Dear All,

Just by shear chance I've never had to take the road wheels off my 2003 VRs Estate.

I now find that after removing all the wheel bolts I can't get one of the rear wheels to come off!

It

It's a well known corrosion issue. You'll need to use a strong boot to get it off and then smear some copper or silicone type grease on the hubs before replacing.

Steel brake disc + Alloy wheel = corrosion.

Remove all the wheel bolts. With the car well supported on axle stands lever the wheels off with a prybar between the rear of the rim and the suspension/hub.

Another technique I've been told (and used) is to have all 5 wheel nuts in, undone a few turns so there's some slack, the lower the car's weight back onto the wheel (and drive it forwards a few yards, and back a few). Worked for me the first time . . . . since then I've got an industrial sized tin of copper slip, although even a tiny amount of the stuff seems to go on for loads of tasks (brakes, engine bits etc. etc).

I wouldnt advise doing that though, the weight and stress on the threads of the wheel bolts wont do them any favours.

I've not had this issue in some time as I swap wheels more often than I really need to. But I did find a good kick on the tyre at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock (in turn) freed it up in the end. (Done best with it well up on axle stands as Ross says, and sat on your a55 so maximum kick power can be accurately applied )

. . . since then I've got an industrial sized tin of copper slip, although even a tiny amount of the stuff seems to go on for loads of tasks (brakes, engine bits etc. etc).

I'm still using a tube of Copa-Slip I got to do the back brakes on my AlfaSud in 1980. Anybody know if this stuff goes off after 26 years?

Thanks Guys,

I guessed it might well be a steel v alloy issue! Copper grease I have plenty of so that part will be easy.

The getting it off I think will be a mighty fight! Hey Ho!

My octavia wheels were pretty securely attached and that was only 18000 miles and 7 months since the tyres were changed.

A good kicking and levering them with the tyre iron popped them off and a good spray of copper grease went on the hub before they went back on.

i did post a tip about this in the fabia tips thread a bit ago , advising that its a good idea to copper slip the wheel hubs at the earliest possible time to save the aggrevation that you've now encountered , apparently skoda never ? take the wheels off during a service , cant remember who posted that though . giving it a good boot should do the trick , just leave one wheel bolt in loose to catch the wheel when it flys off , wire brush the hub ,clean the corrosion from inside the rim and apply a smear of the aforementioned copper slip

I have seen this problem with alloy wheels before. You can try jack up car, supported by axle stand and use a wooden block against the rear outer wheel rim, give a hard tap with a hammer. Turn the wheel 180 deg. and tap again.

You may have to strike quite hard depending on how long the wheel has been stuck on. Smear the hub mating surfaces lightly with Copper-Slip

When fitting the wheel back on.

Winter road salt plays havoc with alloy wheels

i had 2 whack mine with rubber mallet, again 3 an 9 oclock did the trick. dont understand y skoda dont put copper grease on in the factory? :confused:

Its best not to hit the wheel tyre, even with a rubber mallet.

Best idea is to lever the wheel, comes off alot easier..

If you want it to look tidier than copper slip which can look terrible IMHO get a couple of tubes of 'plastilube' from your local VAG dealer. It works very well on hubs and brakes.

if there real tight i sometimes spray a bit of wd40 or similar on join between hub and alloy, leave for about 15 mins then chap with rubber hammer normally gets them off.

mind not to spray any oil on the BRAKES!!

Is this normal then for a car only 6 months old - one of mine is stuck fast (I got one off with a good kick) and we are going to get it on the jacks at the weekend.

Yeah its normal.

As said its a chemical reaction.

Why don't they put a small plastic or rubber spacer thing a few mm thick in there and then that would surely stop any of this problem?

Rubber and/or plastic would compress i guess and not at a given constant rate. Metal to metal contact is the only way to assure the wheel is on properly i would summise. However a little copper slip wouldnt hurt.

well yeah but if the plastic is only 1/2mm thick it would compress flat when the wheel is done up, kind of like a clingfilm skin over the wheel.

Change it when you get tyres changed if possible, problem solved.

Am I missing something important here such as the wheel being out of balance after this?

Same problem with the Golf I had before the Octy. It was only 8,000 miles out of the factory and it had the same problem (I was planning to upgrade the wheels, so tried to take the standards off to fit the new ones, and couldn't).

VW don't take the wheels off in a service either, as they were stuck fast when I got a puncture about 500 miles after a service. Had to call out VW Assistance:O to change the tyre for me (I was on my way to a client site & had to look smart:thumbup: ). The VWA guy couldn't believe that they didn't have to remove the rear wheels on a main service.

Cheers

Ben

On my service they remove all 4 and rotate them (unless you ask them not to)