Mission[nearly]Impossible
 

Having purchased a new brake caliper for the n/s front and a rebuild kit for the o/s front last Saturday was the day for the job[s] to be done.With the able assistance of my step grandaughter* 11 a.m. was the start time.Changing a caliper is a pretty simple and straightforward job right?First job crack the wheel bolts off prior to jacking and this is where it all went a bit pear shaped!Three of the bolts cracked off with a bit more effort than I thought should be the case with a 2ft breaker bar.However the other two[one of which was the locking bolt]would have none of it.Using a trolley jack to jack the end of the[admittedly relatively cheap]breaker bar resulted in the breaker bending :speechless-smiley-5 a battery powered impact gun was borrowed which resulted in plenty of "chatter" but no movement,one of those cross shaped wheel braces was tried supporting the outer end with a jack and hitting one arm with a 2lb lump hammer with the same result.Back to the chatter gun then back to the breaker bar and after bouncing up and down on the end of this the locking bolt finally cracked off[much relief that it wasn't damaged]but the final bolt was still stubbornly holding fast.More chatter gun etc and eventually back to the breaker bar and bouncing on the end when the square drive sheared of the head of the bar and shattered inside the socket!! A quick trip to local Halfords[less than a mile away so an easy walk]and one of their guaranteed for life breaker bars purchased and this along with the fact she'd been having further goes with the chatter gun/wheel brace while I was away eventually got it to crack off.The job went smoothly and easily from there[o/s wheel bolts cracked off fairly easily with a bit of effort]but this relatively straightforward job lasted from 11 a.m. to just after 6 p.m.!!
*She's mid 30's loves helping tinker with/repair cars is eager to learn and doesn't mind at all getting her hands mucky/oily/greasy and also accepts the possibility of grazed knuckles/spilt blood.

Forgot in all that that the front wheels were last off something like 2 or three years ago when I had some tyres fitted so possibly some of it was my fault for not making sure they hadn't just "gunned up" the wheel bolts.

I never let my tyre chappie tighten the wheel bolts. I take the torque wrench with me and insist I tighten them myself. Yes, he knows I am a bit special :)

I also lightly grease the studs and smear a finger wipe of copper grease on the mating surface of wheel and hub.

When we bought 'er indoors Mini Cooper I doubt the wheels had been off since new. I came to remove the wheels to carry out a normal check and service and although the studs came undone easily, the wheels would not budge off the hubs. I ended up arranging a length of 2x4 timber under the car, lined up with the wheel rim and belted it with a 14lb sledge hammer from the other side. Several good taps arranged around the rim loosened them, but all four wheels were well and truly welded to the hubs.

None of my cars have locking wheels nuts. Last thing I want is to be messing around with stubborn nuts on the side of a motorway.

+1 ^^^^^

Locking wheel nuts are the spawn of the devil.

I'm no fan of locking wheel nuts/bolts either,however there are still a few too many cars round here with bricks for wheels to risk being without them.

Overtightened wheel nuts
 

Whenever I get a tyre changed at Twitfit or the like,I always find myself jumping up & down on a breaker bar, the next time I try & get the wheels off.
But if I take the wheels off & do them up myself with my torque wrench, they seem to come undone very easily next time. I was beginning to think that my torque wrench needed recalibrating, but I have checked it against another one and it still cracks off at 110 as it says in the manual. I cant help thinking that overtightening the bolts will damage the bolts & the alloy wheels, so now I take the wheel off & take it to the tyre fitters, bit of a faff, but I can sleep easier, knowing I wont need King Kong to help me get the wheels off at the side of the road on a dark night.

its better to find the nuts are seized at home than in an emergency situation . go round all the other wheels to check if they are seized as well then use a torque wrench to re fit all the wheels . there is no need for them to be too tight things like this can make an easy job into a struggle but at least they came un done with out damage :regular_smile:

You've done better than me Dippydog, I noticed the brakes didn't sound right as I was driving home on Friday evening so Saturday morning jacked up the nearside front to take a look, sure enough the pads are worn out and the disc is about done too. In between other duties I went online and quickly ordered some pads and discs from GSF and picked them up just before they closed. Back home I got the pads out revealing rather too much corrosion on the piston, then tried to remove the caliper to change the disc only to find the bolts are solid :( ended up abandoning the job. I'll try to borrow my neighbours impact gun next weekend to see if I can sort it but with the amount of rust on the caliper, and other things on the car starting to be problematic (and it really needs the cambelt doing), I'm wondering if I ought to draw a line and let this car go, fortunately I can use the works van so I'm wondering if we need my car in addition to her car.

If any of yoo chaps are Cotswolds based I wholeheatedly reccomend Ace tyres mobile service

Few weeks ago hit a pot hole at 20mp near Princess Risborough having diverted because M25 was rammed. 4 year old tyre !!!!. Lenny delivered to OX18 on the back of a flatbed. In the meantime advised Ace of 17 inch Goodyear Eagle Assy 5 and profile. he came mid morning next day, correct tyre, asked me what PSI I run at - 33 of course in a V70R and then stone me sideways tightened the bolts with a torque wrench

Yes, in the world of impact gun morons you did read that right !! Will post his tel number when I can. Lovely guy fantastic service you will not get better and the damage - £132 all in !!!