Well what I feared happened, I went to get my tires changed and the left front wheel had a super tight nut that wouldn't come off. So they tried and tried until finally they rounded off the nut, great. So I'm seeking advice on what I should do. The first thing that comes to mind is drilling the bolt out. If so do I only need to drill the bolt out and it will fall out? Or do I have to take things apart. I know i'll have to take things apart to put a new bolt in (I'm pretty sure), but for now I'm just concerned with removing the old one so I can get the new tire on there.

 

Here a picture of pure horror.

 

Aren't "they" responsible for getting things back in order, since "they" stripped the nut???

 

Boy that looks nasty!
You could try finding a 12point (heavy wall or impact) socket thats just small enough so you have to really drive it on over this lovely looking nut, and maybe with a little luck, it will get on the nut far enough and tight enough toget it off. This has worked many times for me on wheel locks I've no key to, or stripped out lug nuts. I don't know if I've ever seen one that looked that bad though!
I have drilled through the lug nut and into the studs before in order to remove the lug, but it is really no fun at all! If you have to do this, start with a center punch in nut to hold drill on center, start with say a 5/32" drill and mark on your drill bit with tape or marker the approximate depth that will get you past the shoulder on the lug nut. Then start stepping up the drill size until you get a little under the diameter of the wheel stud. Of course you dont want to drill into your wheel so stay a little smaller in case your not exactly on center. Your drilling into a steel stud, so use a slow drill speed and lots of lubricant. A little twist or carefull wack with a hammer, the nut (whats left of it) will come off, and you should be able to remove the wheel. Now you get to replace the wheel stud in the rotor!

Good luck!

 

I'm just wondering, who put it on so tightly?

 

Also, a general rule of thumb I adhere to when I have someone else mount my "nice" wheels on a car. I tell them NEVER use an impact gun on them to tighten them on, always and only a torque wrench. My line of thinking is......you/they never really know just how much torque that gun is going to apply!
Of course, thats assuming that this is how this got stripped out.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

I had a tire place do that once and they fixed it, didn't want to but they did.

You could go back to the tire place, ask them to fix it and if they refuse tell him that you're going to pay someone else to repair it, take them to small claims court and subpeona the store's owner, manager on duty that day and the mechanic that did the deed.
But if they will fix it, you will not pursue them for the scars that they left on your wheel, then give them the price of a new from the dealer wheel.
Which would be cheaper and less trouble?

Pounding a socket over the top sounds to be the most likely driveway cure.

 

LT

\Been there done that. See sig.

Front or rear? It makes a difference. You want to use a hole saw to get the lug nut off (can't remember what size). That allows the wheel to come off. If it's a front pounding the lug out is easy enough. Romove the spacer and get a hammer. If it's the rear. sorry it's ten times the pain. And the lugs are harder to find.

It's a complete pain and more than likely you'll chew up the wheel too.

Replace them all with new steel ones.

 

Oh my was that an experience. After 3 hours of careful drilling with titanium drill bits I was able to pop the lug nut off. I'm really glad this happened to the front's I was dreading removing the rears with all that "stuff" inside the drum. I was actually able to avoid drilling any part of my fuchs, thank goodness. Can anyone suggest where to get new bolt and steel nuts? I'm tired of messing with these aluminum lug nuts, yeah they are light but I'm not in a 24 hour race.

 

apply a dab of never seize on those studs before you install the nuts!

 

the factory manual says to drill it off with a 19mm(3/4") holesaw.
this will remove the base of the nut,without touching the rim,
and allow you to remove the wheel.
then removing the rest of the nut should be easy.
never tried it myself though.
the previous owner has used a normal drill bit,
and damaged one of the lugs on my car.
i'll have to change that when i do my brakes.

 

3/4 hole saw works great. you have to have one without a centering bit, or like I did cut t mine off, they are removeable.

 

Throw away the Fecking Aluminum lug nuts and get steel.

And no-one believed me what a pain it was when I went through it.

Y'all can go riding oround on your fancy alloy lug nuts. but if they fail dontcha come crying to me.

 

if you dont want your alu. ones send them to me. i use my aluminum ones, and change wheels on a regular basis, have had no problems... i always use a torque wrench though...

-Michael-

seriously, i'd like some spare lug nuts

 

To remove the wheel spacer all you do is remove the five nuts? Or do you also have to pop the wheel bearing cap off and remove the outer bearing?



Michael,

Yeah I'll have a few spare aluminum nuts you can have.