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[Mytical]

Today was a long day. Had to end up switching, or rather trying to switch a tire out. I weigh 250(ish) pounds, and tried the old fashion way first. Couldn't even budge the lugnuts. Got out my impact wrench, all I did was end up cracking the socket I tried to use. That wheel was not coming off. No clue who last put it on, and if they torqued it too much or they rusted on. So..off to let the professionals see what they could do.

Car was taken straight in, I was given a quote of $20. All I asked them to do was loosen the lugnuts, I would do the rest. They went at it like crazy. Torque wrenches, hammers, etc and it STILL took them a half an hour just to get the lugnuts off. Which can give you a hint on how hard those would have been to get off otherwise. They took off my tire, switched it with the one I was going to switch it with, supplied new lugnuts (the others apparently were stripped)..and still it only cost what they quoted me. I feel they went above and beyond what was asked of them.

So to WA, thank you for your help. It would have taken me forever to even get those things off.

[Kristev]

That was fantastic.

[Frantic Freddie]

I'd worry about your lug bolts being damaged since the nuts were stripped.Sounds like whoever put them on originally used an air wrench instead of a torque wrench,your rims may have damage too if they're alloy,over-torquing can crack rims.

I always put a little anti-seize on the threads before I put the nuts on,that way I have no trouble taking them off again.

[Mytical]

Funny thing is I think WA tried air wrenches too (pretty much they used everything but the kitchen sink). I was lucky though and no damage to rims or anything but the lugnuts.

[protege]

On some cars, the heat from the brakes can do strange things to lug nuts. They can stick to alloy rims, making them difficult to remove. I had that happen to my old Tercel more than once. The nuts would stick...and occasionally the rims would stick to the brake drums. Usually, a hard tap with a rubber mallet was enough to shock them free.

[Sleepwalker]

Heh, reminds me of when I moved to a new state and got new plates. A couple spray bottles of deruster and lube were enough to get the front one off, but the back wasn't coming off for love or money. A couple garages quoted me respectively 50 and 80 dollars for the job, not counting labor, and I drove over to a Holmes Despot instead.

Wonderful guy parked me in the dropoff bay and pulled the thing off via brute force. He actually had to prop my car against a wall because he was dragging it backwards! Ended up getting out of there for nothing but the cost of two new screws and a bracket sorta thing to replace one ripped out screw hole.

[JustaCashier]

Ended up getting out of there for nothing but the cost of two new screws and a bracket sorta thing to replace one ripped out screw hole.

That's because you did him a favor by allowing him to release all of that pent up SC rage.

Had it not been against company policy for him to make a purchase while on the clock, he may have paid for the screws and bracket thingie too!


Mike

[Mytical]

*nods* I've had somebody repair a wheel off of a pop up camper for free because 'it was a challenge'. And somebody took a welding torch to my trailer hitch to get it lose, and never charged me anything. Both were at Tire Discounters, but in different areas. I offered to pay, but they declined. Told me that they were interesting problems they didn't see every day.