Removing Tire thats Rusted

Xcellor

Being a complete novice about cars and such I may be asking a stupid question but here goes.

I have a car mit colt and the tire wont come off. It looks like the rim is rusted. What do I do to get the stupid thing off and what is it likely to cost to repair?

Cheers,
Russell

$Leon$

a bit of brute force and ignorance usually does the trick.
may sure your twisting the right way (anti clock wise)

colm_mcm

do you mean the wheel won't come off?

If all the nuts are removed, the wheel might need a slap of a sledge hammer to work it off

Xcellor

The nuts are off completely but the actual wheel is completely stuck tight!! I've nearly blown a few blood vessels trying to get it off.

Anan1

Xcellor wrote:

The nuts are off completely but the actual wheel is completely stuck tight!! I've nearly blown a few blood vessels trying to get it off.

Get a can of WD40. Put on the little pipe attachment, so you can spray accurately. Try to get loads in between the wheel and the hub (the bit in the middle that the wheel is stuck to). Turn the wheel between sprays, so it flows around as much as possible. Don't get any on the brake disc (shiny, looks like a dinner plate) or the caliper (bit that grabs onto the disc). Give it about an hour to penetrate. Finally, put a strong piece of wood against the edge of the wheel (not tyre), and hit it with a hammer. Move the wood around the rim, hitting with the hammer as you go. The wheel should come off.

colm_mcm

I don't like the idea of using WD40

Seth Brundle

Me neither - WD40 & Brakes don't mix!

SouperComputer

put the wheel nuts on, but dont tighten them too much.

Drive for a couple of feet, even 5Mph should do it, and thump the brakes. If its a rear wheel, use the handbrake instead

Anan1

colm_mcm wrote:

I don't like the idea of using WD40

I'm not massively keen on it myself, but, even if he does get some on the brakes, it'll burn off on the first application. Short of going to town on the wheel with a sledgehammer (and possibly doing expensive damage) , I don't see many other options.

colm_mcm

It's only a Colt

fletch

Just give it a whack of a hammer from behind....is it an alloy wheel or steel rim?

colm_mcm

Oh yeah, and make sure it's supported by more than the flimsy Mitsubishi Jack.

crosstownk

The hammer usually does the trick alright. You just need to hit it hard - not necessarily from behind. If its an alloy wheel you may need to be very careful.

colm_mcm

please make sure the car is securely jacked up. as the scissor jack is liable to tip over if you rock the car too much

Esel

Anan1 wrote:

I'm not massively keen on it myself, but, even if he does get some on the brakes, it'll burn off on the first application. Short of going to town on the wheel with a sledgehammer (and possibly doing expensive damage) , I don't see many other options.

Can you personally vouch for the fact that WD40 will 'burn off' on the first application of the brakes?

Personally I wouldn't let WD40 anywhere near my brakes!

crosstownk

esel wrote:

Can you personally vouch for the fact that WD40 will 'burn off' on the first application of the brakes?

Personally I wouldn't let WD40 anywhere near my brakes!

I wouldn't be too concerned about getting WD40 on the rear brakes - especially if they are drums rather than discs. The front wheels, however, are a different story - not worth the risk.

Anan1

esel wrote:

Can you personally vouch for the fact that WD40 will 'burn off' on the first application of the brakes?

Personally I wouldn't let WD40 anywhere near my brakes!

It's a very light oil - it boils at 161 degrees centigrade. Brake discs get a hell of a lot hotter than that, so I'd imagine it'd be ok. Remember too, we're talking about very small quantities, if indeed any at all.

Rovi

SouperComputer wrote:

put the wheel nuts on, but dont tighten them too much.

Drive for a couple of feet, even 5Mph should do it, and thump the brakes. If its a rear wheel, use the handbrake instead

What he said^
Find somewhere 'private' with plenty of space.
Loosen all the nuts off about 1 turn, and do a few slow circles clockwise and anti-clockwise.
STOP as soon as you hear/feel the wheel break loose, as you might damage the studs if you keep driving with the wheel nuts loosened.
Re-tighten the nuts and drive the car to wherever it is you want to park it to remove the wheel.

DO NOT go for a spin on the public road to do this, and keep the speed down to a walking pace.

This has never failed to remove a frozen wheel for me.

AMurphy

SouperComputer wrote:

put the wheel nuts on, but dont tighten them too much.

Drive for a couple of feet, even 5Mph should do it, and thump the brakes. If its a rear wheel, use the handbrake instead

Do as Da Man tells you..... and stop wasting time.
Finger tight. Swingback and forth a few times. If you hear a clunk, click or clack. Stop and tighten the nuts proper.
You could spray some Penetrating oil into the joint the night before if you wished, may help.... then again may not, but there's no harm in it.
a couple of hunderd yards in an open carpark should do it.

Hitting the rim or hib with a hammer or sledge will damage rim, hub and/or bearings.

SouperComputer

It's a very light oil - it boils at 161 degrees centigrade. Brake discs get a hell of a lot hotter than that, so I'd imagine it'd be ok. Remember too, we're
talking about very small quantities, if indeed any at all.

For the most part its a light oil, but it contains a mix of differing distillates, some low boiling point, some high and silicone. The result being it leaves a residue that will contaminate the friction surfaces. It will clear up a fair bit, but there will be a definate degradation in performance.

But it is possible to do it carefully, spray it into a cap and pour it perhaps if you are going this route.

Big Nelly

DO what I done, couple of taps with sledge hammer and it will pop off.

BrianD3

The "drive around with loose wheelnuts" method seems to work by far the best. Of course if the tyre is bolloxed I don't know what you'd do.

I wouldn't recommend hitting the wheel with a sledgehammer if at all possible. I used to kick frozen wheels off with the sole of my shoe but that wasn't a great way either. Car can rock alarmingly on the jack.

To reduce the chances of this happening in the future, smear a SMALL amount of copper grease on the part of the wheel which is in contact with the hub