How to Remove a Flat Tire When the Lug Nuts Won’t Budge

Waking to a flat tire was not my husband’s ideal morning. Not having the time to deal with it made things even worse. So…

The tire is found flat on Thursday and finally we have time to deal with it on Sunday. Now there’s this gadget ,some call it a t-bar, which is used to remove the lug nuts. It has 4 socket ends and one should fit over the lug nut, then you give it a good hard push, spin, pull, yank whichever you prefer and the nut loosens. Wrong!! Not on our truck. Seems we bought a really nice used truck with custom chrome wheels and lug nuts. The t-bar had the right size socket but it would not fit far enough over the lug nut to do any good. The socket was too big around or the area was too close for comfort. Anyway the design of the wheel would not allow the t-bar socket to work to loosen the nut.

So my husband decides to drag out his air compressor and tools and he’ll use that to get it off. Wouldn’t’t you know it; he didn’t have the right size socket. So off we go to the Store. Wal-Mart didn’t have what we needed, a ½ inch 3/16th socket, so we went to the local True Value store. At True Value we couldn’t find the accessories for the air compressor tools so I asked for help (women tend to do that sort of thing). The employee helps us but we find all they have is a complete socket set for $45.00 plus dollars. All we need is one socket. The employee suggests we try the car parts store across the street. So off we go…

At the car parts store we find a smaller set of sockets for $24.95 and hubby doesn’t have several of the sizes in the package so we buy it; 8 sockets and a holder for $24.95, not bad. Back at home he gets the air compressor prepped, the right socket on the drill and here he goes….nothing but weird sounds. He tries 3 different gadgets that came with the tools set I had bought him several years ago to be used with his compressor and that lug nut still won’t budge. None of them! So he decides it’s his tools, cheap junk, and tells me to go and rent a bigger, professional drill. So off I go to the True Value Store. Now the employees in the rental section (2 of them) were very helpful and listened carefully to my story. Then they suggested I should rent an electric torque wrench drill type of tool. Professional grade, they are sure it will work. They have nothing else that they think would do better with the air compressor than what my husband has already tried. It’s the same rental fee as whatever else they might come up with so I rent the electric torque drill thingy. I rent it for 3 hours thinking that’s all the longer it should take to remove tire and get it someplace to be fixed.

I get home with the torque drill all happy and sure that this will work. Hubby agrees it’s worth a try and we haul out the long heavy duty extension cord, hook it up and away he goes at those lug nuts. Nothing! They still won’t loosen; the suckers are on good and tight. Hubby says, “You might as well take it back.” So off I go and guess what?; you don’t get any money back on a tool rental that you have out of the store for only 15-20 minutes and it didn’t work. (Reminder: remember to rent tools for shortest time first.)

When I get back home I find my hubby is disgusted and he says to just forget it for now. At this point I’m tired of running around and we are both fresh out of ideas so we put the tools and such away and go inside. Now it’s bothering me because here it is Sunday and we’ve got to figure out a way to get this tire changed. So I start making some phone calls. Thinking maybe I could find a mechanic to come get it off or a place with a wrecker to tow it. Not a single place I called was open. OF course not, it’s Sunday. So I go online and find the e-mail address for the car dealership where we bought the truck. I send them an e-mail explaining the dilemma we are in and ask if they have any suggestions or could help.

Monday comes and I take him to work and then myself. That morning he calls me with the news that he spoke with someone and the dealership and their response was “You’re on your own”. Needless to say, I was a bit ticked off. I have no idea why these lug nuts had to be put on so tight or why they would sell a vehicle without the proper tool to remove the tires if needed. All was not lost though as a co-worker suggested to him to get a “breaker bar” and give it a try. He said chrome tends to get overheated and the breaker bar will have a better fit. Neither of us knows what a breaker bar is and I have never even heard of one but I did agree to call around and see if I could find one. I call True Value first and they don’t stock it. Then I call the Car Parts store and sure enough, they know exactly what I am asking for and they have the breaker bar and the right size socket in stock. I then called my husband with the good news and told him I’d pick the items up during lunch. Both items together came to just over $28.00. At home we decide to wait and deal with the tire after work. I remind him I have an errand to run after work so it’s agreed I drop him off at home and go to run my errand.

After getting back to the house that evening it’s getting dark and hubby meets me outside. I hopefully ask him, “Did it work?” He got a horrible look on his face and proceeded to reach into his pocket. As I’m preparing for the worst he pulls out 6 lug nuts and through a grin says “Like a charm”. I then pull our other vehicle into place to use the headlights to see so he can get the truck jacked up and the tire off. I made it to the Tire place before it closes and they are able to fix the tire. And get this, our luck was finally changing as when I went to pay the manager says “Don’t worry about it; I’ve already counted the till. I was shocked and asked if it would be alright if I tipped the mechanic. I gave him $10.00 after he loaded the tire for me and assured him the manager said it was ok. I drove home smiling realizing there really are still good people in this world.

The breaker bar is skinnier at the socket end that the t-bar is and it’s on a swivel of sorts. I think everyone needs to have one of these things, especially if they own a truck with custom chrome wheels and lug nuts. This experience was a lesson learned for both of us. I shudder to think what we’d have gone through if the flat had happened on the highway the previous week. Now what I want to know is why the car dealer mechanic didn’t tell us about trying a breaker bar? Or the Car Parts place on Sunday? Hey, and I never did get an e-mail back. Oh well, at least the flat tire is fixed.