- Jan 3, 2001
- 41,920
- 2,161
- 126
Hi friends, sit right back and you'll hear a tale of a 2015 BMW 335i and a simple bolt...
August 20th- road construction near my house. The tore out the top layer of pavement and left a 3" bump at the end with no sign or flagger. Hit it doing 40mph.
August 22nd- Tire pressure sensor says right rear tire is low. Down to 20psi- filled it.
August 23rd- Same report- same tire is low, filled it
August 24th- Same issue. Car has 42000 miles and appears to have OEM tires on it, decide to order new tires from Costco. Will take week to deliver.
Sept 1st- Notified tires arrived. Set appt for 5:15 Sept 3rd.
Sept 3rd- Arrive at Costco at 5:20 due to traffic. Waited at counter for 10 minutes before anyone showed up. Costco guy said we were late so we'd be put at the back of the list: 3hr wait. Also said appt was in system for 4:45 despite me showing him a text and two email confirmations. Told him I'd reschedule.
Sept 3rd- 15 minutes after leaving, guy from Costco called and said I ordered wrong tires-despite me ordering them from the config tool on their website and the brand being offered as an OEM option. He said they were "non-runflats" and my car required runflats, so they wouldn't honor the warranty if they put them on. This is incorrect. Told him I'm cancelling the order and going to Sam's Club (where I normally go). Wrote STERNLY worded email to Costco customer service (YES- STERNLY. NOT PLAYING!)
Sept 4th- Order tires from Sam's club, will take 5 days to deliver.
Sept 9th- No appt needed, just showed up at Sam's and the people in their tire dept. are incredibly nice. Put the car on the lift while I walked around. They called me back after 15 minutes (uh ohhhhh.....). The tires are in great shape and don't need to be replaced. The codes say they are from 2017...but there's a problem. One of the lug bolts on the rear wheel is so tight they can't get it off...and it's on the leaking tire. They can't see any nails in it, and the valve isn't leaking. Sprayed the inside of the wheel and found a large seal leak near a half-dollar sized chip in the rim. That bump cracked the rim...it wasn't the tire. Said they can't work on stuck lug bolts, so they filled the tire again and I took it home. Returned the tires.
Sept 10th- Sprayed the stuck bolt with PB blaster, let is soak overnight.
Sept 11th- Used a 400lb impact wrench, wouldn't budge. Used a 3/8 drive breaker bar, broke the bar. Ordered heavy equipment from Amazon.
Sept 18th- Used a 3/8" drive extraction socket with a larger breaker bar, broke the connector. Used extraction socket with a 650 lb air impact wrench, wouldn't budge. Ordered even heavier equipment.
Sept 23rd- Got 1/2" breaker bar and extraction socket. Wouldn't budge. Used 4ft cheater bar on the breaker...broke the bit on the breaker bar (Craftsman breaker bars BTW)
Sept 30th- Obtained 3/4" drive breaker bar and extended 3/4" extraction socket. They use these on 18 wheelers, so this or nothing. IT STARTED TO MOVE!....then it started to move too easily. Found out it simply sheared the head of the bolt...so essentially it's a rivet now.
Oct. 1st- Drilled into bolt with titanium bit. Started with 1/8" bit and worked my way up. Made progress and got up three sizes to 5/16's and the bit broke off on the hole. GAAAHHHHH!!!!!!
Oct 2nd- This morning, dropped it off at a local garage and they're going to torch the damned thing off. I have a replacement wheel and bolts in the trunk ready for them.
:: DEVELOPING STORY::
UPDATE: Got a call from the garage. They've never seen a wheel bolt so stuck--it was like it was fused into the aluminum wheel. After a few attempts at traditional extraction, they took a plasma torch and melted through the center of the bolt, then easily took out the remains. $150 for that, mount and balance a new wheel, it's good to go!
Moral: DON'T USE ANY TIRE PLACE THAT USES AN IMPACT GUN TO TIGHTEN YOUR LUGS. (lookin' at you BMW dealership in New Jersey!)
