The lug nuts on your car may be one of the most crucial fasteners on the entire vehicle. You are almost guaranteed to have a horrible experience, as any 4 or 5 of them fail while driving. Thankfully, that scenario is very unlikely due to the work of automotive engineers.
What happens, though, when you want to rotate the tires and you encounter a stubborn lug nut that refuses to move due to being damaged, stripped, or just plain stuck? In this article, I will show you ways to successfully remove that stubborn lug nut.
Lug Nuts vs. Lug Bolts
We’ll start with problems related to conventional lug nuts, which are attached to the wheel studs. Nonetheless, some European car brands like BMW, Audi and Volkswagen utilize bolts that screw into the wheel hubs.
Some of the techniques discussed here apply to lug bolts as well, and those sections will be highlighted.
Reasons Lug Nuts Won’t Come Off
Here are the three main explanations as to why a wheel lug nut may not be able to come off. The reason could be:
Stripped or Rounded Off
In this scenario, an impact wrench has been misused to put on a socket and has also caused the deformation of the twelve-point hex socket that happens in a bolt.
In those situations, it may be stuck, and your attempts at removing it using a socket or a wrench have stripped it.
Without the ability to be angularly adjusted, the part is incapable of being deleted.
Seized
One oversized impact wrench-wielding nut driver on a wheel of a car for a prolonged time may have driven one of the lug nuts to oblivion on one of the wheels of the car. The packed socket covered free rotating nut driver cannot be removed.
Caution: Ensure that the preselected shop utilizes a properly adjusted electric ratchet screwdriver for power tools to attach wheels. Equipping each bolt of the tires is so tightly locked to a point that it can easily tear, but cannot lose grip of the tool provided.
Rusted
The Bolt or stud’s Lug nut shows severe corrosion. This is often the case for older model vehicles or those that have not been used for extended periods and have been left in the open weather. The rust makes it very difficult to turn the fastener as it may be seized.
How to Remove a Lug Nut That Won’t Come Off?
The following steps should be undertaken regardless of whether the lug nut in question is stripped, rounded off, or corroded and over-tightened. It is also worth noting that the above-mentioned scenarios will require additional steps as described below, but the overall steps will remain the same.
The first step, as described, is putting the car on the ground, with no jacks or supports being used to elevate the car. Put the transmission in gear or park and activate the emergency brake. This will prevent the wheels from rotating while loosening the fasteners, as these steps will ensure the wheels themselves do not rotate.
What You’ll Need
- Penetrating Oil (like WD-40)
- Power drill (cordless or corded, both work)
- 5/64″ and 7/64″ drill bits (cobalt bits work best)
- Drilling lubricant
- Safety glasses
- 1/2″ drive 6-point socket
- Lug nut extractor set (if needed)
- 1/2″ drive breaker bar
- Floor jack or 3-ft section of pipe (to slide over breaker bar)
Step 1. Drill and Add Penetrating Oil.
Note: This step covers the rusted nut or bolt. If tools are to be held in place, move to step two.
Cobalt alloys stand to be best for the aforementioned tasks of higher got sizes of 64th over 5 and 7 diameter drills in 64.
A lubricant will increase the efficiency of drilling. For this, Three-in-One oil or its equivalent will suffice. Additionally, have a cup of cool water nearby. Now, put on the safety glasses. Use a centre punch and hammer to dimple the centre of the lug nut.
Start now with a smaller drill bit. Pre-oil the tip of the bit. Make sure to support the drill motor with both hands. Now, drill at a very slow speed with the brace of avoiding bending the drill bit, because doing so will break it very quickly.
Drilling should be performed in increments, and frequent stops may be necessary, especially if oil begins to smoke. To cool the drill bit, dip the overheated bit in water. Wiping the drill bit clean of any debris and reapplying oil to the bit and hole is also necessary. Do this until the drill bit finally breaks to the top of the stud.
Install the motor drill with a 7/64’’ bit and repeat the above drilling procedure. Remember to hold the drill motor firmly as it may want to grab suddenly due to the weight of the bit. Remember to drill through again to the top of the stud.
You now possess a reservoir to soak the nut and stud with a WD-40 equivalent. Insert the WD-40 tube into the hole and wrap the tube at the nut’s surface with a shop (or paper) towel to catch any back spatter. Squirt a bit of this lube into the hole.
Also, spray the WD-40 around the base of the lug nut. If time allows, permit penetrating lube to soak overnight as it liberates the nut more effectively. In the morning, add another squirt to the hole and the base of the nut.
Corroded lug bolts will not benefit from the application of WD-40, as the threads of the lug bolt are practically unapproachable with the wheel installed.
