"Bill Falconer" <falconw DeleteThis @accesscable.net> wrote in message
news:Pt1vj.45500$C61.7250@edtnps89...
> Took my caravan into a tire dealer for a wheel balance. Twenty minutes
> into it he tells me there is a problem with the nuts stripping. THe nuts
> have some sort of tin shield over them for purly estetic looks I believe
> but anyhow what happened was that the shields came off. The guy doing the
> job put the 19mm impact over the bar nut which is of course slightly
> smaller in size now because the steel shield is missing. He rounds the
> edges over on 5 of the 10 nuts holding the two front tires on and then
> procedes to use a nut extractor to try and remove one of the nuts. Now we
> have one nut that is totally round and stuck solid and nine that are
> somewhat rounded and stuck on. To make matters worse, I have alloys on the
> van. I stopped the guys from going any farther and took the van home,
> didn't see any point in digging the hole any deeper. I have been looking
> at the mess and it looks like drilling the stud will be the only way to
> get the totally rounded nut off the dam stud. Has anyone had this same
> problem and what did you do to resolve it. The dealer is an option but I
> would like to give this one a go myself first. If the nuts weren't down in
> a bit of a recess in the alloy rim a dremel would certainly be the answer,
> and may yet be but it will be difficult to cut the nut and not hit the
> rim. Suggestions please.
>
> Any info appreciated.
> Bill
First off, that's exactly why you never want lug nuts with those dinky tin
covers -- it's well worth the cost to replace them with real, solid acorn
nuts. Also, always dab a little anti-seize on the studs before putting on
the lug nuts.
As for removing them now, you could try hammering a deep wall socket of an
appropriate size down over the rounded nut -- Once it's jammed on, attach a
breaker bar (maybe even with a length of pipe on it for additional torque)
and go to work. (I've seen this technique used on locking lug nuts where the
owner lost the key.) There are removers for rounded nuts -- sort of like
sockets lined with sharp left-hand angled teeth -- as you turn them
counter-clockwise they bite deeper onto the rounded nut. The only problem
might be their not fitting into the little well your rims allow around the
lug nuts (hence the idea of hammering a socket straight onto the nut).
Before you start, soak them down with Kroil...
>> Stay informed about: WHEEL NUT PROBLEM 
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