I need to take the front wheels off, because I need to replace the tyres soon. Unfortunately I have found that when the car was in for its last service they have put the bolts back on with an airgun, the outer ring of the McGard bolt has been ripped off and the socket adapter thingy is fairly chewed. Having slackened the other bolts with my torque wrench, I have found all them to be done up over 250nm, double what they should be.

I borrowed a bolt extractor off a friend, but unfortunately it is no good because of the failry deep bolt holes of the VRS wheel. I went to the dealership (The only one in Huddersfield ) that did it and they didn't seem to care or offer any remedy, even though it was their fault. He even started to edge off back inside when I said it was one of his mechanics that had done it. This is not the first time they have done something wrong or sloppily either.

So does anyone have experience or suggestions of how to get them off. A friend suggested drilling them, but they are hardended.

In the meantime I shall be writing a letter of complaint.

You may end up having to drill the head of the bolt so that the wheel can come off to reveal the stud, then use the extractor.

However this is very time consuming and you would need a range of drill bit sizes with a very strong drill. Get a solid start point, starting with quite a small bit and work up - remember you would be aiming to weaken the head of the bolt, not to completely drill out the bolt.

The other way would be to hammer a socket onto the bolt and remove that way, this sometimes work - but if mega tight may need to use above method.

You may be lucky if you can find someone to brace against a nearby wall with their foot on the head of the socket, pushing HARD towards the car. Really needs a socket set with 90 degree turn out to work though.

Alloy wheel and tyre places sometimes recover this sort of situation. ISTR Elite in Reading so it.

J.

When I was removing the Evolos off my Fabia I managed to round off a VAG locking nut due to it being over tightened by a tyre fitter. I returned the car to them and they were unable to shift it using traditional methods (brute force). The sent me up to a guy who specialises in that sort of thing, he said at worst he would have to weld a bit onto the stud, but really really didn't want to do that as heat and aluminium wheels don't mix at all. He appeared with a long bar with a sharpened chisel like end, hammered it into the bolt and twisted like hell. Lo and behold after a bit of sweating out came the bolt. Only damage to the alloy was a couple of small chips off the paint due to the deep stud holes.

All this happened about an hour before Jason came to collect the wheels!

I had a knackered McGuard Key, tried loads of places but nowhere could get my bolts off, eventually had to order a new key from Germany. Are the bolts totally useless or is the key the main problem.

Halfrauds sell a locking nut removal kit - Its like a socket with a thread in it. Might be worth a try.

Are the bolts totally useless or is the key the main problem.

The key, although chewed a bit still works with the rear bolts as the garage haven't touched them and I applied copper grease to them last time I took them off.

The fronts are completely useless, well I suppose no one will steel my wheels

Halfrauds sell a locking nut removal kit - Its like a socket with a thread in it. Might be worth a try.

I've bought one today, but the bolt is too wide to fit down the hole :(

Just another piont, is there any point sending a letter to the dealerships manager and/or Skoda UK? Since owning the car I've had three services with them and 1 mot and they managed to..

1. Chew the Sump plug thread, needing the sump to be replaced by me at ~£140, it also leaked oil @ 250ml/Month
   
2. Put the wrong front brake pads on, the FS3 brakes have smaller pads on the insides, these larger ones grated against the onworn part of the dics. I replaced the discs with some from Devonutopia for £20 and £7 for a guide pin, which again they had chewed the thread. This was dangerous as the braking was very juddery and had taken big chunks out of the pads.
   
3. They've broken one of the fingers on the rear clip on the engine cover. I've not replaced it, but its annoying.
   
4. I'm almost certain the camber is out on the tracking since they replaced the bushes. Again potentially dangerous.
   
5. Why did they need to leave the ignition on for 4:30 hrs when having an MOT (trip clocks have uses)?
   

I have my cam belt change coming up in ~5000 miles and don't trust them anymore.

He appeared with a long bar with a sharpened chisel like end, hammered it into the bolt and twisted like hell.

Please tell more

12 point socket smacked on the end might work , i've seen bolts and nuts welded onto wheel bolts before now , usually comes off with this method due to the expansion of the original wheel bolt when the heat is applied ,a good welder should be able to do this with none or minimal wheel damage

Your a long way from me but i do this once maybe twice a week removing lock nuts cos spotty kwick crap chavys can't use a spanner but love using nut runners .The only way i remove them is with a carbide tip drill this takes an hour and cost

McGards are no more difficult to remove than other brands.

Hit the hardened metal outer sharply with a hammer and chisel, this'll split and fall away from the bolt. Then just use a standard nut removal tool from Halfords or hammer a socket over and undo with a wheel brace.

