[F31-340i]

Originally Posted by doughboy

Still stick to my method, loosen the bolts 1 turn and put the car back on the floor and roll it back and forth, this will part the hub and wheel, and its what any mechanic or tyre remover would do, perfectly safe!

Or use the method in the OP which is better (having tried both) and safer.....

[JDLM]

[SoYank]

Actually, a deadblow hammer will work much better. It won't bounce as much.

[MUNIK-FL]

Originally Posted by doughboy

Any car with alloy wheels and steel hubs (most cars then) suffers from this, nothing to do with BMW, and the use of bolts rather than studs is common place these days, so its the same technique as with most other cars - just line up the holes by eye as you put the wheel back on - not rocket science! If its a bit of just roll the rim to move it round a little.

The sticking is excacerbated by long service intervals and no requirement to remove wheels unless brakes pads are being changed any more.

Lots of cars are 3 or 4 years old before they EVER have a wheel removed - thus they stick like shit to a blanket..

Still stick to my method, loosen the bolts 1 turn and put the car back on the floor and roll it back and forth, this will part the hub and wheel, and its what any mechanic or tyre remover would do, perfectly safe!

I changed the brakes on my wife's lexus a couple of weeks ago (alloy wheels and steel hub) and I had no problem removing the wheel at all. Also, re-installing them was much easier since the studs easily aligned to the wheel, rather than having to fish around for the proper hole.

The issue with the BMW is the round steel cup on the hub that is received by the hole in the wheel rusts and expands creating a wedging effect and making it difficult to remove.

Either there is a weight/cost savings for BMW or it is a bad design.

[PeterLech]

Originally Posted by doughboy

....

Still stick to my method, loosen the bolts 1 turn and put the car back on the floor and roll it back and forth, this will part the hub and wheel, and its what any mechanic or tyre remover would do, perfectly safe!

What a surprise when I went to take the wheels off for the semi-annual brake fluid flush. Totally stuck on.

The methods above seems to only work on the front wheels due to the brake bias. On the rear, i also tried removing the bolts and dropping the car rapidly on the hydraulic jack, which did not seem to help either. I had to pound the sh*t out of the rear tires with my brass wheel knock-off hammer (from the old MG days).

Lots of rust on the tapered hub where it mates with the wheel, even though we do not get much rain here.

Obviously not greased by the stealer 2 1/2 years ago when they flushed the brake fluid. Better to do things yourself where possible to avoid corner-cutting.

[doughboy]

wow! old thread resurrection!

If they're really stuck then take the car for a very short drive with the bolts loosened 1 turn max, just a few yards, and do a 3 point turn, that will work 100%. The loading of the car will "pop" them off the seized hub by 1mm or less which is enough.

It's completely safe, the bolts have 90%+ of their thread still in the hub, anyone who say it is "dangerous" doesn't understand mechanics.

Much better (and safer) than bending your rims / injuring yourself or the car by hitting them with hammers and blocks of wood!