Rim won't come off!

[Squerly]

Came home from a fun 2 days at Road Atlanta and set about doing the general cleaning/maintenance. I removed the passenger side rear wheel with no issues, but the drivers side acts like it is welded to the car. WTF? All the lug nuts are off but the wheel refuses to budge.

Anyone had this problem before and if so, how did you get the rim off?

[mhowington]

Originally Posted by Squerly

Came home from a fun 2 days at Road Atlanta and set about doing the general cleaning/maintenance. I removed the passenger side rear wheel with no issues, but the drivers side acts like it is welded to the car. WTF? All the lug nuts are off but the wheel refuses to budge.

Anyone had this problem before and if so, how did you get the rim off?

You just happened to leave when you heard I was coming by!

Sounds like it may heat related. There may be some grease/grime/etc that has hardened or something similar. One thing to try is to gently tap the wheel, evenly, around the rim. You can do this with a mallet (rubber!) or using a piece of wood, with a Ford Speciality tool...er.. I mean heavy weight metal hammer.

Last thing, which could be dangerous if you are not careful.... Keep the lugs off and very very very very very carefully and gently lower the car. The idea is to put some pressure using the natural weight of the car (and gravity). Raise it back up, turn the wheel 180- degrees and do the same. Do this on 4 "sides (0-90-180-270) or until the wheel falls off.

Lastly, clean the wheel and the rim very well, front and back especially where it makes contact. Were these lugs over torqued this weekend?

[Squerly]

Originally Posted by mhowington

You just happened to leave when you heard I was coming by!

Sounds like it may heat related. There may be some grease/grime/etc that has hardened or something similar. One thing to try is to gently tap the wheel, evenly, around the rim. You can do this with a mallet (rubber!) or using a piece of wood, with a Ford Speciality tool...er.. I mean heavy weight metal hammer.

Last thing, which could be dangerous if you are not careful.... Keep the lugs off and very very very very very carefully and gently lower the car. The idea is to put some pressure using the natural weight of the car (and gravity). Raise it back up, turn the wheel 180- degrees and do the same. Do this on 4 "sides (0-90-180-270) or until the wheel falls off.

Lastly, clean the wheel and the rim very well, front and back especially where it makes contact. Were these lugs over torqued this weekend?

I wanted to wait but we didn't know exactly when you would get there and the kennel has strict hours on Sunday. (We had to pick up our doggie) Anyway, I have already tried the 2X4/hammer approach with little success. Don't feel comfortable hitting it any harder... So I'll give the upper/downer thing a try this AM when I get back to the garage.

They were/are torqued to 95lbs, is that too much? I didn't know what the specified torque was supposed to be and 95 is what I use on my P-Cars. Is that too much?

[alfordvette]

Good to see you and meet your family this weekend! I believe 90 ft/lbs is the correct amount. See the Panoz GTS manual. I was using 100 ft/lbs like on my Z06 until I read the manual. I am not sure the page number.

Everything worked out with clutch cable on Sun. It turned out the nut came off the cable at the fork. I looked at Rod's GTS and his car has the same setup at the fork at my GTRA. You may want to verify there is a lock washer or something similar securing the nut. Before the clutch went out, the play in the pedal increased. I thought the cable may have stretched. When the clutch went out just before turn 6, it went to the floor and I could not get into any gear. We had a hard time finding a nut with the correct thread pitch--I could not find anyone at the track with the correct nut--went to Advance Auto twice and finally found the nut (thread pitch 24) at Autozone. With the assistance of Mike of WB Motorsports who was kind enough come to Road Atlanta to assist with the repair, I didn't miss a session. The next session was delayed about 15 mins. because someone in your Group dropped oil from turn 12 to turn one. Tiny of WB Motorsports also assisted on the phone. Car ran better with each session and handled like a dream. The setup done by WB Motorsports was right on the money. Hard to beat the weather.

I hope the storm misses you.

Regards, Tracy

[mhowington]

Originally Posted by Squerly

I wanted to wait but we didn't know exactly when you would get there and the kennel has strict hours on Sunday. (We had to pick up our doggie) Anyway, I have already tried the 2X4/hammer approach with little success. Don't feel comfortable hitting it any harder... So I'll give the upper/downer thing a try this AM when I get back to the garage.

They were/are torqued to 95lbs, is that too much? I didn't know what the specified torque was supposed to be and 95 is what I use on my P-Cars. Is that too much?

I understand. I am volunteer SAR worker, as well as instructor, and we had an exercise Saturday. well, just a few hours after i got home, we had a real mission that I had to be the incident commander for. I even joined the ground team in the field on that one. Anyway- was up all night so tried to relax a bit before heading out there (Im getting too old to stay up all night!).

