I should have added that after the incident I referred to I always carry a breaker bar in the car 

On ‎28‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 19:04, xman said:

Clean all mating faces to remove oxide corrosion, particularly the white alloy oxide. Use steel wool. Wash down using solvent like brake cleaner. Apply a thin smear of grease on centre spigot and around the mating hole in the alloy. A tiny bit of grease on the hub edge.

 

LM bearing grease or high temp brake grease. Copperslip is fine on steel wheels but will cause further electrolytic corrosion on alloy wheels so is not suitable despite what others may say. 

 

The main hub surface and mating alloy surface must be grease free. These faces when bolted together transmit torque and shouldn't slip which transfers shear forces on the bolts.

 

Bolts and threads should be clean but NOT greased or lubed. 

 

Torque in correct sequence to 120Nm for most Skoda alloys 

This is excellent advice from xman.

Not sure if someone has already mentioned it but if you resort to a hammer to try and release the wheel from the hub then a dead-blow hammer is best.

I rotate frequently, never had issue of sticking wheels, thread damage or any other issue apart from my own time. It wears tyres more evenly and helps you be aware of brake wear, objects in tyres, sticky callipers, etc as part of routine maintenance. Been on the road mechanically, for 40 years! (Started my own motoring career at 16 with a Suzuki A50P).

Edited 3 October, 20187 yr by mrgf

I remember once working on a friend's Nissan Cherry (their first car), and one (from 4) front bolts took someone sitting in the car with all their force on the foot brake, and my 14 stones on a 3 foot breaker bar to break the torque.

 

When re-fitting, we used the standard wheel brace!

1 hour ago, mrgf said:

I rotate frequently, never had issue of sticking wheels, thread damage or any other issue apart from my own time. It wears tyres more evenly and helps you be aware of brake wear, objects in tyres, sticky callipers, etc as part of routine maintenance. Been on the road mechanically, for 40 years! (Started my own motoring career at 16 with a Suzuki A50P).

 

Oh yes...the lovely A50P Suzuki or AP50. It launched many motorcycling careers! I saw one recently that had been completely rebuilt from scratch with many new parts too. It was worth over £3500! You don't still have yours I take it?

...I wish! Even back then, I sold it for £20 more then I paid for it after over a year of ownership. This was strictly due to the newer versions being restricted, where mine wasn't. 

I saw a blue one on the "Bay" recently, completely restored to showroom condition, over 6 grand, if I remember correctly! At the mo, theres the nicer, red one (AS was mine). for over £5k.

 

I then had its bigger brother, the A100, in blue. sold after over 9 years of ownership after talking a bike test and moving on. They too, are getting "Up there" for a good 'un!

When they stick they stick i remember Guy Martins attempts to remove a Scania front wheel he tried everything as a last resort he removed all of the wheel nuts exept two but left them very slack then took the truck a spin around the industrial estate cornering hard, it did the job but something not to be recommended.

 

Anyway i had trouble removing my fabia wheels after reading a similar post to this, when off i gave both surfaces a good clean then applied a smear of LM grease to them, a year later i took the wheels off for a clean and seal and they were easily removed.

 

Steve.

On 03/10/2018 at 13:49, mrgf said:

I rotate frequently, never had issue of sticking wheels, thread damage or any other issue apart from my own time. It wears tyres more evenly and helps you be aware of brake wear, objects in tyres, sticky callipers, etc as part of routine maintenance. Been on the road mechanically, for 40 years! (Started my own motoring career at 16 with a Suzuki A50P).

 

Me too with the Ap50 at 16 yrs old!

... The recommended removal is to loosen nuts slightly prior to jacking anyway. That ought to be enough to "Crack the seal" Enabling removal but yeah, a small drive with slightly loosened nuts (Oh-err, missus)! should suffice in more extreme circumstances.  

Just fitted my winter wheels, guess what.. I had to use a 7lb lump hammer to remove the originals.

I think it's the first time they have been removed.

Never experienced this before, glad I didn't get  a puncture.

22 hours ago, Skinneroo said:

Just fitted my winter wheels, guess what.. I had to use a 7lb lump hammer to remove the originals.

I think it's the first time they have been removed.

Never experienced this before, glad I didn't get  a puncture.

 

How old is the car?

On 13/10/2018 at 07:05, EdHru said:

 

How old is the car?

Registered 05-16

Obviously car age and mileage has a significant effect on this problem but I remember having considerable difficulty removing a back wheel on a year old VW Passat. I don't think you can assume that a relatively new car won't have a stuck rear wheel.  The Fabia I had all the trouble with was just over 2 years old and had done only 7k miles. BTW, this design of VW etc. rear hub has been around for at least 20 years if not longer.

On 28/09/2018 at 14:21, bertJ said:

I hadn't realised that this problem was so well known and not just on Skodas. Apparently the same problem has existed for years on all VAG cars. BTW, someone told me that another way of loosening a wheel was to undo all the bolts a few turns, leaving them on of course, and drive the car up and down a curb a few times.

There is no way I would ever try that, unless you want to possibly damage the wheel bolts and alloy, and even the tyre. SurreyJohn's tip would seem far more sensible.