Nightmare weekend with a puncture

JiMsHaDY69

JiMsHaDY69

Senior Member
T6 Guru
Friday evening dropping off my mother's weekly shop as she's still afraid to go
out due to COVID.

When I get out the van there's a loud hiss which turns out is due to the large bolt in tyre accessory I unknowingly received at some point in the drive from Tesco.

Front locking wheel nut is knackered and key won't bite in place as it should. 30 minutes later and £45 lighter and a professional removal guy has sorted this.

Now the bloody wheel won't come off.

Search the forum for advice. Follow all the suggestions, loosen wheel bolts drove forward/backwards, etc... No joy.

Go home in taxi and return tonight with a friend with a trolley jack as the standard one was shaking a lot as I tried to remove the wheel. Still can't get it off. Try driving on loosened bolts again, but still nothing.

Gonna call VW garage I got it from in the morning as I only bought it three months ago and it's obvious that the last time the wheel was changed it wasn't greased behind and the locking wheel nut wasn't tightened up correctly as they stripped the bolt.

I doubt they'll want to help, but I don't know what else to do. I reckon it needs to go on a lift and have some serious pressure on the back of the wheel to get it off. Gonna have to be towed of the drive to do that, so I'll try to get the garage to sort that.

Never experienced this before when attempting to remove a wheel. Unbelievable. £35k for a van I can't even change a wheel on...

Thanks for reading this far. Just needed to vent a little.
 
Like many I’ve had the same problem- squirt some penetrating oil or wd40 into the join between wheel and hub, then from behind the wheel use a short length of 4x2 and a mallet to tap the back of the wheel spinning it as you go. Using the wood will prevent damage to the wheel- it will come free but use an axel stand as well, don’t trust just a jack
 
I did a search on where to place an axel stand, but couldn't find anything with pictures and no definite answer, so didn't want to risk screwing it up.
 
Happened on my Peugeot once. Couldn't shift it, so called RAC.

Found some WD40 so gave it a spray. Still wouldn't shift.

RAC turned up, jacked it up and just pulled it off!
:slow rofl:
 
You’ll need a sledgehammer (10Kg minimum), hit the tyre from the inside, not easy.
Once you’re up and running don‘t forget to do the other 3 at some point.
Every van with OEM alloys coming out of the factory will be like this.
 
Jack up, almost remove wheel bolts, stand with back to van/wheel and donkey kick on the tyre alternately at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock as hard as you can, it'll come eventually.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. Looks like I'll try the garage to see if they'll help tomorrow morning as I won't get back to the van with axel stands again until after work tomorrow and if that's a no go then I will recruit more help and try the axel stands and more brute force!
 
Obviously the right weekend for a nightmare.

Decent jack, block/length of wood and a sledgehammer should sort it. I'm guessing oem wheel/tyre so not much chance of damaging a rim either.
 
I binned the standard Jack that comes with the van. Completely useless & downright dangerous unless you’re on a perfectly flat concrete surface. I bought a 5t bottle jack (Aldi special £15) and cut some rectangles of 18mm buffalo ply to pack/stand the jack on.
 
Called the VW garage I bought the van from and they gave me VW Assistance number. My van is less than two years old so I have cover.

Wish I had known this on Friday night...

Now sitting I'm my mums kitchen awaiting the assistance van arriving.

They'll either swap the wheel over or recover it to the VW garage.

Here's the offending bolt!

PXL_20211101_103354322.jpg
 
JiMsHaDY69 said:
Friday evening dropping off my mother's weekly shop as she's still afraid to go
out due to COVID.

When I get out the van there's a loud hiss which turns out is due to the large bolt in tyre accessory I unknowingly received at some point in the drive from Tesco.

Front locking wheel nut is knackered and key won't bite in place as it should. 30 minutes later and £45 lighter and a professional removal guy has sorted this.

Now the bloody wheel won't come off.

Search the forum for advice. Follow all the suggestions, loosen wheel bolts drove forward/backwards, etc... No joy.

Go home in taxi and return tonight with a friend with a trolley jack as the standard one was shaking a lot as I tried to remove the wheel. Still can't get it off. Try driving on loosened bolts again, but still nothing.

Gonna call VW garage I got it from in the morning as I only bought it three months ago and it's obvious that the last time the wheel was changed it wasn't greased behind and the locking wheel nut wasn't tightened up correctly as they stripped the bolt.

I doubt they'll want to help, but I don't know what else to do. I reckon it needs to go on a lift and have some serious pressure on the back of the wheel to get it off. Gonna have to be towed of the drive to do that, so I'll try to get the garage to sort that.

Never experienced this before when attempting to remove a wheel. Unbelievable. £35k for a van I can't even change a wheel on...

Thanks for reading this far. Just needed to vent a little.
Click to expand...
I changed my wheels the other day. It was the first time I’d taken them off in nearly 4 years. They didn’t want to part with the van. Had to leave two wheel bolts in very slightly loosened (making sure it was still firmly on the spigot ring) and lower the van sharply which popped it loose. A smear of copper grease on the spigot when I put it back seemed to help. I spun each wheel on the stationary hub and they seem happier now.
 
Last edited:
JiMsHaDY69 said:
Called the VW garage I bought the van from and they gave me VW Assistance number. My van is less than two years old so I have cover.

Wish I had known this on Friday night...

Now sitting I'm my mums kitchen awaiting the assistance van arriving.

They'll either swap the wheel over or recover it to the VW garage.

Here's the offending bolt!

View attachment 135279
Click to expand...
Beware dealers will probably charge top dollar for tyres - get them to put the spare on and source your own repair / replacement tyre.
 
So... VW Assistance came out and I filled him in on the saga.

He jacked the van up, tried to remove the wheel and said "That's on there alright" before going back to his van for a padded covering to lay on and a very large leather covered hammer/mallet.

He came back, lay down and whacked it a few times and success!

Spare is on and I'll now sort out repairing or replacing the tyre on the alloy and having all four wheels removed and cooper greased correctly.

Interesting thing was that he said VW's policy is they don't use copper grease. They said it's not required...
 
JiMsHaDY69 said:
So... VW Assistance came out and I filled him in on the saga.

He jacked the van up, tried to remove the wheel and said "That's on there alright" before going back to his van for a padded covering to lay on and a very large leather covered hammer/mallet.

He came back, lay down and whacked it a few times and success!

Spare is on and I'll now sort out repairing or replacing the tyre on the alloy and having all four wheels removed and cooper greased correctly.

Interesting thing was that he said VW's policy is they don't use copper grease. They said it's not required...
Click to expand...
When I was at @CRS Performance recently, I saw Steve having exactly the same issue when getting my wheels off in order to fit the Koni’s. A large mallet was deployed in that case as well.

He also told me VW don’t add copper grease in the factory. Apparently VW feel it makes a loose wheel less likely…..ain’t that the truth!
 
Ozi said:
When I was at @CRS Performance recently, I saw Steve having exactly the same issue when getting my wheels off in order to fit the Koni’s. A large mallet was deployed in that case as well.

He also told me VW don’t add copper grease in the factory. Apparently VW feel it makes a loose wheel less likely…..ain’t that the truth!
Click to expand...
The guy today said that they have the same policy at all the VW garages he has dealt with.

Goes against everything I've ever been told.
 
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