In the short time I have had my 98 TDI I have not had to take the wheels off. On closer inspection my Alloys nuts have a should over them that you can wiggle. I see no sign of them being a locking set unless they were a magentic type: There was no sign of any magnetic "key" when I bought the Disco.
So my question(s) are these standard on the alloy wheels?
If not and they are a locking magnetic shroud set how best would I remove them?
I will be getting a new wheel brace and I believe 27mm is the correct size for the wheel nuts. Is this correct?
I run a '99 Disco 1 with Steelies so don't have the problem, but just this weekend we were replacing brake pads on a mate's Disco (with Alloys) and found that the Chrome caps on the bolts had swelled slightly (causing the wiggle). The caps are not designed to come off, the wheel brace is supposed to fit over them as it would on a normal nut.
The previous owner of this Disco had also done a few water crossings and not cleaned the underside off when returning, so the lugs were also seized. It was not only difficult to get a purchase on the nut caps but when we did we actually bent the LR wheel brace (located under the rear seat if you haven't found yours yet) trying to get them off!!
What we ended up doing was chiseling the chrome caps off each wheel nut to get a better purchase from a stronger wheel brace. At a quoted replacement cost of $35-$45 per nut we're not planning to replace the chrome capped nuts either!
Once they were off everything was plain sailing. Brakes went in in minutes and with a bit of copper grease or anti-seize on the threads we hope any future wheel changes will be easier.
Sorry about the long answer but in short:
1. Check under rear seat for original wheel spanner before you buy an new one.
2. If you do buy a new one make sure the spanner gets a good purchase over the chrome caps (27 sounds about right but not sure if that takes the "swollen" caps into account)
3. As a precaution take each wheel off and maybe give mating surfaces and threads a touch of anti seize or copper grease (a lot easier to do in your driveway than battling with a tyrechange out bush/on a slope/in the rain etc etc)
The steel shroud is cosmetic in appearance, but they are part of the wheel nut. When I first got my vehicle I was advised to be careful when removing the wheel nut with a rattle gun as it may cause the shroud to separate from the nut. When getting a tyre place to remove the wheel I always advise them of this fact. They still use their rattle guns but I've had no troubles with the caps separating.
Forget the standard wheel brace - it will only damage and round off the wheel nuts if the'yre tight.
Go get yourself a 27mm impact socket ( black colour ) and one of those wheel braces with the extendable handle (most auto shops have them). It's the extra leverage and the tight fit around the nut that are the key factors to successful removal.
I guess you could get away with a regular chrome/moly socket, only make sure it is a good quality one and is hex pattern internally, not multipoint ( others will comment on that )
Those extendable wheel braces are neat, but I just carry a breaker bar out of an old socket set, and a piece of steam pipe as an extension. I use a short 2" extension on the end of the socket as well.
I'd also suggest if you're going on a big trip, to check you can loosen all the wheel nuts prior to leaving. Retighten them, then drive a few kms and re-check they are tight. This should be the procedure on changing over those alloy wheels too - I've found the nuts can work loose.
Last edited by waynep; 18th March 2008 at 09:16 AM.
Yep it's 27mm A/F. Yep an impact socket (single-hex, thick wall) is ideal as the double-hex ones don't have as much purchase and can spread under load, damaging the nut and making removal very difficult.
Use copper-coat or anti-seize (or a drop of engine oil) SPARINGLY on the threads only, but ensure it doesn't get between the cone of the nut and wheel or the wheel and hub*. A small amount of anti-seize on the spigot is a good idea, too. A torque wrench really needs to be used to set the wheel nuts to 100 lb.ft / 135 Nm - close enough to factory spec (130Nm). Re-check them every few months, or before/after a big trip. A lot of people go mental-tight on the nuts because they're pretty big (M16x1.5). Don't do it. It puts too much load on the studs and can lead to failure esp. if heavily laden + big bump. Plus it makes them a right b@stard to get off. And it can warp the hub/rotor if torqued unevenly.
Note the the factory recommends against oiling the threads in any way. Oiling the threads actually means you get more clamp load for your applied torque, so go easy tiger .
* By design the wheel nuts and studs should not be taking any load apart from tightening torque. Their purpose is only to hold the wheel against the hub with enough clamping force to allow the wheel-hub interface to not slip under torque loading (accelerating/braking, etc). Putting a lubricant in there means that the studs will now be loaded as the clamp load won't be sufficient to "lock" the wheel to the hub and it will try and slip, being stopped by the studs = more loading = higher chance of the nuts coming loose and/or the studs snapping (= wheel falls off ).
DiscoClax
'94 D1 3dr Aegean Blue - 300ci stroker RV8, 4HP24 & Compushift, usual bar-work, various APT gear, 235/85 M/Ts, 3deg arms, Detroit lockers, $$$$, etc.
'08 RRS TDV8 Rimini Red - 285/60R18 Falken AT3Ws, Rock slider-steps, APT full under-protection, Mitch Hitch, Tradesman rack, Traxide DBS, Gap IID
Just put a set of alloys on my 95 D1 which has the same chrome cover on the wheel nuts as yours. I did find that a few of them felt loose when I swapped them over however this didnt appear to cause me any problems and they came off and tightened back up ok. I did find that the standard wheel brace to be insufficient so I bought a breaker bar and a seperate socket which I will keep under the seat with the original.
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