I have covid and today's the last day to pick up my paxlovid from the pharmacy for it to have any effect, but my car has a flat tire. I've been trying for 3 days to get the lugnuts off, and I just can't get them unstuck. I'm using the shitty 8-inch tire iron that came with my car, and can't get enough leverage. I've tried jumping on it, I've tried beating it with a hammer, but they won't come off. And it's made even tougher by my diminished breathing and strength due to covid.
Try to find a 1-2" diameter metal pipe about 2-5' long that will fit around the tire iron handle, you can dramatically increase your leverage by extending the lever length.
A small can of penetrating oil will help a lot. PB blaster is probably best and easiest to get. You can make your own with half ATF fluid and half acetone shaken up before applying. Also thermal cycling can break rust. Use a torch to briefly heat nut and let cool. Heating and penetrating oil several times usually breaks the hardest nuts free. Last if you can get a proper lug nut wrench it will make a big difference. These are worth their weight in gold you can get them at wally mart or horrible freight cheap or pay more from advance auto / autozone. Walmart usually has everything I mentioned here in stock.
You haven't jacked it up yet, right? You wanna use the weight of the car to keep the tire from moving. If you're very, very careful you can try using a torch or a heat gun. If you've got a mallet you can try giving the lug nuts a couple of smacks directly. Don't beat the shit out of them tho. You don't wanna damage the posts.
You haven't jacked it up yet, right?
Right, I figured that jacking the car up would allow the tire to move, which would make it harder to get the nuts off.
I don't have a mallet, but I have a hammer. Would hitting the lugnuts directly with the hammer damage them?
A couple smacks should be alright, but I'd maybe cover them with a folded towel to blunt it a bit.
Pb blaster would probably be better if they're gonna spend money.
That's a good idea. I don't have any, but maybe I could get some Doordashed or something.
I couldn't tell you why but I don't think it would. It's jank as hell but you could try dipping a rag in the brake fluid reservoir to get a little bit of it (def careful not to take enough to go below the line) as brake fluid is often similar to if not exactly ATF. I find it works pretty well as penetrating oil even without cutting with solvent.
If you've got a jack for the car an old classic is to wedge the jack under the tire iron with thr car still on the ground then jack it up. It's slow but even shitty scissor jacks can generate tons of force.
Additionally I don't usually apply this to lug nuts but often a stuck bolt can be broken loose by starting it moving in the tightening direction then switching to loosening.
The car jack idea is great, been diying just about all my car stuff for decades and only now hearing it
depending on how desperate you are, heat + bash may loosen it up enough to budge. hair dryer + extension cord?
I've had this happen before. What you want is technically a 'breaker bar' but do what /u/sloth said. Me, I had an old metal corner post from a bed, essentially a long tube/pipe, that the handle of the tire iron went inside and I jerked on the tube. Look around for some kind of long metal pipe!
A "cheater bar." Just be careful, these things can be somewhat dangerous.
Do you have an impact wrench? If not, I suggest getting one if you plan on working on your car yourself regularly. It'll make taking the lugnuts off a breeze.
I had this same exact problem with my car and I never figured it out, I had to have someone from my insurance come out with a power drill and a lugnut bit to strip them off and change the flat. Maybe wd-40 like another poster said? I wish I could help more comrade, but I'm clueless when it comes to cars :sadness:
I had one of these. Is it a late model car? My wife has a recent one and the lug nuts got these platic coverletts that get suck on alll the time. They had to be cut off
