I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __ Snapped locking wheel nut adapter
Has anyone ever experienced their adapter thingie for the locking wheel nut snapping?
I had my car in the main dealer at the end of July for new rear brakes and pads.
Had the car in at a different garage this week, and the locking wheel nuts were tightened so firmly that the adapter snapped (sheared). I’m trying to work out if this was (a) the main dealer over-tightening the wheel nuts six weeks ago or (b) the new garage being heavy handed. Or of course (c): Both!
I wouldn’t say common but not uncommon either. Not saying that either garage did, but by the book, impact tools should not be used on locking wheel nuts.
And a quick technical question Robbie: Is it good practice to apply a little grease to the threads when tightening the wheel nuts? These ones appeared to have been tightened without any grease.
No need to apply grease to the threads. In fact, the original workshop manual for the NA specially states “Never apply oil to the nuts, bolts or wheels”. I’d assume that the same statement stands for current models and it’s not something I’ve ever done.
It’s a shame that the second garage didn’t stop work when the locking wheel nut key broke and offered you the option to go to the main dealer and have the nuts removed using their master set.
Absolutely, Robbie. Completely agree. And indeed, in a phone conversation with me, we agreed they’d phone the main dealer. Sadly they didn’t. I had no idea that they were continuing to use “blunt force” to try and get the nut off.
No names for the moment. But I feel very let down by both the Mazda dealer, and the independent MX5 specialist garage that has damaged the wheel.
I’m really not sure what the main dealer will be able to do at this stage to get the wheel off.
That’s not on at all. How have they managed to do that much damage to the wheel?!
I’d suggest they’ve taken an impact gun to it. Which, as Robbie says above, is not the recommended method.
Yes, sometimes wheel nuts are overtightened. It happens. But as a professional outfit, you recognise there’s an issue and then work on a solution. What you don’t do is butcher the wheel THEN inform the customer
Not much help to you, but this is one of the reasons why one of the first things I do with a new (to me) car is to remove the locking wheel nuts and replace them with normal ones.
The risk of anybody stealing a set of MX-5 wheels (unless they’re really, really special) is minimal - and if they really do want your wheels, then a set of locking nuts is not going to stop any half competent thief.
Sadly, I suspect that your problem will be in proving who is to blame. Until then, it’s likely that both garages will blame the other one, and you’ll be the one in the middle picking up the bill.
Few years ago a generic garage drove my girl off their ramp too quickly and rang me to say that the Good News was that they’d done the work and the Bad News was they’d damaged her wing due to ‘pressure of work’. BUT they accepted liability and repaired the wing…I just had to wait longer to get her back
Final straw with them is they managed to lock me out of the stereo trying to be helpful…oh what fun and cost getting Mazda to unlock
Needless to say didn’t use them after that but when u new to an area and going on verbal recommendations…
OK …with my out of date legal training [couple of certs English Legal System/Contract Law]
START WITH THE GARAGE THAT CAUSED THE DAMAGE …‘Independent MX-5 Specialist’
They broke it/they fix it
No so called MX-5 Specialist or any garage worth its salt would have done this and 'Blaming the Work on previous Garages…especially Mazda itself is just making excuses for their own mistake
To me this is more an issue of how a professional outfit deals with a problem or challenge, rather than the principle of locking wheel nuts themselves.
I still use locking wheel nuts and will continue to do so. I’ve never had a problem with one in 25yrs of vehicle ownership. Perhaps that’s because I tend to remove wheels myself, so know they’re torqued to the correct settings. And only use the services of mechanics and garages that I trust to do the job correctly. But let’s not turn this particular thread into another locking vs standard wheel nut discussion!
Happy to report back with a positive update on this “stuck wheel nut” issue.
Wonderful team of mechanics at Walkers Garage in Sale gave my MX5 a full service this week. And they spent a bit of time, energy and love removing the wheel with the half-drilled out nut that “a different garage” had bodged so badly. They also rubbed down the damaged bits of alloy, and put some paint on it. Lovely to deal with a garage that applies so much love and care.