Step 2 – Use a “Snug” Socket or Lug Nut Extractor
Choose a 1/2” drive 6-point socket that is snugly fitting on the nut or bolt. A deep socket may be necessary. A severely rusted fastener may have worn down to a point where a one-size smaller socket (or smaller SAE equivalent for a metric lug nut; or smaller metric equivalent for an SAE lug nut) can be tapped on with a hammer.
On occasion, a rusted 12 millimeter nut will submit to opening with a 12. point taper, which makes gripping it relatively easy.
An extractor socket may be needed if the nut or bolt head cannot take a standard socket or is rounded off; it is necessary to consider this. You can buy an appropriate lug nut extractor set like the Irwin (best) and ABN (good) online or in decent auto parts stores.
The appropriate seat for the bolt is one where the hexagon is effectively cinched, the ring must uniformly capture gripping as a socket. Employing a short wooden dowel can protect the precious alloy wheel on which the socket will be struck while extremely coring out a hole.
In contrast, if a socket operates best that way, the preceding description is ideal. The ring can then be shaped with a flat head screw so that rods can then pass and so that it can be put on a vise. After which it will be used as a hammer with the intended usage being striking.
Step 3 – Loosen with Breaker Bar
Be cautious when using a breaker with a half inch socket, especially when the extending to where sockets are shaped like a screw set at 18″ to 24″ long, there will be no skipping session of turning on buttons mounted on a pedestal.
The movement of the socket should maintain with the screw facing above and the lever parallel. The direction in which they can unbolt, or the setup does, dictates which tool will need to situate directly over mounted, lying down twenty-four seven with another joy to floor tracks.
If Using a Floor Jack
Position your floor jack under the breaker bar handle, and begin pumping it so that the handle is lifted. With this approach, you can exert a force of up to approximately one-fourth of the weight of your vehicle in pounds.
As a reminder, please stand clear because the bar will bend and tends to spring off either the lug nut or the lift pad of the floor jack.
If No Floor Jack is Available
These Steps can Be Completed If you do not have the correct floor jack, as long as you have a conduit pipe, then you can exert a significant amount of torque on the breaker bar by placing a pipe onto the bar handle. The pipe needs to be larger than the breaker bar so that it can slide over it with some resistance. A pipe that is three feet long is ideal for this.
Position the breaker bar so that it is about 10 degrees up and to the left of the nut. The direction of force you will be applying is downwards to loosen the nut. Make sure to use your body weight while carefully stepping on the pipe to exert force.
While grabbing onto the side of your car, make sure that you are positioned steady, lying down. Having control over your body is necessary to ensure that there is little risk of sliding off the pipe, which would put the body at risk of falling if the bar and socket lose tension on the lug nut, or in the case of instant release of the nut.
As an alternative, you may consider reversing the bar position so that the pipe must be lifted to turn the lug nut. Ergonomic leather gloves will further enhance your grip.
You should maintain caution because this method of lifting can be hard on a person’s back, so moderation is key. Additionally, since the pipe may bend, take careful consideration regarding the socket’s potential disconnection from the lug nut.
Step 4 – Finish Wheel Removal
Loosen the rest of the nuts that hold the wheel to the car. Once the car is jacked up, adequately supported, and all the fasteners as well as the wheel have been removed, you are free to continue with the procedure.
If All Else Fails…
On rare occasions, there are one or two-wheeled vehicles that do not allow the aforementioned removal process to be utilized for at least one of the lug nuts or bolts attached to the wheel. In such unfortunate circumstances, the last desperate procedure involves a contraption known as the Lug Ripper.
You will need to have all the necessary parts to execute the task, provided you follow all the steps laid out by the relevant design creators at the precise guideline webpage. Should you ignore such instructions, the device will sustain significant harm, preventing its use.
Just a heads up: this toolkit is not particularly affordable, but it’s cost-effective considering the expenditure involved when the car is taken to a certified mechanic or tire shop.
New Lug Nuts, Bolts, and Studs
Upon purchasing the new fretting nuts or bolts for the entire bolt circle, you should replace the rest of the fasteners as well. If only the damaged fastener was replaced, costly unbalanced issues can occur.
Wheel studs that had seized or rusted lug nuts should be inspected.
- Scrubbing the threads with a brass wire brush should be the first step.
- Examine the threads under proper lighting. Threads must be clean and free of grooves or abrasive marks.
- Examine the threads of a new lug nut. It should easily and freely move and spin both on and off the threads.
Any damaged or injured bolts are grounds for immediate replacement as listed above. In case of any doubt regarding the condition of the stud, replacing it is always best.