Removing rounded off lug nuts

93redzj

93redzj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Location
Albemarle
Just wanted to share my experience with a 2010 Ford Focus today, was changing our brakes and rotors, the lug nuts were absolutely impossible to remove and seemed like nothing fit them properly....after straining to break 3 loose, I fought with and completely rounded off the 4th one. I did everything I knew to do, hammered a size smaller socket onto it and tried, just slipped off. Even bought one of those “special” sockets from autozone for a rounded off lug nut, didn’t work.
Gave up and took it to a meineke and they removed the nut in minutes....took car back home, went to passenger side, loosened 3 of 4...4th one rounded off. SON OF A!...went to harbor, Lowe’s and northern looking for the special socket they had at meineke to remove the lug nut. But couldn’t find it, ended up Getting a set of sockets that seemed would work. After hours of frustration I finally conquered the 8 lug nuts of a Ford Focus and was able to change rotors and pads
 
I just hope and pray I don’t deal with that crap again. What a headache. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for these special sockets to save myself hours of headache and the absolute need for a beer
 
I have had the same thing happen to me on several cars I have worked on. The special sockets (at least the ones I have) for rounded off lugs or locks only work if you use them before you absolutely mangle the lugs, and only work a few times before the treads they use are stripped.

What has worked for me in the mangled ones, is to find a socket that fits tight after being beat on half way, and a stick welder to tack it on the lug. You ruin both obviously, but its a last ditch effort at that point.

I thinks its best to not round them off in the first place though :D
 
RatLabGuy said:
What did they do at Meineke?
Click to expand...
He had some set of sockets that had like a spiral shape on the inside...it’s a terrible description I know, but it seems as if the design of the socket allowed it to get more of a bite once it gets ahold of the lug nut. He tapped it on with a hammer, turned it with a breaker bar to cinch it, then used an impact to get the lug nut off.
 
junkxj said:
I have had the same thing happen to me on several cars I have worked on. The special sockets (at least the ones I have) for rounded off lugs or locks only work if you use them before you absolutely mangle the lugs, and only work a few times before the treads they use are stripped.

What has worked for me in the mangled ones, is to find a socket that fits tight after being beat on half way, and a stick welder to tack it on the lug. You ruin both obviously, but its a last ditch effort at that point.

I thinks its best to not round them off in the first place though :D
Click to expand...
Yeah the one on the passenger side, as soon as I slipped off and realized I was going to have the same problem, I used my autozone socket along with my impact. It did nothing but chew the chrome plating cap off.
After attempting with the best size socket I found to fit the nut and beginning the “rounding off” process, I tried the size smaller socket and beating it into place, no welder to help in this case though. Agreed though, best practice is to not round the dang thing off to begin with :shaking:
 
93redzj said:
Yeah the one on the passenger side, as soon as I slipped off and realized I was going to have the same problem, I used my autozone socket along with my impact. It did nothing but chew the chrome plating cap off.
After attempting with the best size socket I found to fit the nut and beginning the “rounding off” process, I tried the size smaller socket and beating it into place, no welder to help in this case though. Agreed though, best practice is to not round the dang thing off to begin with :shaking:
Click to expand...

At least you got them off! I have had to cut the lugs and studs off with an angle grider. Long process of drilling out the remaining stud, followed by using a tap and then figuring out what new stud would work.

Pain in the ass.
 
junkxj said:
At least you got them off! I have had to cut the lugs and studs off with an angle grider. Long process of drilling out the remaining stud, followed by using a tap and then figuring out what new stud would work.

Pain in the ass.
Click to expand...
I would have thrown the towel in at that point and let someone else deal with it haha. I just wouldn’t have had the patience for that, maybe if it were a vehicle that could stand to be sidelined more than a day, that way I could walk away when I got frustrated and come back to it
 
I've had luck welding a socket to locking lugnuts and getting them off. It doesnt take but a little weld to stick them together. The heat expands the nut and they back right off.
 
So many questions....
Are you sure you were using the right size socket to remove the lug nuts?
If it was the right size was in a horrible freight poor qc 1/4 size off?
Finally did you antiseize those bitches when you put them back on?
 
