Kwik Fit Car Servicing

I would hate to think what happens if .e.g. I have a puncture? But MOT is coming up, so I need to do something. Tyre shop and garage tried all their tricks, but it didn't give way. Other tyre not changed by kwikfit came off ok.

Has different wheels been fitted? If the tyre aspect ratio has been reduced for larger wheel size, then higher pressure is needed.

I've never yet come across a nut or bolt I can't shift - and I'm not a garage. Of course if the worst happens the head gets damaged or the bolt shears.

The problem is you need grip of key on the locking nut, not the same as a straight bolt or nut.

Depends on the design. Most are an adaptor between the special head and an ordinary one so you can still use the wheel brace. If the special head has been damaged or the adaptor you need a different technique. But any tyre firm worthy of the name will have come across this many many times.

Don't be so smug. If you can't grip the nut with the key, then you can't get it off. Why do you think it is called a "locking nut"? You can sometimes hammer the key in place, but that didn't help in this case. The kwikfit had tightened it far too much. The key doesn't provide the same grip as a normal nut. Only alternative is to weld a rod to the nut and then turn rod .

Don't be so doubting; there are dozens of kits on the market like this:

If I ever went to a tyre fitting establishment that couldn't do this, I'd leave as they are clearly incompetent. FFS, even the breakdown services carry them.

Chris

It's Johannes - everything is someone else's fault and it's all a tin-foil hatted conspiracy.

Hence you then need to use another tool that does grip it, generally reverse spiral socket, dynomec, welder then drill.

Most people who steal wheels don't carry the above

Well it's easier to weld a tube on, but very rarely do you need to.

Whatever you say SteveH doesn't count in my book. There u are.

And why would that work better than the key to the wheel????

If you haven't broken the key, then the key'll work, if you break the key then you use that. As Mr C points out, you loosen all the other locking bolts before you risk breaking the key.

So you haven't understood the problem. The key worked on the wheels which hadn't been put on by kwikfit. The above device just makes up a key.

The above device removes the bolt when either it or the key is knackered. Knackered locking bolts are not uncommon. Any competent tyre fitters, most garages & even most kwik fits can remove them.

On 26/02/2012 19:08, Duncan Wood wrote: [... need to cut some lines for my news server]

Yeah, as the famous saying goes: "It should work...", but nothing is ever guaranteed in real life.

No, but it's a safe bet that a competent garage can remove a damaged bolt. I've never failed yet & I don't do it fulltime for a living.

Then get used to facts can be stranger than fiction! The competent garage got a replacement original brand new key from the manufacturer, but bolt was still stuck on. And yes they tried with power tools. How on earth would the above tool help this situation? Eventually, they welded a rod to the locking bolt and got it out that way. Your bet would have been lost.

different people have different skills, I am sometimes amazed by things that other places cannot do or mess up.

It chews into the end of the old bolt and gives enough purchase to screw it out. If the keys knackered then it's almost certainly knackered the bolt enough that you'll want to replace both anyway, hence