Wheel stuck on hub: help.

[CraigyMc]

Hello all,
I'd like to swap my summer wheels over to my winter wheels/tyres set.
I'd be doing this right now if I'd not already started, then hit a probably common snag: one of the rear wheels is firmly glued to the hub, and I can't get it off.

I always put copper grease between them whenever I put wheels on, so I've not run into a situation where I really cannot get the wheel off before.

Any ideas on how to remove it?

For the record, I don't have a big rubber mallet. (Should I get one just for this? Seems overkill!).

Would WD40 down the back of the wheel sort it?
Is there anything I can do involving heating or cooling to get it off easier?

Thoughts please. If I can't do it myself, I'm thinking of driving the car down to the local tyre place and giving them a few quid to swap all the wheels over, which is of course the same as "giving up", and would make me feel bad/annoyed for a while.

Craig

[CraigyMc]

FD3Si said:

CraigyMc said:

For the record, I don't have a big rubber mallet.

Yes, yes you do - it's usually found as a covering on your feet.
Boot it. Hard. Never failed. And I'm built like a racing weasel.

I've already kicked the st out of it. (For the record, I'm 6'1", 75kg)

[CraigyMc]

IanCress said:

requires a little bravery, is to loosen the wheel nuts by a few turns, then go for a slow drive down the street which will hopefully release the wheel.

The car is worth about 10K. I'd prefer to avoid this if possible.

[CraigyMc]

McSam said:

Bloody hell, I thought you were made of sterner stuff than that

Weakling jokes aside (first post covered it beautifully), lowering the car off the jack with the wheels bolts very loose has never failed for me. As above, if this doesn't work you could try driving it a bit like that, but shouldn't be necessary. Just be ready to stop the jack, in case the bolts are a bit too far out and the wheel fks off once loaded up!

I'm quite a bit smaller than the last time you saw me - getting in shape to fit in an F2 cockpit amongst other things.

Lowering the car onto the wheel with the bolts already removed - interesting. I bet that'll work!

Cheers

Craig

[CraigyMc]

richarda0109 said:

Craig - is it off yet!

a bit of 4 x 2 and the rubber mallet or club / sledge hammer

Let us know when its off?

I needed to get back to work (Ionly have time at lunch to swap the wheels over).
I'll take another run at it with larger doc martens and/or judicious use of my trolleyjack and the cars own weight this evening, with the nuts loosened

[CraigyMc]

WinstonWolf said:

Sump said:

Blue62 said:

Could some kind soul explain what the problem is with applying copper grease. Just greased my hubs after fitting winter wheels and would like to know.

No problem at all.

Yup, always done it, helps prevent electrolytic corrosion and problems such as this.

Just to be clear, there is actually copper grease behind the wheel in this case too. Just not enough, apparently.

[CraigyMc]

Hi all, OP here.

A few updates:

• I've not become trapped under the car.
• I now own a rubber mallet.
• I'm travelling for work (by plane - car will be staying home) so the next time I get a chance to do this work will be next weekend.

Thanks everyone for your ideas!

Craig

[CraigyMc]

Update:

• Op was not crushed by car.
• All wheels now swapped over for winter ones.

• Rubber mallet purchased, this solved the problem.

Thanks everyone.

[CraigyMc]

TA14 said:

CraigyMc said:

Update:

• Op was not crushed by car.
• All wheels now swapped over for winter ones.

• Rubber mallet purchased, this solved the problem.

Thanks everyone.

Hooray! Rubber mallet also useful for parking wardens.

Did you use copper grease this time?

I used copper grease the first time as well as this time.

[CraigyMc]

TA14 said:

I was wondering whether the discussion about the drawbacks of copper grease had changed the OP's mind.

It was interesting discussion, and I certainly wouldn't do it to a truck wheel if I ever needed to refit one of those.

Even with the content of that discussion, I did use copper grease (not much) when I put the winter wheels on.
This is largely because in all the years I've had cars it's never caused me a problem with a loose wheel.

C