12 replies to this topic

[A362 TTU]

So Christmas is coming up and strangely I don't have a wheel brace/wrench for my car (it never came with one - I've got by without though till now -borrowing others).

so can someone reccomend one to me - with a proper arm if possible so I can get decent leverage.

Thanks!.

[bunch1980]

I use either normal ratchet socket bar 1/2" or when doing up nuts a torque wrench of course, which is quite long and can of course be used to undo nuts. The one that came with my mini for road side repairs is very short and doubt I would even get nuts un-done if I was to use it!

[Liam Mini 35]

I use an impact wrench. You could gt a cheapy one with a battery?

[puggered]

Buy a decent power bar and socket from Halfords and leave it in the boot

[panelbeaterpeter]

Never tighten mini wheel nuts with an impact gun or breaker bar, the studs are easily broken. Should be tightened to 64 Nm, which is about 45 lbs.

[Cerberus]

Mines only about 30cm long, tighten em up as tight as you can easily go with it, and it does it to pretty much spot on the right value after checking it with a torque wrench.

Also got one of those extending wheel wrenches from Halfords, but the angle on it makes it awkward as it's not a 90 degree bend, and when its at its longest you can do the nuts up far too tight.

[A362 TTU]

What size are the wheel nuts?. Thanks.

[Cerberus]

Depends on wheel nuts I think.

Mine are the standard rover ones with the collar, and I use a 17mm hex socket.

[cradley-heathen]

those standard rover nuts as used on the factory minilights are a nightmare! on several occasions at work i have had to use different size sockets on each nut on just one wheel, 11/16" 17mm, or 16mm if the shiny cap has come off already. then you get a good fit withthe caps on and then they round so you have to chisel the cap to split it and get it off grrrrrrrr.

sorry slightly off topic that!

agreed on the getting a bar and socket and keeping it in the boot at all times.

[huntface]

Never tighten mini wheel nuts with an impact gun or breaker bar, the studs are easily broken. Should be tightened to 64 Nm, which is about 45 lbs.

Quite right!

Of course when you take you car to a tyre centre make sure you point this out to the "technician" serving your car.

I caught one numb nuts (excuse the pun) at Merit Tyres in Chertsey trying to torque my rear wheels to 100ft lbs!

[Eddy029]

Had to replace 3 wheel nuts on my mini because of those stupid caps, got some of these to replace them:

http://www.minispare...id=34224&title=

Much better. Another piece of advice I'd give is use a 6 point socket rather than a 12 point one, thats how the damn things get rounded off in the first place.

[Cerberus]

those standard rover nuts as used on the factory minilights are a nightmare! on several occasions at work i have had to use different size sockets on each nut on just one wheel, 11/16" 17mm, or 16mm if the shiny cap has come off already. then you get a good fit withthe caps on and then they round so you have to chisel the cap to split it and get it off grrrrrrrr.

sorry slightly off topic that!

agreed on the getting a bar and socket and keeping it in the boot at all times.

I had that when I first bought the car. Certainly was a nightmare.

So I bought pretty much a whole new set of nuts, so 17mm does them all now, and I'm just careful with them.

Air guns and 'non-hex-sockets' are what I reckon the problem is, they just chew them up.

[AVV IT]

I don't bother with a wheel brace any more and now just carry a torque wrench in the boot, along with the correct sized socket. A torque wrench is long enough to get sufficient leverage and it means that if I have to change the wheel at the side of the road, then I won't be guessing as to how tight to do the nuts back up again.