Removing Lug Nut Covers: How To Take Caps Off Lug Nuts
They come in different shapes and construction materials. Lug nut covers exist to help you protect your lug nuts. Those vital nuts keep your tire attached to your axle and they can get rusty or corroded if they do not have protection. The problem is, sometimes those covers are harder to get off than the lug nuts.
To remove lug nut covers, you can try using the right-sized socket or a pair of pliers. Those pliers can be needle nose or regular ones. Whichever one has the widest opening to garb those covers with the teeth. It should only take a few seconds to get those covers off.
To learn more about this topic, just continue to read our article. It has the information you want to know about so you know what to do when you put some on your RV or tow vehicle. Take a few minutes to see how this information helps you with your covers.
How To Get Lug Nut Caps Off
These caps are not a convenient accessory. They may serve a good purpose but if you are in a hurry or not very mechanically inclined, then you are going to have a problem getting those caps off.
The regular lug 4-sided lug nut wrench often does not fit over the caps and the lug nuts, so you have to remove the caps to use the lug nut wrench. To get these caps off, you can try a socket and socket wrench but you may end up with the same problem as you have with the lug nut wrench.
That means you should use a pair of needle nose pliers to get those caps off. The way to do it is to open the pliers and grab both sides of the caps. Once you have a good grip, you need to wriggle the pliers and the cap until they come off.
Or you can spend about $25, when not on sale, and get lug nut cover pliers. These are specially designed pliers designed to remove lug nut caps. We are not sure where they are on sale except for the e-trailer outlet. Check out your auto parts store to find one for you to use.
How To Remove Wheel Nut Covers Ford
One of the problems you will run into with a Ford vehicle, or any other vehicle that uses a lug nut cap, is that the lug nut wrench is not made to remove those caps. It is designed to go over the lug nuts but not the additional cap.
The reason for that is that the cap is wider than the lug nut. It has to be that way if they are going to fit securely over the lug nut. These lug nut caps crimp over the lug nut to make sure they stay on. That means they are hard to get off.
Some owners have used a drill and drilled a hole in the cap, then pried the cap off. That is a bit of an overkill but it works. However, on some Ford vehicles, all you need to do is buy a 19.5 mm socket.
Then put the socket over the cap and lug nut. You may have to tap the socket with a hammer or use a piece of board and a hammer to tap it into place but once on, it is easy to remove the cap.
Actually, the cap and lug nut should come off fairly easily once you get the socket in place. Unfortunately, the fit is so tight that you may need a screwdriver and hammer to get the cap out of the socket.
Removing Chevy Lug Nut Covers
There is supposed to be a little notch in the covers for Chevy vehicles. That notch is your aid to getting the covers off. All you will need would be a flat head screwdriver and a little muscle and those caps should come right off.
One owner used a pair of vice grips and an ‘L’ shaped bracket. He put the bracket into the slot and then grabbed the bracket with the vice grips and the cap came right off.
This may be less work than using a socket as the cap can get stuck in the socket which takes more time to remove. Another owner adapted a metal clothes hanger to fit the groove and did the same thing.
It is the groove you need to look for to make this task easy. But when it comes time to get those caps back on, make sure you align them right. There is supposed to be a picture of a tire valve on the cap.
You are to orient that picture with the tire valve on your rim, then the cap should be in the right position. This will take some time until you master the process.
How do You Get a Lug Nut Off That Won't Budge?
Lug nuts may be small but they do have an important role in tire safety. They do hold your tire in place but if you tighten them too tight, they may not come off.
The go-to remedies would be penetrating oil or similar product. The moisture can get into those threads and rust or corrode them cementing the lug nut in place.
Spray or pour these lubricants over the right s[pots on your lug nuts and then wait for a bit. You do need to give them time to work. Then take your wrench and remove the lug nut, hopefully.
Sometimes the damage is more than the lubricants can handle and you may have to resort to using an air-powered impact wrench. Or you can do this with the right socket size and a breaker bar. The breaker bar should give you the leverage you need to break the seal
If all of these solutions fail, then you have to get a lug nut cutter to remove the nut. The problem with using this cutter is you could damage other parts. Plus, you may have to replace the stud or the hub depending on the damage done by the seized lug nut.
What is a Capped Lug Nut?
A capped lug nut is simply a regular lug nut that has had the cap placed on it by the manufacturer. All this part does is provide a cosmetic look to your tires and wheels.
Yes, the cap does offer some protection but the cap may be more hassle than the protection it provides. The cap can expand and corrode when moisture gets underneath it. When that happens, you will have a hard time getting those caps off.
But you may be able to move up a socket size to get the socket to fit and get those caps off. For example, if your lug nuts are 21mm you can go to a 22mm socket or higher to remove both the caps and the nuts.
In the end, you may find that you do not really need those caps as the studs from the hub are fairly strong and can handle the elements for many years. Plus, removing the caps makes it easier to use penetrating oil to loosen stuck lug nuts.
This is your call to have caps or not, as the caps do not serve any vital purpose. They just help your truck little a little bit better.
Tips For Removing Lug Nut Covers
1. An impact wrench- you can use this tool to get stubborn lug nuts and their caps off with little effort. The power in those impact wrenches should handle the toughest jobs.
2. Use a drill- the drill with a metal bit will give you a nice hole in the cap where you can insert a tool to pry those caps off. Of course, you won’t be able to use those caps again.
3. Anti-seize lubricant- this or penetrating oil is the best way to loosen up stuck metal pieces of lug nuts. It helps loosen the rust, etc., so everything is easier to get off.
4. WD-40- this product is not recommended for you to use on stuck metal parts. Or so some people claim. You can try it and see if it will work on your stuck lug nuts or caps
5. Use a professional mechanic- not only will they have the tools and power to remove the caps, but they also have the know-how to fix any damage that may incur in those caps’ removal.
Some Final Words
Having lug nut caps can be a good thing or it is a bad thing. Not many people really need to have them on their lug nuts but everyone these days is finding ways to do more work to get out of doing work.
These caps do little in protecting your lug nuts and studs from the elements. They are more of a decorative piece and you should decide if you want them on your vehicle or not. They do delay changing your tire.
