Best way to remove frozen on lugnuts?

[mjbaker84]

I am swapping wheels on the mustang we recently purchased and it seems as though Thor himself tightened these lugnuts on the vehicle. The wheels are TSW wheels and have deeper/longer lugnuts than the normal Ford factory lugnuts.

I was able to get the 5 off the RR wheel and cannot physically loosen any of the others.

I have tried an impact gun/breaker bar/ratchet/etc.

A 4 way or tire iron wont work as the lugnuts and wheels don't allow for it to get access to the wheel.

I can literally stand on the breaker bar while attached and they don't loosen ( 180lb man).

Any thoughts or ideas?

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[o-man]

Take it to your local mechanic. They may have a stronger air gun than you. Try spraying some WD40 or other type product on the lug nuts?

 

[StangTime]

Take it to your local mechanic. They may have a stronger air gun than you. Try spraying some WD40 or other type product on the lug nuts?

+1 on the WD-40 or Liquid Wrench. Let it sit for a while. Then try the impact wrench again.

 

[ugstang17]

If you use any form of penetrating oil, make sure afterward you clean the entire brake surface and the studs of oil penetrating/lubricating liquids. It will find its way to rotor/drum surfaces and cause undesirable effects when trying to stop. You may also consider replacing the lugnuts as well and closely inspect the studs for pulled threads. Studs are a simple replacement and to expensive to purchase. Way cheaper than a trip to ICU if you get the drift.

Last ditch effort place a cheater pipe on the end of that 1/2" breaker bar. About 18"-24" will do nicely. Make sure to use an impact wrench deep well socket as a standard socket under those conditions will crack and give way. Apply steady, slow, increasing pressure. And as stupid as this may sound.remember lefty loosy - righty tighty...everyone and I mean EVERYONE has absent mindedly made this mistake in a rush at some point...even 30 year maintenance techs.

 

[Deleted member 35644]

Last time this happened to me was on a '99 Explorer. Finally had to add a cheater pipe to a breaker bar, and ended up shearing off two studs. The lug nuts siezed on the studs because the previous owner tightened too tight and rarely removed the wheels.

If smooth, even pressure with a cheater doesn't budge them, put on your work boots and start jumping on it. Last ditch effort which will probably break your studs, but at this point, your back is against the wall.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Yeah, if the studs won't budge with a breaker bar, be prepared for some broken studs, and the car won't be drivable until you can replace/repair the damage. Consider taking it to a mechanic if you don't feel able to replace wheel hubs yourself. The hubs will need to come out to press out the broken studs and press in new ones (or just replace the hubs). Definitely try some WD40 and let it sit before trying to remove the lugs, but this sounds bad.

Whoever did the last torque on those wheels should NOT be allowed to touch any vehicles you own going forward.

 

[CVCashmere]

Liquid Wrench!!

CVCAshmere

 

[mjbaker84]

Yeah, if the studs won't budge with a breaker bar, be prepared for some broken studs, and the car won't be drivable until you can replace/repair the damage. Consider taking it to a mechanic if you don't feel able to replace wheel hubs yourself. The hubs will need to come out to press out the broken studs and press in new ones (or just replace the hubs). Definitely try some WD40 and let it sit before trying to remove the lugs, but this sounds bad.

Whoever did the last torque on those wheels should NOT be allowed to touch any vehicles you own going forward.

prior owner/driver was a 16 year old girl and im sure they never rotated them and had them way over torqued... I will try my mechanic's impact gun and higher PSI and see if it does anything before breaking a stud.

Will the liquid penetrate or wd-40 cause issues if the lug nuts are removed and new ones put on? I just don't want the new lug nuts working themselves loose.

 

[pthomas11b]

So I ran into a similar issue after using poorly manufactured lug nuts. Granted it was only 2 I had to deal with and not 3 sets, here's what I ended up resulting to.

If at some point the impacts or breaker/ cheater bars don't give you any result or in fact you end up rounding off the flats on the lug nuts. You will have to move to drilling out the center of the lug and wheel stud. Which in itself on mine I have the same style deep wheel stud pockets which makes it difficult to get room to work on and not damage the wheels. Every shop I spoke with in my area wouldn't touch the car because they would have to be liable for damage incurred on the aftermarket wheels and the fact nothing about my situation was dealing with oem parts. So if you have a mechanic and they are willing you are probably going to have to write a hefty check.

That being said you will sacrifice the wheel studs at this point regardless so pick up a set before starting. This is assuming you have the tools and knowledge to get it done. For the 2 lug nuts I had issues with and replacing all the wheel studs on all 4 corners with new arp extended ones for peace of mind. It was a 10 hour job start to finish on jack stands using just hand tools.

I found it was easier to use a 5/8" metal hole saw that would thread onto an arbor with a pilot drill bit. This was nearly a perfect size to just take threaded portion of both the stud and lung but which is minimal material rather than drilling the center of the wheel stud out entirely and working up to a point where the lug nut finally comes off. The pilot bit you can use as a drill stop if the arbor has a collar that can be adjusted. Measure how much thread engagement there is inside the lug nuts you managed to loosen. Back it off by a 1/16 or so and that will give you a little room to massage it once the bulk of it is removed. Not quite a job for the faint of heart you are committed the moment you start drilling. I went slow and checked my work very frequently along with giving the bit time to cool off if it started getting hot and not cutting.

Hopefully it doesn't get to that point but it's what I did with minimal damage to the wheels, which is only cosmetic and easily repaired with some paint. But its been working fine since putting new studs in and quality lug nuts on which I torque by hand regardless if a shop touches the car or I do when the wheels come off.

 

[Cobra Jet]

If you have not gotten the lugs off yet, what about trying concentrated heat from a hand held propane torch? I know it’s probably not most ideal if rims are painted or custom, but it’s another option.

 

[Kermitz]

I was going to suggest this. Don't get it red hot, not much heat is needed.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Too much heat will untemper aluminum (which I learned the hard way). It might weaken or distort the wheel faces if you get them too hot while trying to heat the lugs. If heated just right it would make it easier to twist off the lugs with a breaker bar, but the lugs may still come off with it.

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