but were actually doing some prep work to reduce the time the actual theft would take on a subsequent night? (I'll grant that does seem like a level of planning not always associated with one's perception of your average wheel thieves).

This is also great advice for people change winter wheels themselves at the moment, especially if using new bolts.

Check the torques are corrected every 100km for the first few weeks to ensure all is still secure.

If your using winters make sure to check that your other set of wheels take the same bolts as your standards as there are a few different bolt seat types mainly 60 degree taper or radius seat. If youbfit the wrong ones then the bolts will not seat properly and can come loose or damage the wheel

I had exactly the same thing on my Scirocco, bloody scary!

My Scirocco has always been fine, but I had the same thing on the Audi (though I'm pretty sure manufacturer type doesn't matter). It's really scary. I had 3 nuts completely loose and the other two were just about holding. Vibrations in the steering were horrendous. I also found that it actually shows up really quickly, meaning that you don't have a gradual increase in vibrations over a few hundred kms but that it's nearly an "on/off" effect, I think that once one or two nuts are slightly loose the rest will follow quickly due to small vibrations in the wheel that we as drivers can't pick up through the steering. And then when you do its nearly too late.

 

A big error is to tighten the nuts too much since you damage the alloys and when trying to get the nuts loose when you change wheels risk breaking them off (that's what we had once on a car). I now tighten them with 120Nm, then after 100km again. Doing that I never had a problem and when changing the wheels after a few thousand kms the nuts are still tightened properly.

Very sound advuce. Also remember to torque dry unless stated otherwise. And never grease the back of your wheels either

Very sound advuce. Also remember to torque dry unless stated otherwise. And never grease the back of your wheels either

 

Slightly off topic - is it a good/bad idea to use threadlock on wheel bolts?  Properly torqued they should not come loose but with big temperature changes the alloy and steel will shrink/expand at different rates so could possibly work loose (theoretically speaking).

Very sound advuce. Also remember to torque dry unless stated otherwise. And never grease the back of your wheels either

grease the back? Not sure what you mean. For my alloys which were spraypainted (and thus are a mil too narrow to fit), I have to use a copper spray to make sure they slide off properly, otherwise they get stuck and I need to use a hammer (well not really but still) to get the wheels of the axle. The nuts are always left dry, no copper spray, no grease and no...

 

Slightly off topic - is it a good/bad idea to use threadlock on wheel bolts?  Properly torqued they should not come loose but with big temperature changes the alloy and steel will shrink/expand at different rates so could possibly work loose (theoretically speaking).

I never have, and never heard of anyone doing it. Even when mine are set to 120Nm and I drive one season with them they are sometimes tighter than when I put them on, so to glue them would be a tad overkill for mine.

With the correct torque it should be unnecessary. I've not heard of anyone recommending it...

grease the back? Not sure what you mean. For my alloys which were spraypainted (and thus are a mil too narrow to fit), I have to use a copper spray to make sure they slide off properly, otherwise they get stuck and I need to use a hammer (well not really but still) to get the wheels of the axle. The nuts are always left dry, no copper spray, no grease and no...

I mean the mating surface on the back of the alloy that sits against the hub. Its the friction between the alloy and the hub/disc that transmits the drive and braking force(not the wheel bolts they just provide the clamping force to create the friction) so you don't want any form of lube in there. If your wheels are tight then a bit of antisieze on the locating spigot shouldn't hurt though

It would be standard engineering practice to use some copperslip or light grease on the thread.

It would be standard engineering practice to use some copperslip or light grease on the thread.

oNly if it is stated on an engineering work spec, as it would have different torque setting to make up for less frictional drag on the threads,

My understanding is that the torque setting is to control the deformation of the fixing s it tightens. Thread friction shouldn't be relevant to torque as there is minimal rotation after the bolt face seats.

This is why you should re tighten after a few hundred miles, as the bolt or nut would have stress relaxed and therefore loosened.

Though I have been known to be entirely wrong on previous occasions

Edited 18 November, 201411 yr by doctored

I mean the mating surface on the back of the alloy that sits against the hub. Its the friction between the alloy and the hub/disc that transmits the drive and braking force(not the wheel bolts they just provide the clamping force to create the friction) so you don't want any form of lube in there. If your wheels are tight then a bit of antisieze on the locating spigot shouldn't hurt though

ah OK. I put the copper spray on the bit that fits into the alloy wheel (that's potruding about 1 cm from the hub, perpendicular to the brake disc). I don't copperspray the actual surface that the alloy meets the hub (the one in line with the brake disc) since the alloy doesn't jam on that part.

cheers