Whats with the cheapo lug nuts!!??

[cmohr]

I'm sorry you're having such a hassle with this. The problem of not being able to loosen the nuts is that the shop that overtightened them so much in the first place, has nothing to do with the capping coming off. The capping coming off is a direct consequence of the nuts being overtightened by the shop,as well as slight angling and/or the removal device, when trying to loosen them due to how tight they are . I have had the caps come off before, but still able to undo the nuts regardless. Another thing that most people do,is try to do the initial loosening with the full weight of the vehicle on them, then jack up the car afterwards, this adds a huge amount of tension to the nuts. When removing the nuts, you should always take most of the weight of the vehicle off the wheel, if it's a rear wheel, your handbrake will hold it, so just jack it up, if it's a front wheel, only have enough tyre touch to stop the wheel spinning (I have sometimes just popped into 4lo, to lock the wheel more). I also have never used the tyre wrench that comes with the car, always a good impact hex socket, never one of the regular toolkit sockets with the multi position type. The hex socket contacts the entire surface of each side of the nut, a regular socket only grips the very corners of the nut,and with the capping, that means it rips it off.

One thing I personally do, is anytime I get tyres changed, or any work done on my vehicles where I know that the wheel nuts will have been locked up with an air tool, as soon as I leave the workshop and get home, I undo, then retention the nuts myself, and have never had a problem since. 99percent of workshops are unfortunately very lazy when it comes to this, most with just hammer away with an airtool, you can hear them doing it, that banging 10 to 15 times every nut,then another go round just to make sure, way too much. The good places actually barely get 2 to 3 bangs, then get out a torque wrench and tighten them correctly

[layback40]

Originally Posted by cmohr

I'm sorry you're having such a hassle with this. The problem of not being able to loosen the nuts is that the shop that overtightened them so much in the first place, has nothing to do with the capping coming off. The capping coming off is a direct consequence of the nuts being overtightened by the shop,as well as slight angling and/or the removal device, when trying to loosen them due to how tight they are . I have had the caps come off before, but still able to undo the nuts regardless. Another thing that most people do,is try to do the initial loosening with the full weight of the vehicle on them, then jack up the car afterwards, this adds a huge amount of tension to the nuts. When removing the nuts, you should always take most of the weight of the vehicle off the wheel, if it's a rear wheel, your handbrake will hold it, so just jack it up, if it's a front wheel, only have enough tyre touch to stop the wheel spinning (I have sometimes just popped into 4lo, to lock the wheel more). I also have never used the tyre wrench that comes with the car, always a good impact hex socket, never one of the regular toolkit sockets with the multi position type. The hex socket contacts the entire surface of each side of the nut, a regular socket only grips the very corners of the nut,and with the capping, that means it rips it off.

One thing I personally do, is anytime I get tyres changed, or any work done on my vehicles where I know that the wheel nuts will have been locked up with an air tool, as soon as I leave the workshop and get home, I undo, then retention the nuts myself, and have never had a problem since. 99percent of workshops are unfortunately very lazy when it comes to this, most with just hammer away with an airtool, you can hear them doing it, that banging 10 to 15 times every nut,then another go round just to make sure, way too much. The good places actually barely get 2 to 3 bangs, then get out a torque wrench and tighten them correctly

You are so on the money!
I have had the nut caps come loose, they are only there for looks. If they are loose, just take them off & use a smaller socket straight on the nut.
I wonder if the OP has a wheel brace?

[daz80]

Thanks for the info cmohr. I was able to remove three of the nuts but the remaining two wouldn't budge. Same with the other rear tyre. I even broke my 18mm socket trying to loosen it! Snapped it clean. I'll attempt it again using your advice. Thanks again.

edit; also, like you said, the tyre wrench that came with the car was next to useless.

[bleetnblurt]

USE A DEEP IMPACT , didn't I say that before?