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The Maintenance Files |
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Wheel lug nuts on a Porsche tend to be a pain
in the ass. When they are new (or newly painted), they look very
nice. Aluminum alloy or whatever they are, they are very light - and
very delicate. Anybody that has owned a Porsche knows that if you
look at them the wrong way, they will scratch. Just use a normal
socket once, and they start looking like crap. So, the 'soft socket'
is the obvious answer. The plastic insert slides on really nicely
& works well. Until you try to undo the lug nuts with it.
Then you've buggered it up & the decline of your 'soft socket' has
begun. You might as well throw it out right now.
My declining 'soft socket' ruined 2 lug nuts. They were on for 2 months, 1000 miles & at proper torque of 96 ft/lbs. The effort required was substantial & the soft socket started slipping & . . . Didn't know that plastic would ruin a metal lug nut, did you? And then, just to complete the task, I switched to a normal deep socket & I sheared off a lug nut at the ridge. See below:
Now, this is a a pain in the ass that I wasn't expecting. And they were torqued correctly.
Time to hit the Pelican forum . . . Instant success as it appears to be a fairly common issue. The recommended fix is to get a high quality 3/4" hole saw & throw away the guide bit. The saw will fit over the lug bolt & let you carefully saw the remainder of the nut into pieces to remove. And it worked!
Surprisingly easy. I carefully sawed my way down into the head of the lug nut. I was leery about sawing all the way through & into the hub, but as it was, I didn't even get all the way through. I undid the rest of the lug nuts & then lifted the wheel off which popped the remainder out. And I picked up some used lug nuts for $4 CDN each from Porchapart in Toronto. Of course, looking at the picture of the wheel above, I think it's time for some painting. More jobs . . . |
