[FRG]

After a week of driving the car looking like this:.....





....I decided to take it to a local garage this morning to see if they could get the back wheels off, eventually they did and it now looks normal again. I tried and tried last Sunday to get the rears off but couldn't and didn't want to hit the wheel any harder and unsettle my shitty little jack as I was lay under the car. There was no way I was taking the fronts back off just to make it look 'Okay'. I had a headlight bulb fail on the way to the garage so called in at Halfrauds and got two of their "up to 120% brighter" bulbs (BOGOF), I hope they're better than the ones that were in. Can't understand why BMW didn't make it any harder to get to the dipped beam bulb, I had to jack the car up!





I took the carbon splitters off last weekend as well, or should I say one of them took itself off , it's not damaged though. I'm seriously thinking of getting a new bumper (I need one) and having the splitters 'moulded' on and fillered in then all sprayed up space grey . Any thoughts?

[Jules59]

Try pouring boiling water from a kettle onto central part of the aluminium wheel. Differential expansion (a miniscule amount) is often enough to break the corrosion "glue".
Tip passed to me from an AA bloke.

[ssc330d]

Originally Posted by Jules59

Try pouring boiling water from a kettle onto central part of the aluminium wheel. Differential expansion (a miniscule amount) is often enough to break the corrosion "glue".
Tip passed to me from an AA bloke.

Either that, or slightly loosen all the wheel nuts, jack the car up and lower it slowly (always keep some of the weight on the jack) - the weight of the car will break the corrosion.

[Jules59]

Originally Posted by ssc330d

Either that, or slightly loosen all the wheel nuts, jack the car up and lower it slowly (always keep some of the weight on the jack) - the weight of the car will break the corrosion.

That works too but in reality you have to put the bolts back in as you dont know that the wheel wont come off until youve already taken them out.

The trouble with the hot water technique is that your working area in now sodden unless you've placed a receptable underneath to catch the water.

[IanS100]

I used a big lump of wood & smacked h£ll out of the tyres before my wheels would budge, cleaned the area & put a thin coat of copper slip on before putting the winters on. Moisture had also got into the wheel centres because the hub was wet & corroded, I cleaned & painted this with waxoyl.

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by Jules59

in reality you have to put the bolts back in as you dont know that the wheel wont come off until youve already taken them out.

You should know before then as you always crack each bolt half a turn first with the car on the ground, that's basic stuff.

Then as soon as you jack it up, a quick rock of the wheel will let you know if its going to drop off easily. If it's a good one it will already be wobbling on the hub.

If not, then put the car on fully back the ground and if that doesn't shift it then drive it forwards, over a curb, or do a 3 point turn if necessary.

The 1/2 turn loose bolts are more than capable of the job, these low speed forces are tiny compared to even regular high speed forces, a 'clunk' will let you know the wheel is free.

Hitting the the wheels with lumps of wood etc is dangerous and may lead to damage (to you or the car)

Let the car's weight do the work for you.

[FRG]

Thanks for the advice . I'll be letting the weight of the car do the work when I fit the other alloys next year.