13 replies to this topic

[runkthepunk]

right I feel like an idiot!

I have a 1991 cooper it has the standard 12" minilite wheels and it has these funny caps over the nuts I have no idea how to remove them but I need to be able to take off the bloody wheels

anyone tell me how to remove the caps? they feel like a thin alloy or perhaps plastic they kinda wobble about on the nuts but don't spin around

any help is appreciated

Thanks

Rob

[Shiftymini]

I had the same caps on my original wheels, all I did was get 2 long thin flathead screwdrivers and put the tips on each side of the cap and gently prise one side at a time, would be a good idea to lay some cloth of some description on the wheel to stop you from scuffing the alloy.

[james962]

They should pull off, but they will be rather tight

[Sprocket]

Do they look like these?

[Dan]

They should pull off, but they will be rather tight

No they should not! The caps are part of the nut, with the cap on the nuts are 11/16", with them removed they are no particular size and finding a socket that fits properly is tricky. If the nuts are old they corrode inside which blows the cap and makes it a tight fit into sockets, at this point they should be replaced.

They are hard to remove because they aren't meant to be removed.

Edited by Dan, 15 February 2009 - 11:54 AM.

[jaydee]

with the cap removed u'll need a metrical socket, size is a true 17mm

[runkthepunk]

Yes they were those units pictured (thanks sprocket) they were a complete farce trying to remove them in the end we had to butcher them up to get em off.

jaydee is correct they are 17mm once the cap is taken off I have refitted the nuts and the wheels are going nowhere, they look horrible but at least they can be removed.

Thanks everyone

Rob

[taffy1967]

Those wheel nuts have always been the bane of my life as I don't know how many times I've had to replace them. If I visit any garage or tyre fitters, I always instruct them to use a wheel brace to remove them and not a wheel nut power drill.

If the caps have fallen off, I've found that the locking wheel nut removal socket fits over the exposed wheel nut.

But the caps need to be in place as the nuts themselves corrode very badly otherwise.

[lrostoke]

We've always just left them on like Dan says no need to remove them, 18mm socket tends to fit them fine.
Just use my air gun to take them off ,but refit with the torque wrench.

[james962]

In that case, i take back what i said Dan, although i did have caps on my wheel nuts. They were the same ones as the ones sprocket's picture because they are the ones used for the Mini 30 alloys.

[Dan]

Your wheel nuts must have had the caps prised off by someone in the past and wedged back in place. They are all meant to be permanantly fixed.

I guess they must have changed the wheel nut spec slightly over the years if the inner is now exactly 17mm. All the times I have had to cope with this the inner nut was just over 17mm. As above they corrode really fast with the cover removed.

[Sprocket]

Yep the stainless bit shold not be prised off and the inner is not 17mm but 11/16"

and I thought the outer was 19mm as per most cars these days

The trick with these wheel nuts is to use the correct 6 sided socket and not the 12 point socket

[Marky Tizz]

In that case, i take back what i said Dan, although i did have caps on my wheel nuts. They were the same ones as the ones sprocket's picture because they are the ones used for the Mini 30 alloys.

as above, mini 30 alloys...

the caps are carp, each time we took the wheels off the caps got worse and worse, eventualyl they got trapped around the nuts and we couldnt get the nuts off. at this point i decided to hack them off with a hacksaw and bought some "cn2"s from minispares, much better nuts.

[minidaves]

two problems 1 thes enuts now come in 2 sizes 17mm and 11/16's the internal i found a 16mm socket works for removing them once the caps are off.

dave