You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Tried to remove a wheel on my car today to fit spare after a puncture. My no name telescopic wheel nut wrench sheared clean off at the bend in the shaft trying to remove a very stiff wheel nut. Had to call breakdown service to help remove the wheel. A simple 15 minute job turned into a two hour wait. V annoying.
Would be grateful for recommendations for a quality long handled wrench/breaker bar that allows plenty of leverage to tackle the stiffest wheel nuts when called upon without failing. Doesn't need to be telescopic.
Test
I've never failed to break a car wheel bolt free with my cheap 460mm torque wrench. Obviously you shouldn't usually be busting nuts loose with a torque wrench but these are about £15 and I just use it as a massive ratchet, never to actually do torks. You can put a stupid amount of force on an 18 inch bar just by bouncing on it- it'll outpunch my makita 18v impact frinstance.
(I do have a big 750mm bar but tbh it's overkill for most jobs)
1/2” breaker bar 18cm long here and buy a suitable socket for your wheel nut.
4 ft long piece of scrap gas pipe slipped over the end of a wheelnut wrench - one of those L shaped ones that come with the car. Or an impact gun.
The question is; why are your wheel nuts on so tight? I usually loosen them and check them with a torque wrench whenever a garage has had the wheels off - their torque sticks, if they use them, aren't very good.
What cromolyolly says (always checks you can get wheel nuts off after car has been at garage)I have a britool breaker bar(18 inch) that I keep in car and tighten bolts up tight holding it half way down shaft (or if you have the original wheel brace tighten it with that and keep bigger one for stubborn bolt removal) plus do not copperslip bolts as the torque on them should be dry.
I'd suggest a generic 'US Pro Tools' 24" breaker bar from ebay/amazon - coupled with a black impact socket.
But as others have said - don't trust garages with apes operating air tools to torque your wheel nuts up correctly - most just have the torque settings on the gun wide open, massively overtightening your wheels nuts.
The question is; why are your wheel nuts on so tight?
This.
Some grease monkey has fitted them with a rattle gun and was too lazy to check that they weren't overtightened. When you use a rattle gun, you're supposed to just nip them up and finish them off by hand so that unsuspecting motorists don't get stranded on the side of the road with a wheel that is impossible to remove.
As others have said, I loosen wheel bolts off after garage work and then tighten with my trusted torque wrench. I’ve also just (a month ago) gone out and bought a 600mm breaker bar and a couple of impact sockets, 17mm and 19mm, for different cars.
I’ve had trouble in the past getting wheel nuts off after tyre monkey had swung on them, but I was at home and had anti-tyre-monkey kit to hand. The VW supplied wheel nut bent pipe thing and a piece of scaffold pipe. I’d have been stuck if it had been at the roadside.
Just s good solid 24inch breaker and a deep single hex socket.
Tbf if its tight you can put the bar on the nut and roll the car onto it and use the clutch gently to break the taper...
Not ideal but better than a 2hr wait😉
Thanks for the suggestions and advice.
The last time the wheels were removed & refitted was to replace the brake pads. Rears (one of which was the problem wheel) were done just over a year ago. They were probably put back on with the air gun on full power as suggested. The other rear will no doubt be done up as tightly.
I'll loosen the other wheels and re tighten with a torque wrench to the correct setting. I have a length of steel pipe to provide the necessary leverage on the drive, and I'll order a decent breaker for the boot
I keep a 36" long 1/2" breaker bar in the back of the car with a deep impact the socket on the bar. Allows hassle free wheel removal by me or my wife. The deep socket gives the bar enough clearance from the wheel without using an extension.
It just makes life so easy, only thing to be careful of is re tightening with a big bar.
And don't forget to grease your nuts
Jesus christ.
If you're carrying around a yard-long extension bar to change a tyre, the problem isn't a lack of tools. The problem is that your wheels were fitted by a maniac.
If you can't undo it with this
then the bolts are too tight.
I always thought you shouldn’t use lube on wheel studs or bolts. If you do then you risk over tightening them I think.
I was always led to believe that greasing wheel nuts shouldn't be done, even with something like copper grease. As timbog says the risk is over tightening a greased thread to reach the required torque reading on say a torque wrench, which can cause other problems, eg stretching threads and issues around the lug holes in the softer material of alloys.
I had a quick search on the internet and the debate is lively on this issue, with proponents mainly saying they've never had a stuck wheel bolt and their wheels haven't fallen off yet...
If you can’t undo it with this
Depends. I had a vehicle that called for about 90 lb/ft on the lug nuts. I could shift them with the wrench that came with the car but it wasn't easy. Someone older or a slighter build wouldn't have been able to.
Copper grease between the wheel and the hub, especially with alloy wheels. Not anywhere near the studs though.
If you get really stuck then there's this