Removing stuck wheels

[kevvie]

Hi all,

After being quoted $55 ON TOP of the $580 for a 24mth service to rotate the tyres I told the stealer to jam it and decided to do it myself. Should only take 20 minutes, right...

Lesson #1: the standard Polo jack is a piece of shyte. On level ground in my drive, the car nearly fell off it twice. The one made for my Territory did the job.

Lesson #2: Removing the rear wheels when they are rusted on is a PITA (especially when combined with a wobbly jack). I have never had this problem with any car in 20 years, but these ones just wouldn't budge. Piece of 4x2, WD40, nothing worked. Wife enquiring every 10 minutes why this is taking so long doesn't help.

Lesson #3: Logged onto Google and 5 minutes later I was driving back and forwards in my driveway with the wheel nuts half undone. And it did the trick.....sanded down the rust and smeared with grease before I reassembled.

[Jmac]

Spinning the wheels and hitting with rubber mallet on the inside edge at the same time has never failed me, dont like the idea of vehicle pressed on the floor with its bolts loose , but thats just me
good to hear you got them off. As for the service dept, you will find they would or should have had the wheels off anyway, they just would have been going back onto a different hub. Although i would recommend a balance be done before hand as you may be bringing a hidden balance problem to the driven wheels.
Again just my opinion
Cheers
Jmac

[GTI_69]

Hi all,

After being quoted $55 ON TOP of the $580 for a 24mth service to rotate the tyres I told the stealer to jam it and decided to do it myself. Should only take 20 minutes, right...

Lesson #1: the standard Polo jack is a piece of shyte. On level ground in my drive, the car nearly fell off it twice. The one made for my Territory did the job.

Lesson #2: Removing the rear wheels when they are rusted on is a PITA (especially when combined with a wobbly jack). I have never had this problem with any car in 20 years, but these ones just wouldn't budge. Piece of 4x2, WD40, nothing worked. Wife enquiring every 10 minutes why this is taking so long doesn't help.

Lesson #3: Logged onto Google and 5 minutes later I was driving back and forwards in my driveway with the wheel nuts half undone. And it did the trick.....sanded down the rust and smeared with grease before I reassembled.

$55 bucks to rotate and balance the wheels sounds cheap after all that. concidering the damage you would have caused if the car fell off the jack.

[Blitzen]

Lesson #1: the standard Polo jack is a piece of shyte. On level ground in my drive, the car nearly fell off it twice. The one made for my Territory did the job.

This is why you are better off going to Supercheap and buying a cheap trolley jack for about $60. Makes things so much easier.

[NickZ]

Hi all,

After being quoted $55 ON TOP of the $580 for a 24mth service to rotate the tyres I told the stealer to jam it and decided to do it myself. Should only take 20 minutes, right...

Lesson #1: the standard Polo jack is a piece of shyte. On level ground in my drive, the car nearly fell off it twice. The one made for my Territory did the job.

Lesson #2: Removing the rear wheels when they are rusted on is a PITA (especially when combined with a wobbly jack). I have never had this problem with any car in 20 years, but these ones just wouldn't budge. Piece of 4x2, WD40, nothing worked. Wife enquiring every 10 minutes why this is taking so long doesn't help.

Lesson #3: Logged onto Google and 5 minutes later I was driving back and forwards in my driveway with the wheel nuts half undone. And it did the trick.....sanded down the rust and smeared with grease before I reassembled.

Brings back bad memories from when I rotated my wheels as I went through the same issues as you - firstly realising very quickly the polo jack is pathetic and nearly having the car fall off the jack (I did have two others just thought I would give the Polo one a chance!) and then the rear wheels being awfully tough to remove.

Does anyone have any tips how to prevent the wheels from sticking next time you rotate the wheels? Would sandpaper and grease do the trick?

[jayjay]

(it's spinach for those who don't realise)

where would you sand...? i dont like the sound of that... maybe just grease..

[mikepologti]

thankfully i went through this when jmac , helped me put on my wheels (found out then that the jack for the polo is a pos ) same thing happened to mine, coroded on. next purchase a half decent trolly jack (thanks again jmac)

[Blitzen]

where would you sand...? i dont like the sound of that... maybe just grease..

Just around the inside of the bore of the center of the wheel, and around the center of the hub on the car...This would take any oxidisation off the hubs.

[Brisben]

Spinning the wheels and hitting with rubber mallet on the inside edge at the same time has never failed me, dont like the idea of vehicle pressed on the floor with its bolts loose , but thats just me

Cheers
Jmac

This has also never failed me, used to be a tyre fitter. Also use copperslip instead of grease...

[leasaunce]

yeah had the same problem, when i took it to my own mechanic, first time taking off the rear wheels were just hard. Copper mallet is best, as they are softer than steel. rubber is good too...

[Blitzen]

I think you will find rubber is better cos it won't mark/bent the wheels...

[kevvie]

$55 bucks to rotate and balance the wheels sounds cheap after all that. concidering the damage you would have caused if the car fell off the jack.

$55 was just to rotate the wheels, not balance.

Someone made a good point, I wonder how they checked the brake pad thickness without pulling the wheel off. Given it has just been serviced and the wheels were rusted on I'm guessing they didn't take them off.....