Torque settings: we normally torque at 85. 100 is probably way too much, and the manual may say 95, but we generally use 85. If you do the upper down thing, be very careful- just a bit of pressure on all sides, or until it breaks free. May want to try a little degreaser or even something like PB blaster (that has a decent lubricant in it), before doing it. Maybe try that with the hammer trick again. Either way, be very careful. Wheel tend to complain when they are not in perfect round- picky little devils

if that doenst work, drop me a line.

Sorry I missed you.

[mhowington]

Originally Posted by alfordvette

Good to see you and meet your family this weekend! I believe 90 ft/lbs is the correct amount. See the Panoz GTS manual. I was using 100 ft/lbs like on my Z06 until I read the manual. I am not sure the page number.

Everything worked out with clutch cable on Sun. It turned out the nut came off the cable at the fork. I looked at Rod's GTS and his car has the same setup at the fork at my GTRA. You may want to verify there is a lock washer or something similar securing the nut. Before the clutch went out, the play in the pedal increased. I thought the cable may have stretched. When the clutch went out just before turn 6, it went to the floor and I could not get into any gear. We had a hard time finding a nut with the correct thread pitch--I could not find anyone at the track with the correct nut--went to Advance Auto twice and finally found the nut (thread pitch 24) at Autozone. With the assistance of Mike of WB Motorsports who was kind enough come to Road Atlanta to assist with the repair, I didn't miss a session. The next session was delayed about 15 mins. because someone in your Group dropped oil from turn 12 to turn one. Tiny of WB Motorsports also assisted on the phone. Car ran better with each session and handled like a dream. The setup done by WB Motorsports was right on the money. Hard to beat the weather.

I hope the storm misses you.

Regards, Tracy

It was my pleasure to be available (and to have luck on our side?)

These assemblies generally dont unscrew themselves. Im still pondering the possibilities on that one. There is actually another piece that goes on there, so if it happens to anyone, I would recommend having both pieces or better yet, just have a spare clutch cable on hand, they are not very much.

I was glad it was that simple and you could complete the day! We do offer full (dedicated) trackside service, for anyone interested. Sometimes, we even pull of miracles. Steve thrives under pressure...

I met a couple of other folks, hopefully you are on the list- it was nice to meet you!

[alfordvette]

Jim: See page 10 of GTS Owner's Manual at bottom of page--Torque Specifications for wheel lug nuts--90 ft-lbs.

Regards

[eric1h]

PB Blaster, let it sit, did the car get wet? sometimes brake dust accumalates around the edge of the rim, or even under it, and if it gets wet it turns back into metal(not physcially but it feels like it)

PB Blaster, or a little heat with a propane torch should break it free.

[PRO SYSTEMS]

We run into that sometimes. Take all the lug nuts and back them off from the wheel about 2 threads and drive it around the parking lot. It'll loosen up.

Patrick James

[Squerly]

I loosened the lugnuts a couple of threads and backed in and out of the garage a few times. Nothing... Backed in and out a couple of more times and lightly "poped" the clutch. Yeah baby!

Thanks for the tip guys, this ones a keeper.

[eric1h]

Originally Posted by Squerly

I loosened the lugnuts a couple of threads and backed in and out of the garage a few times. Nothing... Backed in and out a couple of more times and lightly "poped" the clutch. Yeah baby!

Thanks for the tip guys, this ones a keeper.

How in the world do you do anything "lightly" with these clutches? Does the GTS have a hydraulic clutch? My clutch has 2 modes.........On and off.

[Squerly]

Originally Posted by eric1h

How in the world do you do anything "lightly" with these clutches? Does the GTS have a hydraulic clutch? My clutch has 2 modes.........On and off.

The defination of "lightly" is determined by the RPM's the engine is turning at the time you engage the drivetrain.

[mhowington]

Originally Posted by Squerly

The defination of "lightly" is determined by the RPM's the engine is turning at the time you engage the drivetrain.

Well.. I guess lightly is also relative

[mhowington]

Originally Posted by Squerly

The defination of "lightly" is determined by the RPM's the engine is turning at the time you engage the drivetrain.

well i suppose lightly is also relative

[mhowington]

Originally Posted by Squerly

Came home from a fun 2 days at Road Atlanta and set about doing the general cleaning/maintenance. I removed the passenger side rear wheel with no issues, but the drivers side acts like it is welded to the car. WTF? All the lug nuts are off but the wheel refuses to budge.

Anyone had this problem before and if so, how did you get the rim off?

As it turns out... there is another known problem with these wheels. There are several floating around there from a "bad" batch. Basically, the wheels are fine. They are essentially groved to mate nice when put onto the car. However, there is a lip on the hub and wheel that should be milled out. There was a batch floating around that not all were milled out. Apparently it doesnt matter of you do the hub or wheel, although the wheel is probably the simplest

anyway, thought I would pass that onto the community.