tyre wrench rant

[Northman]

has anyone tried to take their wheelnuts off using the vw tyre wrench ? if you have you will have learned 2 things
1-nuts will not budge
2- if you follow the handbook and stand on wrench you will defo take skin off shin
yes this is a rant but not just at vw as all manufacturers do it , they supply you with something not fit for purpose. I`m guessing most owners will already have one but the few that have not , go and buy a telescopic wrench and stick it in your boot. why manufacturers dont put this on the options list beats me as it only costs about £20. this rant is mainly aimed at the benefit of the younger members whom havent experienced the satans claw (screw or nail) in your tyre. its only a matter of when not if.

[ben3runwilson]

I would guess they have been over tourqued... They should be 120nm tight.
I can remove them with difficulty using my hands. And easily by using one leg on the wrench.
Are you loosening them while the vehicle is on the floor?


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[risingson]

I would guess they have been over tourqued... They should be 120nm tight.
I can remove them with difficulty using my hands. And easily by using one leg on the wrench.
Are you loosening them while the vehicle is on the floor?


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Am I the only person who did a double take when you said you could remove them just with your hands? [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]

And yes... Telescopic wrench all the way for me. I've had one for about 15 years. 20 squid in Halfords.

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[risingson]

I would guess they have been over tourqued... They should be 120nm tight.
I can remove them with difficulty using my hands. And easily by using one leg on the wrench.
Are you loosening them while the vehicle is on the floor?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Am I the only person who did a double take when you said you could remove them just with your hands? [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]

And yes... Telescopic wrench all the way for me. I've had one for about 15 years. 20 squid in Halfords.

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

[Cuprabob]

They are not wheel nuts, they are wheel bolts.

Sadly no one tightens them to the correct torque. They tighten them with an air gun. It looks good when the tyre fitter goes around the wheels doing the double click but all that proves they are tighter than 120Nm. These seem unable to understand that over tightening is not a good thing.

[Northman]

yeah its wheel bolts, my mistake,the red mist got me

[Northman]

just to clear a few things up . when i took one of the wheel bolts off, the car had come fresh form the factory and also the tyre wrench supplied is very light weight made from a soft looking alloy . and yes the car was on the floor.

[Paradox1]

Dont understand how it could be so tight.

Im no mr Muscle but ive never met a wheel bolt I couldn't remove with the OEM wrench.
You think that bolt is tight, try removing the hub bolt

Get a breaker bar and put your weight on it

[xjay1337]

I've had a couple on other peoples cars that were too tight to undo using the OEM wrench. Just a case of being over torqued. At the correct torque they are easily doable. But for £20 you can buy a torque wrench and breaker bar which makes life a lot easier.

[dimexi]

The likes of kwikfit et al do them up WAYYYYYYY too tight!! The OEM wrench IS capable of undoing them with ease at 120Nm (which is the correct torque).

When I changed my brakes, I almost did my back in trying to loosen the bolts! Had to use a breaker bar

[dimexi]

Dont understand how it could be so tight.

Im no mr Muscle but ive never met a wheel bolt I couldn't remove with the OEM wrench.
You think that bolt is tight, try removing the hub bolt

Get a breaker bar and put your weight on it

Trust me, it CAN be that tight. With the way torque works, you can have the torque so high that you are unable to apply a reaction force enough to undo the bolts with a certain length of bar

[Paradox1]

Dont understand how it could be so tight.

Im no mr Muscle but ive never met a wheel bolt I couldn't remove with the OEM wrench.
You think that bolt is tight, try removing the hub bolt

Get a breaker bar and put your weight on it

Trust me, it CAN be that tight. With the way torque works, you can have the torque so high that you are unable to apply a reaction force enough to undo the bolts with a certain length of bar

Understandable, I guess ive been lucky so far

[TriGGER]

I'm really picky about who I get my tyres change by for this exact reason. There's a place near my work I use in emergencies and I've watched them tighten the bolts up as hard as they can, pisses me off. It should only be tightened to 120Nm as ben3runwilson says.

I had a flat tyre on the motorway earlier this year and had to change over to the space saver. I was alright to do it as it was on the offside but that VW wrench was impossible to use with hands, and even standing on it. In the end I had to give it a few stamps to get it going . Be careful when stamping, make sure the wrench doesn't slip off and scratch the alloys - I was lucky it never stuck it too hard!

Anyway when kwik-fit tried to get the other side off they struggled themselves and using the long handle wrenches - I was felt mega strong at this point . The kwik-fit around me (who have a good reputation ) last time I went in advised the profile of the locking nut is distorted and they're worried about it shearing right off.

Be warned the cost of replacing it is £80 straight from VW as they come with 4 new bolts - they don't do the locking nut separately.