Wheel Stuck on Car; Won't come off

Old thread, but I just experienced the same thing. I revived my late mother's 2004 Prius that had sat in an unheated garage for three years. Got new tires all around, but one of them won't hold air. My mechanic says he thinks it's rusty rims, told me to either drop off the car or (cheaper option) pull the wheel and bring it in. I couldn't get the wheel off at first, but a few whacks on the tire with a rubber mallet did it -- inside and outside, left and right.

One thing that's stumping me: Mavis Tire mounted the new tires just over a month ago. How much could it have rusted in that time?

 

I'm more interested in seeing how an aluminum rim rusts and causes air leakage........

more likely a leaking valve stem, puncture, or just an unlucky poor job seating the bead.

 

I've had Costco fail to get a good bead seal due to corrosion on an older aluminum wheel on a previous car. But a separate tire shop was able properly clean it and get a good mount.

 

Steel makes 'rust', iron oxide, scaly brown stuff, messes up bead seat, can cause air leakage.

Aluminum makes aluminum oxide, scaly gray/white stuff, messes up bead seat, can cause air leakage. Maybe not 'rust' exactly, but it gets the job done.

 

Well, I'm pretty certain that nothing was cleaned when Mavis hung the wheels. Run the lugnuts down and it "jams" the crusty wheels onto the crusty hubs, wedging everything tight.

I usually leave one lugnut on with a few threads, then smack the inside of the tire with a 5lb mallet (30" handle).

Then it's time fore carbide scrapers and wire brushes to clean things up. Anti-seize and fluid film help limit future corrosion.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Yeah same here, watched an Eric the Car Guy video. One refinement: with the underside of tire no more than an inch clear, I set a block of 4x4 (found, likely sawn off fence post top) on slab behind the tire, slide/swing the sledge hammer ‘cross the slab, smack the block.

Yup. When rotating tires I now put a few very sparing dabs of anti-seize compound, spread it uniformly with an old toothbrush, haven’t needed the sledge hammer in years.

 

How often do you rotate? As long as I've been keeping up with it at 6,000 miles, they generally lift right off.

Maybe less salt here ....

 

Yep I've seen some crazy stuff from rust.

If your wheel was hard to get off, before putting it back on, get a wire brush and scrap off the surface rust, spray it with brake cleaner, then apply a thin layer of anti-seize on it. (Doesn't take a lot)

 

Me? Basically rotate with install/remove of snow tires. That "used" to be anywhere between 10~15 thousand kms yearly. Now, with both me and wife retired, and doubly so with the advent of COVID I guess, we practically don't need a car, mileage too ridiculously low to disclose...

 

Hmmm. I think I rotated 15k ago? My commute is so much straight line driving that I see very little difference in front to rear tire wear.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I tend to use rotation as an excuse for a more thorough kind of maintenance ritual. I write down the tread depths and pad and rotor thicknesses, check for any damaged boots or sticky brake bits, etc. It's all so easy when the four wheels are off.

And it keeps the wheels from getting stuck on the hubs!

 

I rotate our tires every 5,000 miles which is usually every oil change or every 2nd oil change. I thought about not rotating them in my AWD Prius but a mechanic said it's not all-time 4x4 but only engages the rear wheels when starting off and then only when front wheels lose traction...so those also get rotated.

A plus with rotations is that you get to inspect the tires for uneven wear which indicates you need to get an alignment and/or need to fill with proper air pressure.

 

Whenever I take the wheels off I roll them slowly down the driveway, pick gravel out of the tread with a small screwdriver, and keep a look out for metal bits that might have gotten embedded. It's good to wear safety glasses when doing this.

 

I just got done doing exactly that (and measuring brake pads, etc.)

Didn't find anything in the tread but gravel bits this time, but at last rotation found a Phillips screw head, which (because it was near the tire's shoulder) I parlayed into a new tire.

For reasons that puzzle me, Toyota specified that front-cross pattern for Gen 1, and then changed their mind.

Gen 1:


Gen 2:


Gen 3:

(I like the way the Gen 3 picture makes sure you know which way is the front.)

Gen 4:


I don't know why they changed that recommendation. I have non-directional tires on mine, and I am still using front-cross. Force of long habit....

 

Yeah there's various ways to rotate tires but, IMHO as long as they are swapped around it should be fine. Many mechanics I know will just swap the rear with the front on the same side to save time.

Last year, I was doing an oil change on my son-in-laws old Corolla and noticed one of his tire was directional....so those type have to stay on the same side, of course. (It was only on one tire...he said he got a flat and just bought one to replace it.)