Stuck Wheel Question
 

I went to rotate my tires, but I cannot get the rear OE rims off. They are stuck to the hub. Kicking the tire around the endges did not budge them.
Anyone know any tricks to remove stuck on rims?

Re: Stuck Wheel Question
 

Kick them harder, this has been discussed before, and yes they are stuck on pretty darn well. You can also try a wood block against the rim and a small sledge, give it some love taps in a CW or CCW direction to work it loose.

Stocker

just don't drive around with the lugs off until the wheel fly's off!!

sorry, I saw some kid do that the other day....

BFH and a block of wood. Or just keep kicking the crap out of it on the outer edge of the tire. Just don't hurt yourself or kick the fender. If all ells fails you can follow these steps:

I had to do this once on an old rusted crapper.

1. Park it close to an immovable object.
2. Place a piece of wood on the rim.
3. Then put a jack between the immovable object and the rim and jack the jack until it breaks the rim free.

If you need a description in picture form, e-mail me.

When you put the tires back on put a little grease on that surface and it will greatly decrease the chances of this happening again.

just so you know i had the same problem and actually hurt my foot while kicking the crap out of the wheel. THEN it comes off. good luck!

Mine were very very stuck so I loosened the lugnuts a BIT and drove very slowly back and forth in my driveway. Be VERY careful when you do this... I moved at a walking pace, about 50' forward and the same back on my flat, paved driveway. This broke them free.

When you put them back on, put some Anti-Seize or some White Lithium Grease on the hubs first. this will prevent it happening in the future.

Anothey way to get them off is to put one or two lugs on just a few threads to keep the tire from falling off. Use a rubber mallet and give the tire (not the rim) a few good shots from the back of the tire.

Yes anti-seize will help.

I had the same problem. I was trying to take the rear wheel off to paint my calipers but I couldn't do it, no matter how hard I tried. The front disk brakes looked pretty rusted and I've only had my car for 9 months! Is this normal?? I'll try what you guys suggested, but it is ok to put a little WD-40 on there before putting the wheels pack? Thanks ;)

LEVERAGE !!
its all about the leverage, i dunno about this block of wood and sledge stuff........just get a 4 or 5 foot length of pipe, put it over the socket/rachet, voila

you can now proceed to take off ANYTHING

Did you try jacking up the car first? It's pretty hard trying to take off a wheel when the car is still on the ground. :D Seriously though, don't try to drive the car with the lug nuts off. If your wheel happens to come loose, your car will drop right down to the floor and cause some serious damage to the fenders and suspension. A few good kicks on the bottom of the wheel should loosen them up. I put a fine coating of anti-sieze on the face of the brake rotor to prevent this from happening. Also, make sure to properly torque down the lugnuts when you put them back on.

He's not talking about the lugnuts. :D The wheel itself tend to fuse to the hub. Both my alloys and my steel wheels (winter) did it.

rear wheels stuck - sucks
 

Ok, so it wasn't me then. Seems to be a Mazda "weakness" from the sounds of it here. Didn't have this problem with my Accord, Shadow, or any other car for that matter.
I tried putting a scratch awl between the hub and the rim where there's a small indentation but ended up bending the awl. This worked on the front wheels however. I tried gently kicking and hammering but that didn't work either. I just painted the rear calipers thru the wheel opening. However, since I couldn't clean them first, the paint is not holding as well as the front.
I plan to swap my alloys for winter steelies in November so I need to beat this problem, or pay a shop to swap them. I was successful with the reverse swap this past spring so maybe they "weld on" after time...
I'm going for an oil change today (switching to synthetic). I'll discuss this problem with the shop manager. If he has any suggestions, I'll pass them along.

Mark :)

Have you tried hitting the tire from the other side. I had the hardest time removing mine and then I took a rubber mallet and it the tire from the other side (underside of the car) and it came out really easy. But now I put this special stuff between the hub and the alloy and my alloy come out without a hitch now.

hit wheel from inside
 

Just got back from talking with the manager at the shop.
They hit the wheel from the inside when this occurs. So what we could do after jacking up the car and removing the nuts, is take a 2x4 or long board and go in from the other side and hammer away. Then, use the anti-seize so next time is easier.
I'm sure we're all smart enough not to crawl under a car that is only supported by a small jack!

Mark :)

I can't remove the "5th lug" on my rear wheel. I was able to remove the front wheel and saw that the hub was pretty rusted. The bolts that are on the hub that the lug nuts go on were rusted too. Is it just my car or what? I also think the dealer torqued it too much and the rust on the bolts don't help. Thanks for your advise.