Forum menu
So wife gets puncture, nay problem young maiden I,ll swap it to a spare in 10 minutes. One of the nuts is effing rounded. No way to get purchase on it. All other nuts out ok with a bit of grunt. Any tips? Don't have homestart cover.
drive very slowly more than 2 miles away from home??! then call breakdown 😉
took me a few moments to realise you were on about a car rather than bike!
yes, its her car, driving round the corner is on the short list.... as is finding a bigger socket and whacking it on... anyone got a decent tip for sorting this?
Clamp it with a drill chuck on the end of an impact driver or adapted to fit a lever.
Some penetrating fluid and patience. Bash the wheel a few times.
Whack a slightly smaller socket from you socket set over it.
It might ruin your socket but should get the nut off. Then get a new nut from scrap yard.
a can of that squirty car tyre jizz and drive it to whoever rounded it off when they last fited tyres
(unless you did it, just now 😳 )
I have a can but live 10 miles from you
(ed - if the hole is obvious maybe some stans jizz would do it)
Molgrips? Done it on one of my old mini's once. Might not work on a proper car though!
If you can get them on stilsons will do the job. If not the smaller socket should work, you can get sockets designed to grip the flat rather than the corners. If you have time on your hands chemical metal the right size socket on to the rounded stud/nut.
You have checked its not a special sized socket right z? Like a locking nut ?
Irwin bolt grip?
http://www.irwin.co.uk/cdetail.php?cType=p®ion=uk&catCode=651&Cat=&crumb=%3Ca+href%3Dallproducts.php%3FcType%3Dp%3EAll+Products%3C%2Fa%3E
Me likey the Irwin bolt grip!
Right thanks for the suggestions, it isn't the locking one, that came off fine. Thanks for the offer SP, might end up buying some from the halfords round the corner in the morning.....and its a newish car (to us) and the dealers now gone bust.
Plan A.
- Kwik Fit is about a mile away,
- Screw is still in the tread (glad I didn't pull it out)
- Buy a cheap tyre inflator (bonus I can then use it for tubeless....)
- Pump up tyre, fingers crossed it will hold enough air for a mile drive.
- Rounded lug is mechanic's problem who has proper tools
Plan B.
- Shout
- Swear
- Blame wife
If you have a drill and a sharp 5mm drillbit, drill directly into the face of the nut alongside of the thread. You should then have no problem removing the nut which will need replacing (it was buggered anyway)
What I've done this a few times to cars that are admittedly, a bit knocked about is to weld a bolt to the mangled wheel nut and then you can get a socket or nut runner on it. I usually use M16, I've sheared a few M12 on really tight buggers.
I appreciate this solution is not the simplest, but perhaps there's a fab shop locally or mobile welder?
I've seen the batter a smaller socket onto the damaged nut work for both damaged nuts and for lock nuts. If you have the halfords socket set they will replace the socket free of charge if you knacker it.
Try a punch to hit the bolt round.
A bit of heat on the nut then the socket trick will probably do the trick.
Had this problem with locking wheel nuts on a friend Pug. Frankly, the locking nuts on a 207 are a horrendous design. Ended up with a mangled alloy and that was a decent garage that finally removed it.
Best tip is to always get tyre fitters to just nip up the nuts and then use your own torque wrench to finish the job. Buzz guns and spiders just result in stretched bolts and future hassle.