I managed to round off one of my locking wheel bolts the other day using the tool. I tried to bash a socket over it but the socket just spun and chewed the bolt up even more. So my final attempt was to drill it out. This was the last thing I wanted to do because I thought it was the most risky but I gave it a go anyway. Took about half an hour including changing the wheel.

Here goes:

The tools you will need

Battery drill or electric drill
Drill Set
Cuttting paste ( to stop the drill bit burning out)
Mole grips or pliars(not shown)
Stud extractor (2nd to last pic)


First I started out by drilling a pilot hole using a 5mm drill. I chose to drill to around 45mm deep because thats where the threads start so I'm less likely to damage the threads if I didn't drill square to the bolt. Using the spirit level on my drill I made sure it was level vertically, and horizontally I did by eye.




Once I'd checked I'd gone deep enough I then used a 7.5mm drill then finished off with a 10mm drill. 10 is the biggest I used because the inner thread on the M12 bolt is 10.5mm which would leave a bit either side so your less likely to damage the thread in the hub.



I then attached a set of mole grips to the remaining bit of the bolt and turning it clockwise sheared it off, and I was left with this



I then drilled another 5mm hole in the part of the bolt left in the hub and hammered a stud extractor in. The bolt came out easy as, and I was left with an undamaged hub.



I hope this helps.

kewl... your pics make it look easy!!

Worthy of a sticky i think!!

Cheers scottie. I found it supprisingly easy. The steel was a lot softer than i thought.

ja.. bolts tend to be fairly soft in the middle.. just hard on outside!

Btw.. where in notts are you?

spirit level sounds like good idea , but once the car is jacked up the hub itself might not be level

good pictures

Im from mansfield (rainworth)

The car wasn't jacked up when I drilled it. I just had it on level ground then jacked it up after i finished drilling.

looks like you did well. I have those bolts for my VTR wheels I think they are ghey!

Good thread.

Very good thread

Or just weld a fuckoff big bolt onto it

18mm socket normally works fine

must have been a very mullered

I tried a few sockets but the just pushed off of split lol. I would have welded a bit of hexagon bar to it but it was sat too deep in the wheel

This is a very good thread mate.
I had this problem ages ago when some cunts at a tyre place completely fucked my locking nut (you can tell i'm still bitter about it) tried everything else, and nothing worked!!! It was in SOOO fucking tight!
Eventally I took the whole hub off, and had to buy a new hub (rear) and speedline alloy as well, then ground the fucking bolt out from the back of the wheel & hub with a grinder (to free the spare speedline). Was a bastard but I was damm satisfied once it was out.
The problem I found is that the steel is too tough for the drill bits, you can't buy decent quality drill bits anywhere these days - they're all made in China and are cheap shite! What type are yours? I have another theaded bolt I need out, but it's holding my door on, and it has thread lock on too so I think the only way to free it will be to weld a bolt onto it....

These drill bits we use day in day out at my work (Automated Machine building) and they seem to be ok. Drilling through mild steel they seem to be fine. Get re ground once a month. I Bought a set of Brooke drill bits for my dad which seem to be ok.

This is what we have at work www.cromwell.co.uk/SHR0258500K

agreed. my mate recently nuked a complete set supplied by the snap-on man trying to drill out a mk2 golf bumper bolt.

Hi,

The locking bolt in your photo's is the same as mine. Do I take it that these are the standard Citroen one's? The reason I ask is that I have an issue where my "key" is the bit thats knackered! One of the "knobs" is bent so it won't fit in the hole in the nut. I don't fancy drilling out 4 nuts so can I get a new key from Citroen? If so do I need to give them a specific code or are they all the same?

Rob