I was going to take off the winter wheels today and put the summer wheels back on but ran into a snag..

After removing the lug bolts, the wheel would not budge, and it is stuck on the hub?? I tried yanking it big time, but no luck.

Any suggested ways to release it from the hub, other than banging the wheel off of the hub? Wouldn't banging it potentially screw with the alignment?

thanks!

 

get it on a lift. if not available, then bang on it with a big rubber mallot. if that fails, just drop the jack. it will pop right off.

 

1. Hit with rubber mallet

2. Put wheel bolts back on and put car on ground. Loosen wheel nuts one turn, drive car forward a couple of yards, brake hard, back a yard brake hard again. Lift car and see if they come off now.

To prevent this happening again put smear of copper grease on hub.

 

You'll need to hit it fairly hard with a rubber mallet. Prior to reinstalling the wheels, sand off the surface rust on the hub surface where the wheel contacts it and apply a light coating of anti-seize grease to the clean surface. The wheels will just slip off next time. Reapply grease with each seasonal change over.

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll be heading out to "Mallets-R-Us", and will give this another go round tomorrow AM.

 

I had this problem with other cars also.
Your wheels support the car from two places. The center hub and the bolts - together they work as a system. OK the center hub is a tight fit to achieve the support. The NE winters were brutal and the salt is brutal. You get a lot of aluminum corrosion at the hub which is a tight fit anyhow.
The professionals beat the crap out of it and hope for the best. This makes me crazy. But the best way is to carefully remove the center hub (I dont know how) and put some penetrating fluid in there to soften the oxide. Then jack up the tire and with the bolts out kick the bottom and top to loosen. Yes it is difficult. A rubber mallet is really too small.
Then when you reinstall them, clean the hub very well with a scrub pad, and put anti seize grease on the hub area only.

 

Banging them off with the mallet won't compromise the alignment correct?

Once off, I will be cleaning off and painting the hubs and calipers. So with the anti-sieze grease after, I am hoping not to go down this trail again..

 

Your wheel alignment will be fine since you are not stronger than a 4000lb car hitting a pothole at 60mph!! The real danger is wheel damage either by bending, dinging or chipping.
I dont think painting is a good idea since the fit is very tight and the paint will reactivate/soften under braking heat. A good cleaning and anti-seize is all that is needed.
You really should use a penetrant to loosen the corrosion.

 

A block of wood against the inside of the wheel, hit the wood block with a small sledge hammer. That's how I got mine off, now I grease the hubs every time I swap snows to summer etc

 

Just lower it GENTLY down off the jack. Use the weight of the car to break it loose. Once off, you'll want to clean up the hub and add a schmear (tech term) of antiseize (most guys use copper, I have a 6 or 8 year old bottle of the regular stuff that I'm still working my way through). Try not to get a bunch of antisieze in the lug holes or the "do you grease your lug nuts" argument will take over the list for a couple of weeks.

John Virnig
'07 550i SMG (Still working on a sig, picture, etc)
Richfield, WI