Problem with our sable

A good tire shop should be able to get them off. They have some special tools to handle most of them. Good Luck MT

A Google search returned many hits for 'removing wheel locks'. Here is one:

A large tire shop should be able to help you. If the wheel locks were factory equipment, your dealer should be able to help you.

Dan

(This account is not used for email.)

Someone handy with a chisle and hammer can remove just about any lug nut. Hammering at an angle on the outer edge will 'cut' a notch which when hammered on (into) counterclockwise will move the lug nut a little at each blow & will loosen it. HTH, s

I know nothing about cars, but this will even remove a "locking" lug nut? Maybe it's time my sons learned to use a hammer and chisel! I hope it works!

Loretta

sdlomi2 wrote:

Take an impact socket that's too small (but -almost- the right size) to slide over the special nut. Heat it up with a torch (it will expand a little when hot) and hammer it on to the nut. Let it cool down. When it cools it will contract and tighten on the nut. Use a socket wrench or breaker bar to take the nut off the stud and put a regular nut on in it's place.

Don't send your son (or anyone else) after that lug nut with a chisel, for more than one reason. Just take it to a tire shop, or the dealer. They will have the correct tools to remove the wheels, and can substitute a standard lugnut for the special one.

Hey, bubblegummom, notice that I said SOMEONE HANDY WITH A CHISEL AND HAMMER--which means an experienced mechanic. This technique can be dangerous if attempted by an inexperienced person, due to the fact that a hardened lugnut can shatter, sending metal shards thru the air like a bullet! Really I shouldn't have mentioned what we do in the 'roughneck world'. s

Throwing my penny into the piss pot...I have a nut splitter I bought at Sears. You just use a wrench to turn a wedge into the nut and it breaks it on that one side.

If that won't allow you to *wrench it off* from there...then you have "issues" with the automobile. At that point, flip the nut splitter

180 degrees and go after the other side. Result will be a nut broken in half. Knock it off with a tap from a hammer at that point, if it doesn't fall to the ground on its own.

Lg

Just guessing here but, if it's got wheel locks, they're probably aluminum wheels. usually with aluminum wheels, the lug nuts are recessed enough that you can't get at the side of them with a nut splitter. I just MIG a scrap nut on the end of them and buzz 'em off with the 1/2' gun.

Indeed, alloy wheels are very very expensive. Mine go for about $200 each, $800 for the set, and that's not counting the tires! Of course, I might get a discount somewhere, then again, maybe not.

They take special lug nuts, that have an extended cone to go deep into the wheel. My understanding about this is this design is it is supposed to provide maximum gripping power so they don't come lose.

That means, even if you split the part of the lug nut you can get to, the cone is still recessed in the wheel. But like I said, if you can't wrench off the lug nut with a channel lock pliers after breaking

1 side of it, cone notwithstanding, there is something seriously wrong.

Your idea of MIG welding a scrap nut on the end of them is a very good idea...if you have a MIG welder, although I wouldn't try such a trick myself, in fear of buzzing an onboard computer chip or sensor somewhere with the current flowing through the vehicle:

ground to one wheel stud

hot rod to frozen nut

path of current should stay confined to wheel itself and not effect any other part of the vehicle. But I would be afraid to try it. My luck, I would blow out a microchip somewhere.

Lg

OK, I'm going out to my vehicle to see that the nut splitter can fit around the lug nuts. It is curious, that my lug nuts have an O.D. that -just- fits inside the splitter. Will report back.

Lg

Well there ya go. Once again, the real world jumps up and bites me in the ass. NO WAY to get the nut splitter around the recessed lug nuts, because...they are recessed ;-|

Forget about it then. I need to get out more. Or maybe not.

Lg

Due to the fact that they are hardened, a chisel won't cut a notch and glickmans nutsplitter won't split them. What does usually work is to cut a groove in them with a cutoff wheel and then go after that with a hammer and chisel. Like sdlomi2 says.... they can break or shatter.... use appropriate safety measures. Bob

When it come to vehicles, things are never as simple as they seem.

Just follow the proper procedures for welding on a vehicle. Bodyshops do it all the time when they replace major body panels.

On Mon, 02 Oct 2006 14:48:10 -0400, Mike Romain wrote:>

Actually, yesterday, no the day before, I put the car up on my Rhino Ramps and put new oil and oil filter into and on the vehicle. The

*old* stuff had 5,000 miles on it ( Mobil 1 ).

Yes it was BLACK. But not like tar, just colored like tar, but it still flowed nicely.

So, new oil and filter is now in the vehicle.

Lg

Some suck more than others. It's Good to be The King.

That's very generous of you. Most people would charge for their time/labor, but you give it away for nothing. hmmm. You must be overpaid.

Well, there are all levels of "This and That."

Now that a lot of computers have gone modular, most people can put one together from parts at the local Tiger Direct. You buy a motherboard, power supply, a couple few hard drives, an OS, and you're in business. It ain't rocket science no more. Used to be though, way back when. These days, you buy stuff off the shelf, bolt and wire it together, and off you go. I've done it myself on my own equipment.

It's brutal work period, depending on your age and the problem at hand. Imagine having an endless stream of city busses pulling into your garage for preventive maintenance, or their scheduled overhaul. What a nightmare.

Now that doesn't make any sense to me. You still have enough energy left over to mow the lawn or shovel the snow?

Lg

Actually, that's why I DON'T do tech support on the side for anyone that's not a relative. My rates are $100/hour. Or they can call geeksquad.com or someone who cares. I'm too busy to "decontaminate" and/or fix broken PC's for people for free anymore.

Good for you. It's not hardware anymore, it's malware/viruses, the usual Windows crapware problems that everyone want fixed... I've had machines given to me with over 1,000 pieces of malware on it. No one wants to pay me per hour either, so I don't bother anymore.

I know. That's why I'm not a mechanic... I like cars, but doing brake jobs 8 hours a day sounds like work to me.

Mow the lawn? You mean the stuff that grows around the dead cars? ;) Shovel the snow? that's why I own a four wheel drive. ;) I have an 18 month old... I don't have energy to do anything anymore.

Ray