beaker80

Went to change out my steel winter rims for my summers (alloys) and I can't remove the rear rims. They appear to be rusted to the hubs. They have only been on 4 months since I bought my 2011 SCREW in November.

I tried kicking them, dead blow hammer, sledge hammer on a block of wood. No luck. Soaked the joint with WD40. No go. Tried installing lug nuts 1/8 loose and driving back and forward applying the brakes hard. No go.

What gives?

The wheels and tires were installed by a tire shop and they never mentioned any issues installing them.

Any suggestions???

f150skidoo

all i can say is try a bigger hammer and maybe try moving the wooden block to different spots until comes loose, that what i did with my brothers car until the rim came loose.

Tailrace

iTrader: (1)

Fight fire with fire....toss one of your mounted tires at the rusted on ones and the weight of the tire/rim combo should bust 'em loose. I've done this before and it works like a charm

roadPilot

Apply heat.

beaker80

Heat did it! Propane torch on the rim near the hub. After a couple of minutes it popped! Just went round and round. Noticed the centers of the steel wheels are a tight fit and just a bit of rust locked them on. Next fall I'm going to clean up the centers with a drum sander. They are very rough.

Cleaned off the rust from the hub and applied a thin smear of anti-seize. Also put anti-seize on studs. Alloy FX wheels back on. Looks way better!

Thanks for the suggestions.

papa tiger

Remove anti-seize from stud threads immediately. Not so safe.

roadPilot

Of course it did - heat is your friend with most metal on metal that is 'stuck'.

I once literally twisted a tire iron attempting to remove rusted lug nuts from a friggin' Ford Aspire! A short burst of heat from a handheld torch, and the rest of them came off one-handed.

Glad it worked out.

beaker80

I applied a small amount to each thread on each stud ONLY. None on the seating face of the nut or wheel. I have done this on all my vehicles for many years. I recheck the torque after driving 40 - 80 Kms. I also clean the seating surfaces before installing the nuts. There is no proof that I have ever seen that says anti-seize is unsafe. Only if it is not applied properly and the nuts are not torqued properly. I torque mine in a 2 step , star pattern. I have never lost a wheel or found a nut loose!

gone postal

Neverseez is not something I'd want on my studs/lugnuts. I use it on the seating surface between the rim and the hub to prevent exactly what the OP is talking about, but you WANT the threads on studs to lock.

There's still the whole wet vs dry torque issue, but that's secondary.

As far as never having an issue, the question is how many times do you want to roll the dice?

BobbyC

iTrader: (1)

There's nothing wrong with using anti-seize on the bolt threads of wheels. I've used it off and on for years on my vehicles.

It has nothing to do with "rolling the dice" and scare tactics isn't a valid argument against using it.