Lug bolts won't come off

vwdsmguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2004
Location
Syracuse, NY
TDI
2002 Golf black 5-spd
Went to put snows on my GTI and the front bolts won't come off. I tried a powerful air impact NG and a muscle bar with a 3ft pipe over it -still NG .I'm using a 17mm impact socket. Now 2 are rounded off. What to do? These are stock alum. wheels. Would heat help and if so where? I had thought of trying to drill them out, but that is a lot of drilling.
Any ideas would be appreciated. HELP
 

Rembrant

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Location
Canada's Ocean Playground
TDI
2013 Golf TDI DSG
More leverage needed. They will come. Heat will work, but you'll burn an aluminum rim in the process. I see them on the street every now and then, all burned black around a lug hole.
 

j_martell

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Location
Centre Wellington, Ontario
TDI
Reflex Silver 2006 Jetta GLS TDI Wagon
who the hell put them on last??

I use a 2' breaker bar and 17mm deep impact socket, and barely have to lean on the bar to get em loose.... I switch wheels twice a year, torqued to 100 lb/ft, re-torque after 100km


If they're rounded, you might need a set of easy-outs...

I personally wouldn't put heat to an aluminum rim....but that's just me
 

Golfrunner

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Location
Saratoga NY
TDI
2005 Golf TDI
I've had them so tight that I broke a 1/2 inch socket extension attached on my breaker bar. Was leaning on it with about a 2 foot breaker bar at the time.
Maybe use 6 point socket on the rest and use never-seize on them when you reinstall.
 

j_martell

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Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Location
Centre Wellington, Ontario
TDI
Reflex Silver 2006 Jetta GLS TDI Wagon
I wouldnt dream of using a 12-point on a 6 point bolt that is supposed to be "tight".....thats just asking to round it off. Also, mostimpact sockets (what the OP says hes using) are 6 point anyway, unless you purchased a set of 12 point impacts....

Our tucks are torqued to 500 ft lbs and i can get em off with a breaker and cheater bar...even the 500 ft lb impact has give it a few goes. I can get em faster by hand, and im not a big guy
 

vwdsmguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2004
Location
Syracuse, NY
TDI
2002 Golf black 5-spd
tight lug nuts

I have not tried heat so far but I did try drilling in thru the hole in the center of the bolt . My idea was to drill a 7/16" hole which should break off the hex and the taper part of the stud, but when I got into the stud it was too hard to drill. It laughed at my drill bit. I thought if i could drill into the threaded part of the stud and there was no pressure because the taper part is gone an easy out might unscrew the stud. I have many extra lug bolts.
 

Seatman

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Location
Scotland
TDI
2014 Skoda rapid elegance 1.6 cr tdi
How do you round off a wheel bolt head with a 6 point impact socket? Should've snapped the head off first?

Anyway you could try a random imperial size 12 point socket for the rounded ones that's to small and hammer it on. I'm not sure a 16mm would fit.

This is the kind of situation I'm glad I have some really old hand me down sockets of weird sizes lol
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
I'm questioning whether it was really all that "powerful" of an air impact gun.

Penetrating fluid and a REAL impact gun ought to be plenty sufficient. I just popped off 1 11/16" nuts holding on blades for one of my rotary cutters (bush hog); factory torque spec on these is 400 ft-lbs; this was still factory stuff- MANY years out in the weather. I had to purchase a REAL impact gun to make this happen: 1/2" NitroCat (from NorthernTool)- 1,295 ft-lbs of torque!
 

Rembrant

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Location
Canada's Ocean Playground
TDI
2013 Golf TDI DSG
I had to purchase a REAL impact gun to make this happen: 1/2" NitroCat (from NorthernTool)- 1,295 ft-lbs of torque!
Now that sounds like a nice impact gun, I must look into that. I have a nice Chicago Pneumatic 1/2" impact gun that was about as good as I could find at the time (15+ years ago?) without stepping into a Snap-On truck, and even then, this gun was still $500 iirc. However, I think the torque specs are something like 450 ft/lbs forward and 650 reverse...or something like that.

Point is, it usually will not remove rusty wheel bolts. I usually use a 3 ft piece of pipe on a 24" power bar (and I broke one of those a few months back trying to break wheel bolts loose).

