Rattle Guns and wheel nuts

[adtrac]

I had to change the brake pads on my pajero today , should have been an easy job ,except that the last time i had the tyres changed the tyre place used a rattle gun to tighten the wheel nuts
After attempting to remove the wheel nuts with my wheel wrench i had to beak out my rattle gun to undo those nuts , much to my displeasure.
What would happen in the middle of no where with wheel nuts so tight that they wont bugde.
What do others think about this situation?

[sharkcaver]

What do others think about this situation?

Anytime someone other than you removes a wheel, Re-torque the nuts to the 110Nm spec. Its a pita having to do so, however, its more a pita when your stuck on the side of the road and unable to undo them. Its one of my pet hates....Why cant they just do them to spec?

Shane.

[dolphin]

this happens all the time , too high of pressure rattle guns certainly tightens up those wheel nuts way too much. in my day of mechanics i was taught when using a rattle tyre gun on wheel nuts , hit the trigger until the guns socket brings the nut to rim then finish of tension with a wheel brace.
only just had this same issue with my sons Lancer , straight after an RWC inspection the next day he had some new rims to put on his new vehicle and the only way to loosen off the front wheel nuts was with a good cross brace and a 3 foot length of steel pipe for leverage. you would never never undo those nuts with the supplied standard wheel brace i tell you as it took some 14 stone of my weight to crack the nuts.
so a good safety thing that all should do is firstly remove nut by nut and apply abit of grease to the wheel stud threads then tension all wheel nuts yourself so you know incease of a flat you can undo the darn nuts.

[Stevie-Ray]

Anytime someone other than you removes a wheel, Re-torque the nuts to the 110Nm spec. Its a pita having to do so, however, its more a pita when your stuck on the side of the road and unable to undo them. Its one of my pet hates....Why cant they just do them to spec?

Shane.

Worse when a wheel-stud shears-off because the wheel-nuts have been over-tightened!

I remember once seeing an old Renault with a number of its wheel-nuts missing so the owner had obviuosly spread the remaining nuts around the car, but on the front passenger wheel, as well as missing one nut, another one of the 6mm studs had been snapped off. You might think that's not too serious, but I noticed that on this front-wheel-drive vehicle, the wheels only came from the factory with 3 wheel-studs on each wheel!

Steve

[dolphin]

i do remember seeing those 3 stud pattern wheel nuts some years back and now thinking more on this, not a very safe approach to motoring unless the french guys thought why have 4 nuts when we can have 3 or maybe 2 could be easier on our backs. than again look at race cars that only have 1 x center nut to hold there wheels. forgot to mention, if you still have your stock supplied so called wheel brace; toss it and buy a proper type such as the 4 ended cross wheel brace.

[mr moose]

I carry a rubber mallet for undoing wheel nuts.

[simoncurly]

Gladdened my heart to see my local Bridgestone Shop finishing mine with a torque wrench..

[Aussie_Dan]

As a hint, with the factory wheel brace that came with my NP, the jack handle fits nicely over the end. Extends the length significantly, giving you the leverage necessary to undo the tight ones.
I agree with Dolphin, a smear of grease on each stud is a good idea. Have always greased the studs on my vehicles.....
Cheers, Dan.

[wasarangie]

My local tyre guy recommends carrying a breaker bar and socket as the nuts can be a PITA to get off after being on for a while. Not only Mits ones but most alloy wheels now. He also tightens them with a torque wrench.

I carry the recommended breaker bar and a cordless Dewalt impact gun also.