d215yq
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2008
- Messages
- 2,664
- Reaction score
- 702
- Age
- 39
- Location
- Valencia, Spain
- Your Mercedes
- 1987 W124 300D 280k miles
Hi all, well after the Saga of getting my rear tyres changed and asking them to loosen the front wheels overtightened by them previously, I decided to change the front brakes. Then I noticed the new cross climate tyres were on the front not back as I asked for. No problem, I thought as I was going to change the brakes anyway I thought I'd just do it myself. Well got 8 of the 10 front bolts off with a 60cm breaker bar I found in the boot the Previous owner had put there and a quality socket 17mm, and the socket snapped on the 9th and it really was hard gettign those 8 off
So I went back to the garage and asked them to do it. They were wondering why I wanted to take them off etc but I said it was my right to change brakes etc and swap tyres. The guy laughs and explains how iun this shop it's all manually tightened, maybe I don't have the tools etc but just banter so I say show me how and I'll give you a fiver a wheel half jokingly. So he comes back with his own breaker bar on the two nuts I couldn't undo on the front to snap his tool immediately. Not lauighing any more he gets the gun and can't remove the two on the front nor any of the 10 on the rear. Says the wheel bolts on the front are all rounded and therefore it can't be taken off and so it's not possible to change them.... whereas the ten on the back are so tight that it's impossible to get them off even with the gun as it is not powerful enough but may well round off when he finds a powerful enough gun!
I explained calmly that they must be rounded off because of the excessive force used and therefore it's up to him to remove all the wheels and return it to me loose (as this is the second time I said I want to pick it up loose and tighten myself at my own risk). He said OK but he might need to buy wheel bolts or it could even be a write off with new hubs etc. So I stated that OK, things happen, but we've both agreed the route cause is they are over-torqued and I don't want it back until it's fixed and don't expect to pay anything for this. He then said they sub to a garage the tyre work (which is probably true as they don't have tyres in the workshop and maybe why their gun can't get them off) but I said that's fine but still his problem. He said he coudl only try with their more powerful gun on the back and hope they don't round but the two on the front are rounded and the gun spins so they can't be got off and it might need a new hub.
Has anyone had this problem before and am I within my rights to ask for it fixed FOC inlcuding new bolts and hubs if necsessary? Assuming it is freed off I expect I'll need new wheel bolts to stop this happening in the future and would that be something they should pay for as it's their fualt for rounding them or is it actually not tehir fault because the 33yr old bolts could be claimed to be "faulty" as they should never round no matter what torque is applied?? Also could this sort of thing damage other components (I assume the bit they screw into is the hub?)
Anyway I'm a little stressed. I need the car to go to the UK in 2 weeks and don't want any problems. Out of interest what do wheel bolts cost and are they expensive?
So I went back to the garage and asked them to do it. They were wondering why I wanted to take them off etc but I said it was my right to change brakes etc and swap tyres. The guy laughs and explains how iun this shop it's all manually tightened, maybe I don't have the tools etc but just banter so I say show me how and I'll give you a fiver a wheel half jokingly. So he comes back with his own breaker bar on the two nuts I couldn't undo on the front to snap his tool immediately. Not lauighing any more he gets the gun and can't remove the two on the front nor any of the 10 on the rear. Says the wheel bolts on the front are all rounded and therefore it can't be taken off and so it's not possible to change them.... whereas the ten on the back are so tight that it's impossible to get them off even with the gun as it is not powerful enough but may well round off when he finds a powerful enough gun!
I explained calmly that they must be rounded off because of the excessive force used and therefore it's up to him to remove all the wheels and return it to me loose (as this is the second time I said I want to pick it up loose and tighten myself at my own risk). He said OK but he might need to buy wheel bolts or it could even be a write off with new hubs etc. So I stated that OK, things happen, but we've both agreed the route cause is they are over-torqued and I don't want it back until it's fixed and don't expect to pay anything for this. He then said they sub to a garage the tyre work (which is probably true as they don't have tyres in the workshop and maybe why their gun can't get them off) but I said that's fine but still his problem. He said he coudl only try with their more powerful gun on the back and hope they don't round but the two on the front are rounded and the gun spins so they can't be got off and it might need a new hub.
Has anyone had this problem before and am I within my rights to ask for it fixed FOC inlcuding new bolts and hubs if necsessary? Assuming it is freed off I expect I'll need new wheel bolts to stop this happening in the future and would that be something they should pay for as it's their fualt for rounding them or is it actually not tehir fault because the 33yr old bolts could be claimed to be "faulty" as they should never round no matter what torque is applied?? Also could this sort of thing damage other components (I assume the bit they screw into is the hub?)
Anyway I'm a little stressed. I need the car to go to the UK in 2 weeks and don't want any problems. Out of interest what do wheel bolts cost and are they expensive?