Grrrrr BMW rant

sars

sars

Awesome
 East Yorkshire
Site Supporter
I decided to swap my winter wheels on Saturday, weather was nice and so I set to the task at hand, managed to swap the nearside with no fuss at all. Then came to the offside, nuts of the front wheel were very tight and with some help managed to loosen them, then came the the locking wheel nut........ which was so tight that it has sheared the key!!

Phoned BMW this morning to complain, the car had its two year break fluid change a few weeks ago, however they stated that they have never taken the wheels off......which I find hard to believe and so they will not do anything to help.

So I now have one side with lovely new wheels and the other with wheels that I cannot take off, now going to the dealer to get a new locking wheel key which the probably wont have in stock... :headbang:

However they do look very very nice :D
 
You can get a socket that thieves use, it has lots of little pins in it so that it shapes itself to your locked nut. If the proper wheel key broke however then it's likely one of those will break too! You might be able to pick one up from a Halfords or similar auto-store.

It's a pain in the arse whenever a garage or tyre fitter puts nuts back on, they almost always use air tools and don't give a toss what the recommended torque setting should be - just crank it up to max and make the bolt unmoveable for anyone with a foot long socket.

Any pics of the new wheels? :)

ETA:

Looking at Halfords, they use a socket with a reverse thread on the inside so it grips the nut, but it'll wreck the outside of the lock nut using it. I think the AA and RAC may use something similar.

Alternatively, the first 30s of this is a Ford mechanic telling you how to steal someone's wheels. (The rest of the video is a crap sales pitch).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEpG7p0arQw
 
Put some easing oil on the nuts the day before, give yourself a head start! As for BMW and the wheels thing, yep they connect up a machine, it pumps in new oil and job done, no need for wheels off.
 
Take up the situation with BMW if you haven't had wheels taken off by anybody else other than the Stealer, previously.

With a brake fluid change, I understand sometimes the brakes are bled - does this necessitate taking wheels off? Anyway, speak to BMW. Don't take the first response if they did attach nuts on too tight.
 
Maniac said:
Put some easing oil on the nuts the day before, give yourself a head start! As for BMW and the wheels thing, yep they connect up a machine, it pumps in new oil and job done, no need for wheels off.
Click to expand...

Yes the thread and head friction factors reduces dramatically if you use lubricants, just not sure it applies to an existing over torqued bolt, but certainly no harm in trying once I get the replacement key, thanks
 
I'd definitely be having a word with someone at that BMW garage... any dealer that wouldn't help me out with something like that certainly wouldn't be getting my business come servicing time. Shocking!
 
I had the same problem with My old A3, got a flat went to put the spare on, couldnt get it off!

Rang Audi, had a moan, as in the 4 years I had the car only they took the wheels off, they broke the master socket(s) trying to get them off, in the end they drilled all of them off and replaced with non locking bolts (I paid for the new bolts) and off I went,

The AA offered to use their tool to get it off, but couldnt confirm they wouldnt damage the car/rim

I hate locking bolts, best to take them off, if someone wants the wheels they will take them, locking bolts or not....
 
No need to take the wheels off to bleed the brakes if you have access to a 4-post lift like the dealer will.

I take mine to BMW to do the brake fluid service, but the only one I've had done on the Z4MC left it a very spongy pedal afterwards and I had to power-bleed them myself to get it back to how it was (took almost a litre to get all the air bubbles out), so I assume there must be something wrong with their machine/technicians/processes at the dealership I used.

I do mine every year anyway (specialist) and before I go to the 'Ring, but took mine to the dealer for its scheduled one for the service history stamp.

I'll never understand why people put so much faith in FBMWMDSH though, after the experiences I've had (although I know it needs to stay in the dealer network to maintain BMW Insured Warranty). Maybe buyers will supposedly pay a premium for it, or it will simply make it easier to sell.

BTW, I also make sure I clean off the old and put on new copper grease onto the bolt thread/hub-face whenever I remove/refit the wheels. You can also get a 'gasket' which sits between the hub face and the wheel to stop the wheel sticking to the hub.
tt295_-_discmates.jpg
 
It has just occurred to me that if BMW haven't removed my wheels, the last person to remove the offside front was....... me, just before Christmas after getting my new wheels :(

Honestly guys, I am not built like Fatama Whitbread :poke:

As for adding copper slip to the threads, not sure about that one. It depends on how the bolted connection was designed, by adding a lubricant you reduced the stress on the bolt (through the drop in friction on the head and thread), which is no bad thing, however you need a certain amount of pre-stress on the bolt to make a good connection, and that's one of the reasons for torque values. By adding copper slip you reduce the desired pre stress when given the same torque setting and thus reducing the quality of the connection.
 
sars said:
As for adding copper slip to the threads, not sure about that one. It depends on how the bolted connection was designed, by adding a lubricant you reduced the stress on the bolt (through the drop in friction on the head and thread), which is no bad thing, however you need a certain amount of pre-stress on the bolt to make a good connection, and that's one of the reasons for torque values. By adding copper slip you reduce the desired pre stress when given the same torque setting and thus reducing the quality of the connection.
Click to expand...
I'm not going to argue with the technical analysis, but I've not had a problem with any wheel on any of my cars Ms in over 20 years - and they've nearly all been used on track and covered 20k+ miles a year :thumbsup:
 
I have always applied some copperslip to my bolts and hubs.. Prevents rust binding them.

Might be worth getting aftermarket mcguard locking nuts... Might be cheaper and offer better protection then the bmw ones which can be removed without a key relatively easily.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Using lubricant INCREASES the clamping force of a bolted connection, given the same torque, as compared to dry. So much that a tension failure could result from using dry torque spec with lubricant. One should generally reduce the dry torque spec if using lubricant.

That said, I use a very minimal amount of anti-seize, and use the dry torque spec. Nothing has broken yet. However, I have occasionally found a nut or two (not a BMW) VERY hard to loosen months later despite lubricant and 'proper' torqueing. Could be due to higher clamping force, but I don't think so. I have no logical explanation. It just seems nuts and bolts can come off a lot harder than they went on for no apparent reason.
 
I have the wheel mates as shown in that image, but they would not prevent the bolts seizing though. I am really surprised about the seizing in such a short time, never had an issue with the bolts.

Wheels seizing on the hub, yes - that can happen very quickly.
 
I have to say that I am a tad more feminine than that, okay Lou Ferrigno is probably more feminine :o

Okay just gone to BMW to pick up a new Key......£16.00 + VAT, as you can imagine I went a little crazy when the parts guy told me this...... apologies to him he doesn't set the pricing. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a picture of all my wheels actually on my car.
 
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