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Wheel change -- How retarded am I?

BusinessAsUsual

Go Kart Champion
Alright so first off I have to say I know sweet nothing about mechanic related stuff. I've never done a wheel change by myself... sadly :iono:

But this should be straight forward right? I picked up a decent jack for the car... Some basic Michelin Hydraulic Trolley jack. So today I started to get to work. I start loosing up the bolts of the first wheel, everything's cool, until I get to the bolt with the lock on it.

I put the adapter into the stock VW wrench, get the pattern into the bolt, try to force it... but the SOB won't loosen up?!?! I even fucked up a couple teeth in the lock's adapter:



What the f? What am I missing here?

Is it because I'm using this crappy stock VW wrench?


While trying to force it, I felt like I lost grip of the pattern because of the shape of the wrench, which caused damage to the lock adapter. Maybe should I go out and buy a cross wrench?

I feel like a complete moron not being able to swap out my wheels LOL.
 

2013R

Drag Race Newbie
mostly because of that wrench. its hard to put straight pressure into the lock as you turn it with that oem wrench.
 

BusinessAsUsual

Go Kart Champion
mostly because of that wrench. its hard to put straight pressure into the lock as you turn it with that oem wrench.

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking.

What the hell did VW think? Putting that scary half-scissor jack and that obnoxious wrench in our cars :confused: I thought I could just use what's provided in the trunk and go to town. I guess not.
 

WhosRich

Ready to race!
Use a breaker bar if you have one around. If not, try putting the key into the wrench and inserting to that it's parallel to the ground. Then stand on the wrench to loosen the lug bolt.
 

LightningRhod

Go Kart Champion
Use a breaker bar if you have one around. If not, try putting the key into the wrench and inserting to that it's parallel to the ground. Then stand on the wrench to loosen the lug bolt.

This.

That wrench/pipe they include isn't long enough to break bolts loose.......unless you stand on it. That's what I've had to do every time I need to change out to the spare.

A good method to break the lock bolt is to put the key in first, and make sure you have it in tight. Then you can attach the wrench/pipe to the bolt key, make sure you have it parallel to the ground, and stand on it to break the bolt loose.
 

mkvince

Go Kart Champion
I learned the hard way with my previous car and now I have a 2 foot breaker bar in my trunk. Thanks to it when I had a flat last weekend, I swapped the spare in a breeze. I always keep a breaker bar and a torque wrench under my trunk carpet. Breaker bar for removal and torque wrench for tightening the bolts.
 

chad13761

Ready to race!
I'd say some ham-fisted monkey at a tire-shop used a pnuematic impact wrench and overtightened your lug nuts - not your fault.

I suppose the bright side is, you discovered it in your driveway, and not on a loney dark road in the rain.


A cross wrench may help keep the adaptor straight, assuming it's not already too f'd up. I think I'd get a new adapter first. It might be safest at this to have a shop loosen the nut (again with an impact wrench), and then re-tighten the lug nuts to spec before your drive home.
 

reelknead1

Go Kart Champion
I had this happen to me the first time I tried to change a tire on this car. Best thing you cam do is go down to harbor freight and pick up a breaker bar for 10 buck. That bad boy will come off with hardly any effort.
 

LightningRhod

Go Kart Champion
What the hell did VW think? Putting that scary half-scissor jack and that obnoxious wrench in our cars :confused: I thought I could just use what's provided in the trunk and go to town. I guess not.

Most car manufacturers will include a "widow maker" (good enough to get the car up temporarily, but less than ideal) as well as a short wrench to get the job done. Not optimal tools, but good enough. Just gotta use more muscle :).
 

rawbdog

Go Kart Champion
i think it happens a lot on cars in general. adam7seven came over to my house to swap rims, when i pulled out my tools to do it, the fucking 1/2 to 3/8 adapter just snapped right off. swithced to a heavy duy air gun adapter and it came off. people just torque the shit out of lugnuts.
 

BusinessAsUsual

Go Kart Champion
Thanks guys. I'll head over at an auto store to find a breaker bar and an appropriate torque wrench.

Most car manufacturers will include a "widow maker" (good enough to get the car up temporarily, but less than ideal) as well as a short wrench to get the job done. Not optimal tools, but good enough. Just gotta use more muscle :).

Ahahaha, I did use some muscle, but it stripped nearly half of my lock nut :( Loving the Widow Maker nickname by the way :lol:
 

Jlove8128

Ready to race!
I had this happen after a shop used an air ratchet to put my wheels back on and obviously did not have the torque set right. Sucked I had to have it towed to a shop and broken off. Even worse I had expensive wheels on my mk4 at the time and the scraped the shit out of the wheel doing it!
 

Balt21

Ready to race!
As others have said, a breaker bar will make your life easier. If you don't have one, a big (thick) screwdriver in the end of the wrench will even help you haha. I also usually put the key on first and then the wrench as someone else suggested.
 

johnny_p

Go Kart Champion
Shop used an impact to get the wheel on. Don't have them mess with your wheels anymore.

The dealer I take my car to is very cautious about this. Every time I've had to mess with the wheels on my own they have been properly torqued to about 60 ft-lb and are easy to get off.
 

2013R

Drag Race Newbie
Shop used an impact to get the wheel on. Don't have them mess with your wheels anymore.

The dealer I take my car to is very cautious about this. Every time I've had to mess with the wheels on my own they have been properly torqued to about 60 ft-lb and are easy to get off.

60 ft lb is way too low for any wheel lug nut. thats like a 70's car rating..
 
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