Took car in to Hi-Q tyres yesterday to have two new front tyres fitted, left car with them for 40 minutes, returned to find that the tyres had not been fitted due to the front left locknut shearing the grooves off the bolt, apparently the right-hand side wheel just about came off, but they couldn't get the left off due to the overtightening of all the bolts by the previous owner/possibly the dealer that I got it off. How do I go about getting the locknut bolt off, could it be drilled/cut or is something more drastic required? The tyre place didn't have anything that could be used to get the wheel off, is this going to cost me major bucks to sort?

Surprised they didn't have something like this

http://www.premiertools.co.uk/cat111_1.htm

http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/s.nl/sc.9/category.48/it.A/id.8473/.f

they normally would stock one od the above kits , cheaper option is to buy an impact socket thats slightly smaller than the locking nut/bolt and bash it on then undo it ( I had to do this)

only other ways I know of are to loosen all the nuts other than the locking one and drive 2/3metres slowly and jam the brakes on ( never had to do this but supposed to work)to jar the nut loose or drill the bolt/ stud out which is a right pain

on my old focus my brother threw the locking wheel nut key away by mistake, they were on so tight I ended up having to weld on a nut to get them off, which took a few goes as they were on so strong the weld snapped!

on my old focus my brother threw the locking wheel nut key away by mistake, they were on so tight I ended up having to weld on a nut to get them off, which took a few goes as they were on so strong the weld snapped!

LOL:)

tried that as well! couldn't get a good weld though as the bolts were not welding correctly to the bar

Do you know if Hi-Q Tyres, used an air operated impact gun to undo the locking wheel nut ???

If they did, then IMHO its asking for trouble.

Most "locking wheel nut keys" inc, the one supplied with my Octy vRS are not suitable to be used with an impact wrench and should only be used with a wheel brace and/or torque wrench.

Regards, vrs180

The only decent way to remove them is with a 13mm carbide tip drill and a steady hand and someone pouring coolent on the drill as they get mighty hot then hey presto you should be able to screw out the last of the stud .Imust have to do 20 cars a year all volvo cause the spotty 17 year old at the local garage think its fun to use air guns:thumbdwn: .

i know snap on tools do a kit for removing locking wheel nuts.

it's just a case of hammering it on before undoing it.

never ever try driving the car to loosen off the nuts.

get a suitable large drift and give the nuts a few decent blows with a hammer to "shock" the rounded off bolts.

i am more than suprised that your tyre dealer couldn't get the bolts off.

people are "always" losing the key

try calling a few other tyre dealers to ask if they could take care of the problem, shame your not in norfolk/suffolk

adam

Went round a few tyre places yesterday to ask if they would be able to sort the problem, they all seemed very reluctant to divulge anything to me, as if I was asking them to do something illegal, so took car round to local garage and they reckon they could get it off, have to leave it with them next week, apparently they had an M3 beemer with the same problem x2, both fronts had been overtightened/locknut grooves sheared off, they reckoned the airguns that tyre depots use are to blame...

glad ur getting somewhere. i once bounght a mk1 MR2 supercharged which had locking nuts and no keys. it's not a massive problem. i am very suprised no one will have a look at it. i would have thought at the very least someone would have a look in their break for a "drink"

i always make a point of telling tyre fitters that i do not want air tools fitted and that i will be checking torque settings are correct after 25 miles. this usually does the trick and makes sure they do a proper job

adam

Ach just park the car in Liverpool and wait. They'll manage it

Are we talking "No" to airtools on standard nuts or just the locking type?

Are we talking "No" to airtools on standard nuts or just the locking type?

It is OK to remove standard wheel nuts or bolts with airtools and to lightly "run up" when re-fitting.

But the final tightening should be done using a torque wrench (if available), or a wheel brace or similar, and re-checked with a torque wrench when possible.

The specified wheel nut/bolt torque for any vehicle is calculated to obtain the required wheel to hub clamping force.

The clamping force is very important, not enough and the wheel may come loose, to much and the wheel, hub, studs and nuts may be damaged/over stressed.

A torque wrench will ensure the correct clamping force is achieved and is evenly spread around the wheel and hub mating face.

Sorry for going on a bit, but as part of my job I have had to investigate many (avoidable) wheel looses.

vrs180

I had the opposite, they didnt tighten the locking nuts and they flew out!

Rather that than the other way round TBH......as long as they tightened the others.

Vauxhall offered to drill mine out when we did it for about a tenner if we bought the new locking wheel nuts from them.

In the end we managed to drill it into a shape to get a large allen key into and coax it out very slowly.

it drives me mad when wheel nuts are over tightened. to give an idea of how tight they should really be the little wheel nut spanner you get with the jack is all you should ever need to undo and do up wheel nuts. anything more is just too much. if you check the correct torque figures most people would be suprised how little it really is!!!

i never trust tyre shops to do the job correctly especially "quick fit" type places

air tools should be banned!!!!

daddy2coull