Area Representative Golf Juliet Tango Posted June 12, 2019 Area Representative Share Posted June 12, 2019 with a lump hammer and block of wood, the wheels came away from the hubs.Now, I know the easy answer is to smear the surfaces with "Copaslip" TM (other anti-seize products are available), I wonder if thin PTFE washers would be a better solution.With so many alloy wheels about and fewer punctures, surely there is a requirement for something? After all, I don't suppose tyre fitters keep a tin of the necessary to use every time they put a wheel back on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECR Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 With a PTFE washer you would risk it compressing and the wheel coming loose .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I usually give them a good back heel! SM25T advocates slackening the wheel nuts and dropping the jack rapidly!On the tintops usually clean up hub with wire brush in the drill and use scourer on the wheel centre then coppa slip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonL Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Been there, in the snow, on the side of a main road unable to free the wheel off the hub on my tin-top. Breakdown man finally turned up with a rubber mallet and knocked off the wheel with one judicious blow. So frustrating!I've taken to applying a small amount of copper slip around the edge of the hub, but not had cause to see if it has worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Golf Juliet Tango Posted June 12, 2019 Author Area Representative Share Posted June 12, 2019 SM25T advocates slackening the wheel nuts and dropping the jack rapidly!Yes, I tried that a couple of times on the back end. I guess with slack wheelnuts on could rock the car to either side.Compressibility Roger? I did wonder about this. My limited experience with PTFE is in relation to its tolerance of temperature and retention of of a very low coefficient of friction. It would certainly be under plenty of compression.In the end, I suspect the answer for me is to just take the wheels off regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Just to comment on a few of the points made above. Tyre fitters generally won’t use copper grease. Why would they bother? It’s not their car, they’re unlikely to see it come back and in any case they know a big mallet will get the wheel off; if it’s damaged, so what?PTFE or any other plastic washers will deform and make getting the clamping force right and consistent difficult. Dropping the jack with a loosened wheel is a poor idea too. Given that many if not most wheels locate on a spigot these days it might well not help and there’s all sorts of potential damage could be done. I don’t use copper grease on my 7; the wheels aren’t on long enough and it’s not used enough or in the wet enough to allow corrosion to take place. I always grease my tintops’ wheels with copper grease. Never had a problem getting a wheel off.There used to be a thixotropic grease (Thermopaul?) which was not only very good at stopping corrosion but also had an adhesive property that kept wheels nicely located and prevented nuts backing off, or any kind of fretting, wear etc. Not sure if it’s available any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted June 12, 2019 Member Share Posted June 12, 2019 ThermopaulJonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 That’s the stuff, used to be available in 250ml tins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECR Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Its basically a lithium based sticky white grease which doesn't wash off. Often used on boat trailers which are subject to water immersion. Halfords sell lithium grease ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bricol Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Loosen nuts/bolts - drop the clutch/hit the brakes - shock loading will shift it after a few goes. Had to be quite brutal with steel wheels on a Pug 106 once - really took some shifting as the wheels hadn't been off in years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Only need to loosen nuts a few turns then drop jack. If that doesn't work ... drive a few metres and steer lock to lock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerobod - near CYYC Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Using anti-seize on just the cylindrical hubcentric surface and swapping between summer and winter tyres every 6 months on the tintops, guarantees easy wheel removal, especially with the harsh corrosion environment we have on the winter treated roads here in Canada.I've seen people with flat tyres here not be able to remove the wheel with the jack drop or loose wheel bolt methods and have to resort to being towed away and others that have bent or dented wheels with a sledge hammer due to the excessive force needed to break the corrosion bond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Golf Juliet Tango Posted June 12, 2019 Author Area Representative Share Posted June 12, 2019 Thanks all. I thought it worth some speculation to create an interesting topic. I'll stick to a "remove them frequently as a matter of routine" which is probably a the way to keep the inner surfaces cleaner which has to be a positive thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonym Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 I use the back heel method - but my wheels all come off several times a year (tintop).. and methinks GJT you don't have enough room for sufficient wallop with a heel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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