Just another piont, is there any point sending a letter to the dealerships manager and/or Skoda UK? Since owning the car I've had three services with them and 1 mot and they managed to..

[*]Chew the Sump plug thread, needing the sump to be replaced by me at ~

I cant believe that you got such a bad service from them, and they charge you? I would also claim for any money you have spent due to their incompetence. There are some posts I cant find giving the contact details of people like the citizens advice bureau. Dont put up with this shoddy and perhaps dangerous service.

Also worth noting when they stripped the sump plug thread on the sump it could have been repaired much more cost effectively using a helicoil.

Please tell more

It was a steel bar, about a foot and a half long with the end flattened like a chisel or screwdriver end. He hammered it into the bolt making a groove in the head which gave just enough purchase to be able to twist the bolt to loosen it and gradually unto it just like a flat head screwdriver and screw (only bigger of course!)

Crude but very effective, and minimal damage

I wish i could round up all the t**t's that work at tyre fitting centres and some car dealerships and give them all a lesson in how a torque wrench works and how to f*cking use one properly!!!!!!!

The amount of times i've witnessed so-called mechanics over-tighten things is unbelieveable.

The last time i had some tyres replaced i had to stand, with both feet, on the end of my 2ft breaker bar to losen the wheel nuts. Thats nearly 300lb force when it only should have taken 55lb force to undo them (if they were tightened correctly!!!!)

I have also heard of a car losing its wheel on a roundabout in much the same way as the Top Gear "reasonably priced car" has. The insurance company's investigation showed that the wheel nuts had been tigtened to 3 times the manufacturers recommended torque figure!!!!!

Anyway, after my little rant, Has anything been sorted out yet Grant???

Halfrauds sell a locking nut removal kit - Its like a socket with a thread in it. Might be worth a try.

I lost the key and had to buy one of these from Motorworld. They work but you will mark your wheels no matter how careful you are. They also destroy the bolts as you wil need a vice to remove the bolt from the socket after.

I have aslo had some sucess previously with an impact driver, but again skill and patience is needed!

Well, a little update,

I tried hammering a chiesel thing into it but nothing happen, so I started to drill, I managed to get a 4mm hole straigh down and started to work with a 6mm but it was slow work. Went round to a friend's house whos an engineer. He also had a go at them, nothing budged. After that we had a go with a Reamer which looks a bit like this

We managed to get it quite far in, but then it got blunt, and started to rain, so we gave up for the day. He's going to get some more next week from work.

So now i've got one with a big hole in which is nealy out, and the other one is untouched. Oh well I'll continue next time

[*]Chew the Sump plug thread, needing the sump to be replaced by me at ~

And i used a 18mm socket and a mallet to get McGuards off, works everytime.

1. No idea if the sump plug has been changed everytime, I've paid for it but that doesn't necessarily means it has.

2. Fair enough I didn't know that, but the front tyres have worn significantly more on the inside than the outside which is often a sign of wrong tracking.

I shall be taking elsewhere, or even doing it myself.

I would have tried an 18mm socket, but the outer ring of the pattened part of the bolts had already been sheard off.

1. No idea if the sump plug has been changed everytime, I've paid for it but that doesn't necessarily means it has.

2. Fair enough I didn't know that, but the front tyres have worn significantly more on the inside than the outside which is often a sign of wrong tracking.

I shall be taking elsewhere, or even doing it myself.

I would have tried an 18mm socket, but the outer ring of the pattened part of the bolts had already been sheard off.

Yes the tracking could be wrong but not the camber.

And its usually easier to get the socket on once the outer ring has come off.

Yes the tracking could be wrong but not the camber.

And its usually easier to get the socket on once the outer ring has come off.

I'll try the other tommorrow. but not optimisic TBH

Is it better to use a multiedge one or a plain six sided socket? Also what sort of torque levels can I expect?

I use an old 18mm deep six sided impact socket and give it hell.

A bit of an update.

I've managed to drill out both locking nuts, using some cobalt drill bits and more reamers as shown above. once a pilot hole was drilled down I was able to widen the hole and weaken it around the head. A quick kick of the wheel and they popped off. the stud left in the hub came out with my fingers

Unfortunately whilst drilling one of the drill bits broke and that ment I punched the drill in to my wheel. It has now got a deep scratch where the teeth on the chuck rubbed.

Finally, I've got some more tyres on, Marshall Matracs which is what I had before and really impress me agaisnt Michelin Primacys I had prior. As I had guessed the tracking was out a mile, the passenger side inside was just starting to show the canvas

I have also bought a new set of bolts which are the VW Sport ones in the little black case, these same better made than the McGard ones and were only