How to Remove Broken Lug Nut in Your Car Wheel

A broken lug nut happens a lot to the car that has been used in extreme conditions and weather for a long time.

This problem also may occur when you never provide proper maintenance treatment for your car. Yes, you can still drive your car with a broken lug nut.

However, there is a high risk that the wheel will misalign and even worse detached on the road. When it happens, the accident will surely come at you.

Therefore, when you find that one or more of your car lug nuts are broken or change their form, it is better to change it with the new one.

Ways to Remove Broken Lug Nut

However, removing this broken lug nut could be the most difficult thing to do. It requires a lot of effort and may cost you more than you ever imagined.

But you don’t need to worry anymore. Here, we have the guide on how to remove broken lug nuts easily.

Preparation

Here are three things that you need to prepare first:

• Penetrating oil,
• 12 pt socket head,
• Breaker bar

Once you have all those tools, you can start the process. First of all, you have to choose the place where you can work safely, without any disturbance.

And, make sure the place where you are going to use has a flat surface. So, do that and park your car there.

Do not forget to use the parking brake, so your car won’t move around. After that, you can start following our instructions below.

Removing Broken Lug Nut Instruction

Step #1

Check the lug nut position and condition. Make sure it is located in an area that you can easily reach.

Otherwise, you may need to bring your car to the car repair service and let them do that for you. However, if you can easily reach and see the location, you can do it yourself, which saves more money.

Step #2

Mostly, the broken lug nut gets exposed to the weather and moisture. Therefore, there is a high chance that you find rust on it.

The common method to remove the rust is using a hammer or mallet. However, we suggest you do it differently.

Use penetrating oil. Spray all parts of broken lug nuts where the rust formed. Use low viscosity oil to get a better result. That will loosen up the damaged lug nut and you can move to the next step.

Step #3

Connect the 12pt socket head to the broken lug nut. Place it over the broken lug nut location. To get a firm and stronger grip on the lug nut, use the larger socket head than the lug nut size.

Step #4

Once you place the socket, gently use a hammer or mallet to put it firmly on the broken lug nut socket.

To prevent any damage to your car wheels, put some rug around it. You also can wrap your hammer with the rug cloth. That makes it easier to hold and prevent slip.

Step #5

After you get a better grip on the broken lug nut, you are ready to turn it in for the removal process.

However, if you see any movement in the socket, stop and readjust. Repeat step 4 until you get the firm position.

Step #6

Now, attach the breaker bar to the 12pt socket you have installed. Use the right breaker bar size, not too long or too short. You can turn it without too much effort.

Step #7

Turn it gently. Do not apply too much pressure to the breaker bar because it might damage the wheel and remove the socket from the lug nut.

So, press the breaker slowly until the broken lug nut loosens off. Then, you can remove it easily.

Other Ways

As mentioned at vehicleruns.com page you can remove the broken lug nut using a lug nut extractor socket. That socket is the special tool to remove stripped or broken lug nuts in your car wheel.

What You Should Do After You Remove It?

You can replace the broken lug nut with the new one. Make sure you choose the lug nut that matches your car wheel specification.

You can find more about the size and type of lug nut from your car manual or its manufacturer’s official website.

If your lug nut only gets damaged on the head part, you can still use it, as long as it doesn’t have rust on its body.

However, you can only use this type of lug nut temporarily. We recommend buying and replacing it with the new one, once you have time to buy it.

Read Also: Rugged Ridge Winches Reviews

Conclusion

A broken lug nut might be difficult to remove. However, our methods will help you to do that easily. That way you can avoid the problem and accidents because of this small part of your car wheel.

If you have a problem with our method, you can always ask a professional to do it for you.

So, whenever you find out that your car has a broken lug nut, you should remove it as soon as possible and replace it with a new one.