August 20th- road construction near my house. The tore out the top layer of pavement and left a 3" bump at the end with no sign or flagger. Hit it doing 40mph.
August 22nd- Tire pressure sensor says right rear tire is low. Down to 20psi- filled it.
August 23rd- Same report- same tire is low, filled it
August 24th- Same issue. Car has 42000 miles and appears to have OEM tires on it, decide to order new tires from Costco. Will take week to deliver.
Sept 1st- Notified tires arrived. Set appt for 5:15 Sept 3rd.
Sept 3rd- Arrive at Costco at 5:20 due to traffic. Waited at counter for 10 minutes before anyone showed up. Costco guy said we were late so we'd be put at the back of the list: 3hr wait. Also said appt was in system for 4:45 despite me showing him a text and two email confirmations. Told him I'd reschedule.
Sept 3rd- 15 minutes after leaving, guy from Costco called and said I ordered wrong tires-despite me ordering them from the config tool on their website and the brand being offered as an OEM option. He said they were "non-runflats" and my car required runflats, so they wouldn't honor the warranty if they put them on. This is incorrect. Told him I'm cancelling the order and going to Sam's Club (where I normally go). Wrote STERNLY worded email to Costco customer service (YES- STERNLY. NOT PLAYING!)
Sept 4th- Order tires from Sam's club, will take 5 days to deliver.
Sept 9th- No appt needed, just showed up at Sam's and the people in their tire dept. are incredibly nice. Put the car on the lift while I walked around. They called me back after 15 minutes (uh ohhhhh.....). The tires are in great shape and don't need to be replaced. The codes say they are from 2017...but there's a problem. One of the lug bolts on the rear wheel is so tight they can't get it off...and it's on the leaking tire. They can't see any nails in it, and the valve isn't leaking. Sprayed the inside of the wheel and found a large seal leak near a half-dollar sized chip in the rim. That bump cracked the rim...it wasn't the tire. Said they can't work on stuck lug bolts, so they filled the tire again and I took it home. Returned the tires.
Sept 10th- Sprayed the stuck bolt with PB blaster, let is soak overnight.
Sept 11th- Used a 400lb impact wrench, wouldn't budge. Used a 3/8 drive breaker bar, broke the bar. Ordered heavy equipment from Amazon.
Sept 18th- Used a 3/8" drive extraction socket with a larger breaker bar, broke the connector. Used extraction socket with a 650 lb air impact wrench, wouldn't budge. Ordered even heavier equipment.
Sept 23rd- Got 1/2" breaker bar and extraction socket. Wouldn't budge. Used 4ft cheater bar on the breaker...broke the bit on the breaker bar (Craftsman breaker bars BTW)
Sept 30th- Obtained 3/4" drive breaker bar and extended 3/4" extraction socket. They use these on 18 wheelers, so this or nothing. IT STARTED TO MOVE!....then it started to move too easily. Found out it simply sheared the head of the bolt...so essentially it's a rivet now.
Oct. 1st- Drilled into bolt with titanium bit. Started with 1/8" bit and worked my way up. Made progress and got up three sizes to 5/16's and the bit broke off on the hole. GAAAHHHHH!!!!!!
Oct 2nd- This morning, dropped it off at a local garage and they're going to torch the damned thing off. I have a replacement wheel and bolts in the trunk ready for them.
:: DEVELOPING STORY::
UPDATE: Got a call from the garage. They've never seen a wheel bolt so stuck--it was like it was fused into the aluminum wheel. After a few attempts at traditional extraction, they took a plasma torch and melted through the center of the bolt, then easily took out the remains. $150 for that, mount and balance a new wheel, it's good to go!
Moral: DON'T USE ANY TIRE PLACE THAT USES AN IMPACT GUN TO TIGHTEN YOUR LUGS. (lookin' at you BMW dealership in New Jersey!)
Last edited:
If worse comes to worse I might need a new wheel hub, and those are easy to replace on that car.
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