Locking wheel nut removal and Runflat tyres fitted in Littlehampton.

One of my jobs last Saturday in Littlehampton was for a customer with a 5 Series BMW who needed to have a 265/40R19 Bridgestone runflat tyre replaced, as he had a flat and had driven on it for around 10 miles damaging the structure.

The only problem was that he was not able to find the locking wheel nut removal key. He phoned his main dealer to ask if they had the 'Key' as the car had only been in their workshop to have the front brake pads changed recently. They searched their records but had no knowledge of retaining any lock nut key and were unable to help. Just to make sure, I searched the car again but to no avail.

This meant that I would have to carry out a locking wheel nut removal before I could start to replace the tyre. Since the 'key' was missing it made sense to remove all of the other lock nuts and the customer agreed.

The locking nut was a McGard lock nut one of the best on the market, a hardened nut with a flower type pattern on the top and a revolving collar; we carry special tools on the vans to remove this type of locking wheel nut, so I pulled out my tool kit and set to work. I fitted the correct head to the tool and tried a few hefty blows to remove the locking wheel nut but it was on tight and was not moving. Carried on working on the locking wheel nut, they must have really gunned this one on. After around 10 minutes of hammering it finally moved and came out, so it was then onto the rest of the wheels to get the lock nuts off, it took a further 30 to 40 minutes, but I finally had them all off.

Now it was the time to put the runflat tyre on, I jacked up the car and removed the rest of the bolts on the wheel. Took the wheel into the van and broke the tyre seals, before loading it onto the machinery and removing the tyre, (not an easy job with runflats as they have extreemly thick sidewalls). The new tyre was soon fitted and inflated to the correct pressure; the wheel was then balanced and refitted to the car with the wheel nuts being torqued up to the correct specification.

Luckily the customer had 4 original bolts in the boot that had been removed when the locking wheel nuts had originally been put on, so I was able to replace the ones that I had removed.

So if you have locking wheel nuts that you would like to remove but the key is damaged or has been lost, or maybe you need new tyres then please call Hometyre on 0800 783 93 10(landline free phone) or 0333 444 5454(Mobile friendly) and we will come to you with our mobile service vehicle.