RAGE - Rounded lugnuts

[iamwiz82]

Whoever decided to tighten the lugnuts on my Jeep before I bought it must have welded them to the studs, resulting 3 out of 5 being damaged, including one completely rounded off. :|

I first used my trusty air gun, but it wasn't budging them, so I stepped up to a tire iron, no go, finally I went to breaker bar and they gave, but it was the outer wall giving.

Any ideas on the cost of having a tire shop pop off the rest? I figure I'll just pay them to remove and replace them.

 

[spidey07]

I wouldn't tell them they were that tight and just ask them to rotate your tires and make sure to pay for it. That way you can say "hey, you said it would be 20 bucks to rotate the tires".

 

[Kadarin]

Be prepared for the wheel studs to be damaged if they try to force the lugnuts off.

 

[jlee]

I feel your pain...wtf is it with shops and overtightening? I changed the oil in my truck today - had to link two wrenches for enough leverage to break the drain plug free, and I mangled the oil filter with a wrench before it finally came off...

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Whoever decided to tighten the lugnuts on my Jeep before I bought it must have welded them to the studs, resulting 3 out of 5 being damaged, including one completely rounded off. :|

I first used my trusty air gun, but it wasn't budging them, so I stepped up to a tire iron, no go, finally I went to breaker bar and they gave, but it was the outer wall giving.

Any ideas on the cost of having a tire shop pop off the rest? I figure I'll just pay them to remove and replace them.

Try a rounded nut remover yet? I had a keyed lug's key strip out..my mechanic zipped it right off with an impact and the proper reverse-threaded socket.

Originally posted by: spidey07
I wouldn't tell them they were that tight and just ask them to rotate your tires and make sure to pay for it. That way you can say "hey, you said it would be 20 bucks to rotate the tires".

Yeahhh, that's not gonna work. Any decent shop will tell him about the problem first. A not-so-decent shop will fix it anyway and hold the car until the bill is paid.

 

[brblx]

how did you manage to round a lugnut? you can usually break a socket before a 19mm or larger nut will round.

but yeah, anyone at a shop who puts on lugnuts with an impact and a straight socket (as opposed to using a flip socket or a torque stick) is a moron. and there are lots of them.

 

[beat mania]

Originally posted by: brblx
how did you manage to round a lugnut? you can usually break a socket before a 19mm or larger nut will round.

Maybe with a 12 point socket.

 

[T2urtle]

your air gun couldn't do it? maybe its under powered. Jumping on a breaker bar is my last option and i've only had to do it twice.

if a torch is not needed then they should be like $30-40. I would try to ask them to rotate the tires first and then see if they do it for free. When i was at a shop this lady, lost her wheel lock key and she paid for the tire rotation and ask me to leave the locks off, since we had the OEM master key set. she bought 4 new ones. It was cheaper then asking use directly to replace the locks. Yea its a diffrence case for you but its a thought that can go in your favor or not.

 

[StageLeft]

Understood. Shops need to fvck off with tightening them that much.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Understood. Shops need to fvck off with tightening them that much.

Agreed. There are specific torque specs for different cars and different sized studs or bolts (for those cars that use lug bolts). Overtorque and you run into these issues, along with possibly stripping threads. Undertorque, and you end up with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv4m41viy4I

 

[RGUN]

That RX7 had the wrong lugnuts, with the incorrect thread for the studs. Thats why they fell off, not from under torquing.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: beat mania

Originally posted by: brblx
how did you manage to round a lugnut? you can usually break a socket before a 19mm or larger nut will round.

Maybe with a 12 point socket.

6 point and I would assume cheap lugnuts. I had chrome plating flaking everywhere.

Originally posted by: T2urtle
your air gun couldn't do it? maybe its under powered. Jumping on a breaker bar is my last option and i've only had to do it twice.

if a torch is not needed then they should be like $30-40. I would try to ask them to rotate the tires first and then see if they do it for free. When i was at a shop this lady, lost her wheel lock key and she paid for the tire rotation and ask me to leave the locks off, since we had the OEM master key set. she bought 4 new ones. It was cheaper then asking use directly to replace the locks. Yea its a diffrence case for you but its a thought that can go in your favor or not.

