I was pulling into my neighborhood yesterday and heard the dreaded sound of a flat tire. The tire had a slice on it’s sidewall on the INSIDE of the tire, which I don’t even understand. I pulled off to the side of the road to swap it out, jacked up the car, took off the lugs, and couldn’t get the wheel off. I called , who brought me a hammer and some work gloves. Wacked on the wheel with the hammer, stomped on it with my (lame) legs, and did everything I could to get the fucker off to no avail. I called AAA, who came in record time (10 minutes or so), but they couldn’t get it off either, and the tire wouldn’t hold air, so they called in a tow truck, which towed my car across the street (about 45 minutes later). So now I am waiting at home for them to call me, they estimated that it would be before noon, but who knows..
trade secret: use a 4×4
Hilarious – the same thing happened to me last night. I spent 20 minutes kicking the tire trying to jar it loose; I took it off the jack and jumped on the back bumper (the passenger side rear was flat), but that didn’t do it either. The AAA guy was eventually able to knock it loose by hitting it with a 6′ section of 4×4 from underneath the car.
Re: trade secret: use a 4×4
Yeah, I apparently got the lame AAA guy…. I knew I just had to give it a good wack, but I just couldn’t get a good angle on it because I am right handed and it was the passenger side…
I’d have to rely on AAA guy to supply the 4×4, because I don’t actually have space in my car or home to keep a 4×4. =)
My dad told me basically the same story. Flat tire, called AAA, tire was stuck on no matter how hard they hit it. Now I’m really curious as to why this happens. I’ve never had a problem getting a wheel off, and I can’t think of anything that would cause a tire to stick like that.
I’ve broken wrenches and sockets trying to get off lugnuts and axel bolts, but those are a different ball of wax (torque).
Stuck tires
This has happened to me too. The center hole of the wheel fits tightly over the center of the hub, I suppose to accurately position the wheel on the hub. Over time the wheel corrodes, “welding” it to the hub. I guess this will be more likely with aluminum wheels since the hub is iron.
You have discovered the proper technique for dealing with this problem (repeated impact and cursing). To keep it from happening again spray some WD40 on the hub/inside of the wheel before putting it back together again.
Heh… nice going, Ralphie.