I just came back from Mavis. They were trying to change a front tire but the wheel is frozen to the hub. They tried penetrating oil, heating and pounding. I’m not sure how long they kept the penetrating oil before heating. They were unsuccessful in getting the Unfortunately, the tire is so worn it really needs to be changed. Any suggestions?
Put the tire on with lug nuts loose.
Start the engine and put the car in gear. Start moving slowly and then slam on the brakes.
If that doesn’t work, leave lug nuts loose and shake the car side-to-side.
Tester
Tester beat me to it. This is classic way to loosen a wheel rusted to the hub. If a garage doesn’t know this trick they don’t deserve staying in business!
I’ve had one or two where even those 2 methods weren’t enough. I actually had to drive figure-8’s in the parking lot with loose lug nuts to bust the wheel loose from the hub.
Well, Mavis is consistently one of the lowest-rated tire retailers in The US. IIRC, only Pep Boys is lower-ranked.
OK, this post is probably off topic and may be concidered rude ( which is not my intention ). First find a real tire shop because mavis is one of the lowest rated chains out there. Second you have many posts about problems with old vehicles so I think unless you drive a lot you may be a prime canidate for vehicle leasing.
I have seen a tire shop heat the center of a steel rim Heated to cherry red in our salt encrusted environment with out comming off by a mechanic and I have also seen lug nuts snap the studs off all the way arounfdrather than break free. I have always managed to get my stuck wheels off with a 12 pound sledgehammer with on exception, and I put ant-iseize on the studs around the hub and back of the wheel.
The exception was a 2004 PT cruiser, bought new that after I bought tires at 3 years old I was never able to get the rear wheels off. I figures that I would break whatever I had to to get them off when it needed tires or the rear brakes made noise but some one looking right and turning left totaled it first.
I know many mechanics on this site are higkly critical of using anti seize on lug nuts but special conditions demand preventive measures.
And just to add a bit more detail here:
I’ve recommended the “Loose Lug Nuts” approach, but I add that “loose” means one complete turn of the nuts from tight.
HOWEVER - I’ve never done this myself (anti-seize!!). So what say you guys who have ever actually done this? What do you mean when you say “loose”?
I’ve been working on my own stuff for 50+ years, I’m 69 now. I’ve always used a little bit of grease on the studs. Never had a problem with lug nuts coming loose.
The problem with anti-seize . . . imo . . . is that it affects things when you’re trying to torque down the lug nuts or lug studs (european cars)
You set your torque wrench up for whatever torque spec it calls for and start turning. And then you never get the click or beep. Then you discover the threads are bottle-necked
You might have better success hitting the rim with sledge hammer from the inner side. Under the engine.
I don’t need no stinking torque wrench for wheel lug nuts! I only use those “X” shaped lug wrenches. Start nuts by hand (don’t u always?) and tighten with x wrench hand tight. Never had a wheel come off.
If you brought your vehicle to me where the wheel(s) had to be removed to service the vehicle, and I found any lubricant on the lug studs/nuts, I would refuse to work on your vehicle, and tell you to bring it back to the idiot that applied that stuff and have them service the vehicle.
I ain’t touching it!
Tester
Same, and you can here them breaking loose too… lol
Me? not overly picky, but probably anywhere from 1/2 turn to a full turn, maybe 1 1/4 turns at the most…
Fortunately we don’t have to deal with rust that often down here in the south, unfortunately some of the rusty junk does make it’s way down here… 
I ran into this once on a Camry I owned. Nothing would break the rotor loose. Even sledge hammering on it until I was uncomfortable with the stress on the bearings. I ended up cutting the rotors off. This turned out to be surprisingly easy to do with a sawzall and proper blade. There was a relief in the knuckle that allowed me to run the blade all the way down to the “hat” and begin slicing that when it popped open like a popcorn kernel and the rotor was completely loose. The second one I just went straight to cutting it off. Took maybe a minute to slice through it…
Not me, I’m retired… lol
Most of those will probably be towed across the southern border after insurance totals them, it’s the uninsured ones you need to look out for, but if you know where to look, there are typically signs from being in a flood, back in the 90’s I delt with a lot of fresh water flooded vehicles, they weren’t all that bad, but with todays many many modules for every little thing, I’d imagine they’d be a nightmare to deal with…
Sad to see any natural disaster like a flood…
Following Superstorm Sandy, the NJ AG’s office created a searchable database of vehicles that had been totaled because of flood damage. People who had the good sense to use that database when considering a used car saved themselves from buying a moneypit
- Frozen rotors?
- Seized lug nuts?
- We talking about stuck wheel?
Is OP dealing with steel wheel or alum wheel?