I've never thought it was underpowered before. I have gotten axle nuts off multiple times.

I have had good luck at Discount Tire before. When I got my Miata it came with a key, but when I went to remove the wheels it didn't fit. Went to Discount and they couldnt figure out what type it was, so they removed them somehow and replaced them for the cost of the lugnuts. I'll probably hit them up tomorrow.

 

[exdeath]

Probably cross threaded with chewed up threads and stretched nuts more than simply overtightened. Even if you get them off, you're going to have just as much issue getting them back on (turning them 1/8th of a turn at a time by hand and melting them in the process). Time for new wheel studs at that point. Should be around $10 a wheel and you can install them yourself with a hammer and ruining a couple of the old nuts to pull them through. A ball joint press makes it infinitely easier and more humane.

+1 for Discount Tire, I've always watched them use torque sticks one range below the torque spec then torque up to the final value by hand with a click wrench. They are also real careful with the lift, using rubber/wood blocks. A+ in my book.

 

[Aharami]

last time this happened to me, i ended up getting a shop to weld a hex nut on top of it and then use that to get off the rounded nut

 

[Ronstang]

Originally posted by: Aharami
last time this happened to me, i ended up getting a shop to weld a hex nut on top of it and then use that to get off the rounded nut

It is easier to take an old 12 point socket that is a little too small to go over the rounded lug nut and simply drive it on with a big hammer. Then the breaker bar usually gets it off. I have been doing it this way for decades. Great way to get off those pesky wheel locks you don't have the key for either.

 

[geno]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
It is easier to take an old 12 point socket that is a little too small to go over the rounded lug nut and simply drive it on with a big hammer. Then the breaker bar usually gets it off. I have been doing it this way for decades. Great way to get off those pesky wheel locks you don't have the key for either.

Just to add another tip for the "can't get the keyed nut off" crowd, a friend had a bought a cheap set and the "keyed" section was merely pressed into a socket, which of course it broke loose from the socket when trying to remove the nut. Anyhow, the keyed lugnut stuck out just far enough from the wheel to get a pipe wrench onto. Once the wrench got a good bite, the cylindrical nut came right off. It's worth a shot before you try hammering on a socket or welding a nut on if the conditions are right.

 

[AMCRambler]

Buy all new sets of studs and lugs for all the frozen ones. Then just drill out the studs, get the wheels off and replace the busted studs. Putting on new studs isn't hard. Especially if you've got an air gun. Bash the old ones out with a sledge hammer, tap the new ones into the backing plate and run the lug nut all the way down on it with your air gun. It will seat the stud right into the backing plate very nicely.

 

[BlackTigers]

Just dremel the lug nut off.

It's how I got two of my last few off. NTB decided that 6million ft/lbs was a proper torque spec.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Understood. Shops need to fvck off with tightening them that much.

Agreed. There are specific torque specs for different cars and different sized studs or bolts (for those cars that use lug bolts). Overtorque and you run into these issues, along with possibly stripping threads. Undertorque, and you end up with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv4m41viy4I

Not just stripping threads, but warping rotors. 100 ft-pounds. I bought a torque wrench just for that purpose (after I tightened the lugs on my Durango (that were loose from the factory) and warped two of the rotors).

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Ronstang

Originally posted by: Aharami
last time this happened to me, i ended up getting a shop to weld a hex nut on top of it and then use that to get off the rounded nut

It is easier to take an old 12 point socket that is a little too small to go over the rounded lug nut and simply drive it on with a big hammer. Then the breaker bar usually gets it off. I have been doing it this way for decades. Great way to get off those pesky wheel locks you don't have the key for either.

i was wondering if someone would beat me to this. it is very effective on both rounded as well as locks that you dont have the keys for.

 

[iamwiz82]

Discount Tire fixed me right up in about 30 minutes. I have one bad stud as well.

It was the cheap chrome plating on the lugnut that caused the problem, exacerbated by the overtightened lug nuts.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Discount Tire fixed me right up in about 30 minutes. I have one bad stud as well.

It was the cheap chrome plating on the lugnut that caused the problem, exacerbated by the overtightened lug nuts.

You might be able to replace the stud yourself - I changed a rear stud on my MR2...not a big deal at all.