The Lug Nut on one of my tires is frozen to the Stud of the Hub. Should I let the Tire Co. drill the stud out and replace the stud and lug nut or take the car back the dealer and let them deal with the problem? What can I do to prevent the jug nut from freezing to the stud?

Thanks,
Darryl

 

Nothing normal about that at all, somebody badly cross threaded the nut when they last installed it. Getting it off without damage to the stud or the wheel is not likely. I'll have to go out and look , but I believe the studs are peened on the backside of the hub after they screw in. That requires removal of the hub to properly install a new stud, which is not a tire shop job.

Have them break it off, punch out the head of the stud if it's not still a real tight fit in the hub and drive on four, you won't hurt anything. Get to the dealer for a proper repair ASAP.

 

I had similar problem on my XJ. Previous owner had a tire service in a butcher shop and they tighten the lug nuts with an impact wrench.

Long story short. To remove the lug nuts I used a hole saw to cut the nut body around the hex head, then it comes out very easy. Cut the chrome cover first, then remove the rest fo the chrome cover (it stays adound the hex head) with a cheesel. Proceed to cut the rest of the lug nut - they are made from very soft metal, so cutting is very easy.

Note: this will only help you if your lug nut is over tight. Mine were so tight, that the hex head on a few broke, before I can remove them. After the drill with the hole saw they came off like butter.

Hope this helps.
Venelin

PS: I got the hole saw advice from FactoryJagTech on this forum. He recomended 19mm. This is the original thread https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=3553

 

Thanks for the Quick Response Guys. This definitely gives me a direction.

Peace,
Darryl

 

Quick update. I took the car to the dealership and they had the tire off, frozen lug nut and all in 10 minutes. They took all the tires off and put some anti seize lubricant on the studs. The best part was they didn't charge me anything. That's Parreti Jaguar in New Orleans. They have a special tool that grips the problem lug nut and takes it right off.

 

So what you were talking about was the stainless steel cover on the lugnut was rounded off, and the nut wasn't seized.

 

No, the nut was in two parts. The cover came off because of all the effort put into taking the lug nut off, and the actual nut was the piece that was frozen to the stud. I was told by the people at the Tire co. that putting antiseizure lubricant on the studs is not going to prevent lugnut freezing over the long haul. Is that true?
I appreciate your attention. Thanks to all your Colleagues also.

Darryl

 

That means you're getting bad service on one hand and bad advice on the other. The hub studs should be lightly lubricated, I use antiseize as well, and the hub should be lightly coated with antiseize where the wheel locates. Corrosion at this interface can make the wheel impossible to remove without a prybar, if left unattended "over the long haul".

Lug nuts don't freeze, studs get burred by rough handling and lugnuts get seized when some guy crosses the dry threads and crunches the nut on with his 200 ft. lb. impact gun. Lubricate the threads and torque the nuts to 74 ft. lbs. and you will never see one damaged.

 

In the future when someone is taking the tires off and putting them on, should i ask that an impact gun not be used. and to put the lugnuts on with a lugnut wrench? Making sure they set the torque to 74 lbs might be a issue. Well, both may present a problem, but, what the heck i'm paying for the service. So which would irritate you less as a mechanic?

Peace,
Darryl

 

Nothing wrong with gunning them off, tell them you want them retightened and torqued by hand so the wheels are not damaged (this is factual, over tightening does that too).

 

That frozen lug nut likely started with someone over-tightening the nut with an impact wrench. I hate it when they do that. First, make sure when a tire jockey works on your car, he has his impact gun set at the correct torque for your lug nuts. Now for getting it off. The best method is drilling a hole through the top of your offset lug nut wrench. The hole must be 3/8" or larger. It must be large enough to place a short metal shank against the lug nut through the wrench. They apply significant loosening pressure to the nut. Have a buddy, place the short metal shank through that drilled hole. Keeping the pressure on the nut, strike the metal shank to jar the nut loose from the threads. Yeah, you will need a new lug nut. But at least it will come off. Best of luck

 

ditto

 

Definately not true. But the bigger problem is how much torque has been applied to the nuts. Above 74 ft/lbs is the likely problem. Typically much more than 100 ft/lbs.

 

I gave up on the original Jaguar lug nuts as they kept getting destroyed by the tyre shops. I changed the entire set to normal solid (instead of 2 piece) lug nuts 2 weeks ago and hopefully will not have any more problems in the future. Of the 1 year old new set of Jaguar nuts I put in last year, about 6 of the 20 are already out of shape, hence my switch to normal nuts. Sadly, it's not easy to train workshops on the correct technique to use to keep the jaguar lug nuts from deforming.

 

Who puts soft chrome covers over lugnuts on a $50k car? Had a flat last week (on the way to the airport - missed my flight - very angry at Jag Engineering) and twisted the cover off the lugnut when trying to change the flat. Had to have a flatbed carry me over to a tire shop where they were able to remove the lugnut. What a crappy design. A cover over the actual lugnut instead of just having a solid nut that is chromed. I'll be changing all of mine to solid nuts.