Silly Road Wheel Removal Problem

That is probably the best way. Stand on the brakes at a slow speed.

Once you've got the wheel off, clean it and the hub, and use a smear of copper grease where the wheel locates on the shoulder on the hub. Perhaps worth checking the other wheels too. It's something which should be done at pad change time - but few garages bother.

Thanks Dave. Yes, it's a 4 wheel exercise of course.

Due for it's 3rd service in February, at 3 years old and about 15,000 miles, so I may specify that attention.

The way that a breakdown mechanic would do it is : with the car jacked safely, wheel nuts off, sit on the ground facing the wheel and kick one side (left or right) of the wheel with one heel and repeat for the other side, just a few alternating kicks will do the job.

Or: If there is an access hole in the centre of the wheel (most vehicles) spray in some wd40 and wait a few minutes before trying again, this can also be surprisingly effective.

Suggestion noted, thanks. Family and friends tell me "I never take my wheel off, I take it to a garage or phone the AA".

I replied "I'm an engineer", and reminded No1 daughter of the time when she got a puncture on the way home on a ratrun through a dangerous part of Manchester. I told her to phone the AA, finished my dinner quickly and set off to find her old Fuego. The spare was flat, and the mechanism dropping it from below the boot was rusty. I left my son sat in the car armed with a heavy tyre lever and took Sue to a garage with an air line.

Back at her car I used the rusty old jack to change the wheel, and as I tightened the nuts the AA man arrived. He weighed the situation and asked if he could help, and I suggested he put some grease on the jack thread, which he did. :-)

Last time I called 'the AA' was for a broken fanbelt in Central London at about midnight. After waiting 2 hours, I drove home. With no traffic, the fan was pushed round fast enough to circulate the water.

Never renewed my membership and have no intention of doing so again. It would take me about 15 minutes max to put on the spare.

I'm not sure that any kind of breakdown that used to happen in the dark ages has any bearing on what happens today! ;-)

Lots of reasons why one might not want breakdown insurance these days but being able to change your own fan belt in 15 minutes has f*ck all relevance to most motorists today.

Tim

As most motorists no longer carry a spare fan belt, tool box and a torch you are quite correct. In the good old days I had the LOT in the boot. I don't know if I even have a basic tool kit in the boot of our car. Must look. What I do have in there is a 45 year old wheel brace that cost me ?1 all of those years ago. It has never bent and has taken some hammer!

Wasn't that long ago.

I didn't change the fan belt there.

The spare I was referring to was the spare wheel. Most cars have them even today. I've generally got better things to do than wait for someone to come along to do it for me.

Even quite ordinary shopping cars do not have a spare any longer, such as Cmax and Zafira to name two I have seen in the last week.

One of my reasons for choosing a Focus was that it was one of the few new cars which had a spare as standard kit.

I'm not sure that still applies nearly 3 years on, but I'll be looking for a spare with any car I buy.

I assume if they don't have run flat tyres, they'll have some sort of temporary repair and re-inflate kit? My 'new' car has that. So I'd assume those incapable of fitting a spare wheel would call out the AA to use that too?

Some new cars have nothing.

The first problem with the temporary repair kits is cost. Once you have used one, the tyre is essentially scrap.

The second problem is the low success rate, which will then result in a call-out from a mobile fitter.

Chris

All in all best to be in a motoring organisation, they have saved me a long walk, getting a tow etc. every few years and are well worth having as insurance. Just getting a tow off a motorway once is worth two years subscription. The first time I called them was early one morning in the pitch dark country side after I had taken the bottom off the radiator by hitting a badger. The poor lad wanted to put in radseal!! I was taken home on a low loader (despite only having roadside cover and being about thirty miles from home.)

I was pleased to see the AA seem to have some form of generic wheel to get people to a garage/tyre fitter. It's a wheel with lots of different centres, so would hopefully cope with most popular cars.

IMHO it's absolutely essential to have cover, with the complexity of modern cars, and the nature of our crowded roads.

Incidentally, both AA and RAC now carry 'universal' spare wheels that will fit a high percentage of cars. The idea is that they will allow you to drive to a tyre centre where your tyre can be repaired/ replaced, then you leave the 'spare' there for the patrol to collect later.

Chris

My sister once phoned me to go round and try to get a corroded wheel off her Meriva, so she could change the wheel. When I got there, the neighbour had slackened off the wheel nuts, and was driving it back and forth. It certainly did loosen it, and it seems like an utterly stupid idea, but the man is a 'professional' who 'does that all the time at work'. In my mind, I questioned his assertion, but when putting it back together, he produced a huge tub of copper grease he brought home from work. Not the sort of thing most of us would spend our spare cash on :-)

Would I even recommend it in the direst emergency? I don't know. Probably okay for someone who 'does it all the time at work', but you or I would most likely c*ck it up :-) If nothing else, it certainly makes you wonder about the 'professionals'. While he was at it, he'd made a nice mess of the sill with his jack.

I have a nice big sledge hammer which works well with a piece of wood as a drift. But not the sort of thing you can carry with you. You'd probably get arrested.

I have a tin - costs less than a tenner. I bought it a few years ago, I expect it to last a lifetime, why not spend that tiny amount of cash on it?

A 4lb club hammer lives in the car for this. Along with the breaker bar for recalcitrant wheel nuts. (and even the not-so-recalcitrant ones - it's much easier shifting even a properly tightened bolt with a long bar, and less chance of grazing knuckles).

I knew someone that drove an Alfa, it gained a puncture and the wheel was stuck solid and he was on a motorway, he tried to remove the wheel but failed, so left the nuts a bit loose and drove on the flat tyre, the wheel did not shift and of course after a few miles the tyre went west and the wheel was wrecked. It was eventually battered off at a garage.

I have a biggish tube of copper grease. Probably not the most economical amount to buy, but I think it'll last longer than me.

I have an old square section office desk leg that works nicely as a sort of extension. I don't like putting too many tools in, because I once had a load nicked.