Is this a known problem?

Today I went to swap my stock rims/tires with my winter steelies/tires but had no luck...the stock rims are seized to the hub/brake mounting surface...I had to use a huge amount of force and was finally able to remove the front driver side, but then went on to the rear and had NO luck at all...it would not budge! I tried using some lubricant to see if that would help but still nothing!

has anyone else had this occur? what are my options here? I'm thinking about going to Mazda to have them fix this problem, is it covered under warranty? this is a very big issue....say I were to get a flat out of the city, and had no means of contacting a tow-truck, I would be unable to change to my doughnut!?!

any help would be great...TIA

 

Loosen all the lugs and give the wheel a good kick. That should loosen it. It happens all the time and is quit common. I happend on my car and my sister's honda when I painted my calipers.

 

yea redfyre is right, before u lift the car up, loosen all the lugs. i kno ppl might say its a bad idea but the wheel comes off with ease...

 

I agree with redfyre. I took off my wheels to paint the calipers. At first I tugged, then out came the rubber mallet. Finaly, with no luck the other ways,with the car on JACK STANDS, not just a jack, I crawled under the car and gave it a good boot. Viola!. I suggest having someone catch the wheel as it might fall and scratch the rim.

 

This happens every time i rotate my wheels, when i painted my calipers, and put winter tires on. guess it is a protege problem becasue it has never happened with other cars i have owned. i just have to kick the wheel numerous times till it frees. i hate doing it but i have just gotten use to it. i am afraid of bending/breaking something.........not yet.

-R

 

Yep, happened to me too, they're a real pain.

 

everyone seemed to mention this already, but with the car in the air, step up under the vehicle and a well-placed roundhouse will take even the most stubborn wheel right off! Also, I like the 2-handed "sumo-slap" techinique. I do a serious of alternating thrusts with the palms of my hands and that will usually break it loose. Anywho, the point is: Don't go to your dealership and ask them to fix it! They'll charge you for it and it would look silly!

 

The problem seems to be worse with alloy wheels because of the dissimilar metals (aluminum wheels, steel hubs) but also occurs with steel wheels. I coat the hub and wheel mating surface with spark plug anti-seize before I mount the wheels and I have never (so far) had any trouble removing my wheels. Don't put the anti-seize on the lugs themselves as doing so might cause loosening problems although I'm not sure about this.

I don't know if this is true but perhaps over-torqueing the lug nuts might add to the removal problem by increasing the pressure between wheel and hub. According to the FSM, the correct lug nut torque setting is 66-86 ft/lbs. Always use a torque wrench when mounting your wheels.

 

true true, Anti-seize is always a good thing to use.

 

I read about the same problem on a Saab forum. They recomend loosening the lugnuts slightly and then moving the car a few inches. It sound much better than wacking the rims with a mallet. By the way, I purchased a torque wrench and could not believe how "loose" the nut are at the proper torque setting. Iwas definitly over tightening.

 

ok, i made a second attempt this morning to swap to my winters...i went with the rubber mallet to hammer the tires from the inside and PRESTO! they came off with relative ease...what a relief! great suggestion guys!...i also put some anti-seize compound on the rims to hopefully make things easier next time...

thanks again for all the advice and help guys!

 

holy.. I thought I was the only one with this problem. Shows what happens when you don't speak up and ask questions! =P

I will try the rubber mallet, then the roundhouse (nahh) and then the loosening of the nuts and driving a couple of inches.. hopefullly it works for me. I should pick up a torque wrench too, as I'm probably over torquing them.

 

Last time I rotated my tires I experienced the seized wheels... but only on the rear wheels. I tried pounding, kicking, pulling, mallet-ing (if you will accept that as a word) with no success.

What ended up working was flooding the mating surface between the wheel and the hub with WD-40. If you notice, on the stock alloy wheels there are about 5 "holes" around the inside of the wheel that accept the WD-40 straw. I shot generous amounts quantities into each hole and rotated the tire by hand (while the car was lifted). About 30 minutes later the wheels came off by continually rotating and pulling gently on the tire.

The hubs were very corroded, which surprised me... only 12k miles and weren't corroded at ~6k miles. At the recommendation of a friend who had the same problem on another vehicle, I applied grease to the corroded areas before putting the wheels back on.

 

What brand of steel wheels are all you guys using? I tried to use Palmar wheels from Wallmart, but the center hub hole was too big. The bolt pattern fit, but I was told by a mechanic that the hub hole should fit because you run the risk of increased vibration and possibly stud breakage. Any people from Canada please let me know what you paid and what wheel you use. I was thinking of going to a wrecker and getting them off a wrecked Mazda, or if you guys know a cheap alternative that fits correctly, please let me know. Anyone running 14" wheels for snows?
Thanks,

gimly

 

Hmm... I can try the WD-40 approach.. but I did notice excess corrosion (in my opinion, not the dealer's) on my hubs when I last took my wheels off. I can't think of the 5 holes you are mentioning tho' Thomasbien.

I did the malleting, kicking, rolling w/the nuts loose and I STILL can't get the wheels off. =(
gimly: I have the same problem w/my wheels. The centre is bored out too much. I think I'm going to ask the dealers around here about 15" steel wheels that fit properly. I heard of people in toronto (TOprotege.com) using 14" steelies.