Difficulty Removing Wheel

[Big Vinny]

I tried to remove a front wheel on my 19 Mk 3 today. It would not come off after the bolts were removed it was stuck solid. In the end I hammered a screwdriver down the single slot gap at the back of the alloy wheel and it came off with a crack. I greased the hub centre before refitting the wheel.

Upon inspection the rusty steel hub centre had corroded to alloy wheel centre. I would presume this is the result of galvanic corrosion of two dissimilar metals, iron and aluminium in the presence of a dirty water electrolyte. I have added a slim screwdriver and hammer to the boot toolkit.

Although the car is over 4 years old the front wheels were removed under 2 years ago to replace the badly cracked Dunlop Sport Max tyres.

Just a note of caution !

 

[CalJames]

A common occurrence I'm afraid.
The way I deal with mine is jack it up slightly, loosen the nuts a bit and lower it. Should hear it break away and then you're good to remove it.

 

[SRGTD]

A common occurrence I'm afraid.
The way I deal with mine is jack it up slightly, loosen the nuts a bit and lower it. Should hear it break away and then you're good to remove it.

That’s what I’ve done in the past.

 

[RUM4MO]

Maybe buy some aluminium loaded grease and apply that around the raised centre area of the hub(the area that passes through-into the centre hole of the wheel) - after cleaning up the rust on the hub faces.

 

[andylong]

It's worth noting that in this case galvanic corrosion will protect the steel and erode the aluminium. If it's rusty then it's not galvanic, just rust bonding a little with the other surface.
Any grease will act as a release agent to keep the two surfaces separate

 

[RUM4MO]

One feature that is not carried across all VW Group marques is including grooves/slots radiating out from the centre hole of the alloy wheels, where that exists, while the car is being driven, any water that has collected around the very centre of the hub/wheel centre hole, gets "spun out", Audi for one does not include that feature on their factory fitted alloy wheels, so the car hub>alloy wheel centre hole area tends to retain water and that rusts up the drive shaft end and its securing nut or bolt, okay that is mainly cosmetic, but the accompanying corrosion at that point does always cause me trouble even if change my wheels over twice a year - well for the front wheels anyway. My wife's VW Polo has never ever suffered from this, but it has slots to allow any trapped water escape.

 

[martin j.]

A kettle of boiling water poured down the back of mating surface might have helped as would white grease on the mating surfaces.