93redzj said:
He had some set of sockets that had like a spiral shape on the inside...it’s a terrible description I know, but it seems as if the design of the socket allowed it to get more of a bite once it gets ahold of the lug nut. He tapped it on with a hammer, turned it with a breaker bar to cinch it, then used an impact to get the lug nut off.
Click to expand...
I have a set. They will take anything off they fit on.
399c91c7656a0270775ab55a59d684c5.jpg
25c088f1e569d346763ffbd28aeb557f.jpg


Sent from my SM-J737A using Tapatalk
 
Ron said:
So many questions....
Are you sure you were using the right size socket to remove the lug nuts?
If it was the right size was in a horrible freight poor qc 1/4 size off?
Finally did you antiseize those bitches when you put them back on?
Click to expand...
Honestly it seemed like nothing I had was the perfect fit. The 3/4 didn’t seem to want to fully seat on the lug but next size up was too big. I believe a 19mm was just a tad small and apparently all my metric sets go from 19 to 21 and skip 20 all together.
I replaced all those shitty lug nuts with 3/4 ones but did not use anti seize, but there’s still time to go and apply that
 
I had the same problem on my wife’s van with those damn capped lugs. I ordered real lug nuts and replaced them all. I got them off by tapping a slightly larger socket on and carefully and prayerfully backing them off. Lol
 
2010 focus should have definitely been a 19 mm stock.
 
Black Hawk 49980
Large hole is about .775 inch
Really a stud remover, I have removed several rounded off nuts with it. Been in my toolbox at least 40 years.
15867061093928287806769051539314.jpg
15867062186851274524311915230853.jpg
 
Last edited:
93redzj said:
That is similar to the one I bought at autozone, it was a 3/4 in size I believe. All it did was strip the chrome plating off,
Click to expand...
If you can its best to grind off the chrome first ( I like a die grinder) and then hammer on the removal socket. All these "Teeth" help to grab it. You turn slowly with your ratchet and tap with a hammer at the same time. This keeps them biting.
GOPR4189.JPG
 
tknopp said:
If you can its best to grind off the chrome first ( I like a die grinder) and then hammer on the removal socket. All these "Teeth" help to grab it. You turn slowly with your ratchet and tap with a hammer at the same time. This keeps them biting.
View attachment 315873
Click to expand...
Huge! In trumpaneze...

Only time I've ever come across this is when someone else just didn't use the right socket first. By y'all tools and references this happen "wheel" more than I realized.
 
tknopp said:
If you can its best to grind off the chrome first ( I like a die grinder) and then hammer on the removal socket. All these "Teeth" help to grab it. You turn slowly with your ratchet and tap with a hammer at the same time. This keeps them biting.
View attachment 315873
Click to expand...
These are the ones meineke had. Where did you find those? That’s the kind I would like to invest in just for any unfortunate future occurrences
 
93redzj said:
These are the ones meineke had. Where did you find those? That’s the kind I would like to invest in just for any unfortunate future occurrences
Click to expand...
I bought the set off of the Snap On truck. I imagine you could order the set from Snap On website. I think I paid about 100 bucks for the set but priceless when you need them. Also the "teeth" will eventually loose their bit after continued use. But with a lifetime warranty you just trade the worn ones in for new ones.
 
93redzj said:
Honestly it seemed like nothing I had was the perfect fit. The 3/4 didn’t seem to want to fully seat on the lug but next size up was too big. I believe a 19mm was just a tad small and apparently all my metric sets go from 19 to 21 and skip 20 all together.
I replaced all
Click to expand...
Agree w Ron. Should have been 19mm. If replaced its possible it was 13/16 which would be like 20.5mm.
Probably had a little gnurling of an edge or two that prevented the socket from sliding on.sometimes
 
RatLabGuy said:
Agree w Ron. Should have been 19mm. If replaced its possible it was 13/16 which would be like 20.5mm.
Probably had a little gnurling of an edge or two that prevented the socket from sliding on.sometimes
Click to expand...
Yeah I did attempt the 19mm as well, it could have been after I attempted the 3/4 though, it seemed like neither really fit it. Was probably just a matter of finessing it up on there, but the lug nuts were stupid tight as well which wasn’t helping me any. It was just an overall day of swearing and beating my head against the concrete over some dumb lug nuts. I pray the rears won’t be as bad but I’ll have my stick of dynamite ready just in case
 
Hammer and a wee bit smaller socket knock it on back it off
 
Back
Top