Anyway, I blame it on old wheel bolts that are both rusty and stretched (or the threads are deformed somehow). When I took my old Beetle into VW for an alignment last spring, it came back out with 20x new wheel bolts installed...not sure why...I didn't ask OR pay for them, but they were there. They were no problem to remove, even when torqued properly.

I have since put 20x new wheel bolts on my Golf as well, and they've been fine as well.

The 06 Jetta I just bought...back to typical VW.... I had to use about 4 ft of leverage on every bolt, and even then I had to bounce on them before I got the big "CRACK" and they came loose. That was all 20 of them, and some of them were really tough to crack. Welcome to the rust belt...lol.
 

Oo-v-oO

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Joined
Jul 30, 2000
Location
Live Free or Die, USA
TDI
98 Jetta Expired... Now 2000 Golf & 2002 Golf
Also, for max torque from an air gun make sure to remove the quick connects and run big hose direct to the compressor. A little air tool lube doesn't hurt, either.
 

j_martell

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Location
Centre Wellington, Ontario
TDI
Reflex Silver 2006 Jetta GLS TDI Wagon
Ive got a big gun in the shop at work, called the "two-hander", 1/2" air lines just cant flow enough to get it all. 60 gal, 160psi, 2-cyl 240V compressor runs the 1/2" drive no problem, but that big b***ard needs 3/4" hose or better.

Boss man is talking about switching to electric.....
 

quartersaw

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Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Location
Albany, NY
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon, '96 B4V,'99 2 door Golf
Would heat help and if so where? I had thought of trying to drill them out, but that is a lot of drilling.
Any ideas would be appreciated. HELP
I BROKE an impact socket on a lug bolt once. The bolt had to be torched to remove it. I've got the same situation with my inop Golf, which happens to have new tires, and I could sure use 'em, but I can't get the car to a garage
 

greengeeker

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Location
Cambridge, MN
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS
When I've run into this situation or when I have a security bolt I've taken the drill out method. I drill down with a 1/2" bit until I'm even with the taper in the bolt. Then a solid hit with a maul and a cold chisel and the head will break off. Works like a charm. Use lube when drilling.
 

vwdsmguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2004
Location
Syracuse, NY
TDI
2002 Golf black 5-spd
lug bolts

I now have a couple of rounded off lug bolts. They are hard enough that cannot be drilled with a high speed drill bit [normal one], but can be rounded off. i applied some propane heat to the socket end hoping to soften the bolt, but that didn't work. I looked at a 16mm socket, but it's .050" too small. The ones that came off, screwed out by hand, once broken loose, so it's not a rusted thread problem. I also tried to heat each bolt for a couple minutes to possibly loosen the bond. NG. I'm out of oxygen for my torch so a propane hand held torch is it for now. I can' imagine cutting the bolts off without rim damage. Only solution now appears to be a solid carbide drill bit.
 

JB05

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Location
Il.USA
TDI
Golf,2005,anthracite blue
I wish you luck. Just be thankful you're not stuck along the side of some road with a flat tire far from home.
 

BuyMeBackSoon

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2016
Location
Or
TDI
2013 golf
I wish you luck. Just be thankful you're not stuck along the side of some road with a flat tire far from home.
If that were the case a tow truck would show up and take it somewhere better equipped to get the job done. Poor guy would be able to move on to other fun things. Sometimes it's better to let a pro do it.
 

vwdsmguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2004
Location
Syracuse, NY
TDI
2002 Golf black 5-spd
lug bolts

Got 2 of three rounded off bolts out by drilling in till the nut-taper part separates from the threaded part of the lug bolt. The threaded part of the bolt then sticks out of the wheel hub and can easily be unthreaded from the hub. Drilling into the semi-hardened lug bolt is a PITA, but it has been done.
I guess it was all due to over tightening. Thanx for all the help. I definitely will lube the bolts from now on and torque with a torque wrench.
 

dieselicious

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Northfield, CT
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI,1999 NB TDI, 1998 NB TDI
I just swapped tires this weekend for my snows and I had a heck of a time removing lug bolts on the back wheels. I've had this before on this car and wire brushed the threads only to have the same issue. The lug bolts are not just hard to loosen but I have to crank on them with a breaker bar most of the way out. Very perplexing. I put anti seize on them when I put them back in this time.
Not sure why they corrode so fast. Dissimilar metals? Road salt?
Would never have been able to change the tire if it went flat.
 
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