I remember when I was a kid hearing tales of nuts that were threaded in reverse, sometimes it just being a single nut per tire depending on the make of the car.
I’ve got a nut that I cannot budge, even by somewhat dangerously putting my entire body weight on the end of the tire iron.
It’s a 2006 Hyundai accent. I’m not finding anything on google, but do I need to be investigating alternative rotation directions? (I’m reticent to simply experiment.)
Barring that, are there any generalized tricks or tips for getting a stubborn nut to rotate?
Many years ago, Chrysler Corporation reverse threaded some lugs, although always on the same wheel/hub. Don’t recall on which wheels (left or right side, maybe). Haven’t heard of anyone doing this lately. Referencing fstbk1968’s comment, get yourself a breaker bar. Go easy, though, as too much pressure applied too quickly and you’ll run the risk of breaking the lug.
A breaker bar can help, (just putting a long peice of conduit on the end of the lug nut wrench may be all you need), but sometimes you end up breaking something.
Almost every time I change a tire there are a few nuts that require me to stand on the the wrench to get enough leverage. Ya, might not be safe and sometimes I slide off, but it gets the job done.
I’ve also gotten stuck lugs nuts loose by tapping them around a bit with a hand-held hammer. Nothing too extremely forceful, but enough to loosen up any crud that may be jamming the works. Changing tires always seems to be an ordeal for me. If it’s not the lug nuts, it’s the tire itself not wanting to come out, which is why I have to carry a sledgehammer in my trunk.
Thanks for all the replies, but before I’d read them, I’d already “fixed” the problem by jumping on the tire iron a little bit. Probably shouldn’t have done that, but it’s what my daddy always did and it worked this time.
I’ll know about penetrating oil and breaker bars next time.
My daughter had a flat way out in the middle of no where years ago and could not remove one of the nuts. No knight showed up so she put the jack under the wrench and slowly jacked it up until the nut broke loose.
I bought a cheap electric impact wrench a number of years ago from Harbor Freight. Have used it countless times for situations such as you describe. Best investment ever.
OP: when/if you get that stubborn lug nut off, use a bit of anti-seize on your studs before you put the lugs back on. That way this will never happen again.
Chrysler lug nuts on the left-hand side of the car were left-hand threaded. The ends of the lug studs were stamped with an “L”. In my opinion, a dumb idea.
One tip is to try tightening the nut first, then using whatever to get extra leverage. On a truck it’s usually that three feet of scaff bar the driver keeps handy behind his seat.
always try penetrating oil first. you may need multiple times and many hours, this is providing it is not time short critical.
also with the breaker bar after the oil you can try alternating strong loosening with a lesser tightening to break the corrosion. also with a breaker bar you can hit it on the end moderately with a rubber mallet (or lots of lighter tapping with a steel head hammer), can do both ways. do these before trying to extend the breaker bar with a pipe.
standing on a breaker bar or jumping on it or hitting hard can be dangerous; sometimes it works and some times you get injured.
I’m not sure it’s a good idea to use penetrating oil. ISTR having read somewhere that this involves a risk that after you reinstall the tire it (the lug nut) might be more prone to loosen.
[Myself, I almost always stand on the tire iron, and jump on it if necessary.]
