Can I offer a word of warning to other owners of the outie?
My Uk spec Elegance is fitted with 18" alloys. Today I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and to remove the wheels to give them a spring clean and to check brake pads etc. I'm glad I decided to take the wheels off at home and not wait until I had a roadside puncture before trying to remove a wheel. I found that a reaction had started to take place already between the alloy wheels and the steel hubs; ( THE CAR IS ONLY 13 MONTHS OLD !!). They had started to 'weld' themselves together and I had to resort to using a 'Birmingham' screwdriver ...( lump hammer !) ...to remove the front ones.
Needless to say the mating surfaces have had a liberal coating of copperslip grease before the wheels were replaced so hopefully next removal of the wheels will be a bit easier.Can I suggest you check yours now before you get a roadside puncture etc?
Happy 'OUTINGS'
Ron

 

My Outie too have fitted with 18" alloys, will have to check my wheels this weekend !, thanks for the heads up.

 

This happens on most vehicles, it's nothing to worry about

 

Nothing big to worry about. Give it a light kick next time. Like kick the tire to loosen the bond. Happen on all cars I owned. Even my outlander and I rotated the tires 2 times now.

 

I appreciate that this is a common occurence, but what I had not appreciated was the fact that it could happen to such a 'young' car and to the extent to which it had happened.
It was not a case of ' kicking' the wheel off... I had to use a small sledge hammer on the inside of the wheel to remove it..... it meant getting down on the ground under the front of the car in order to do so!..... I dont normally carry that type of hammer with me andI dont know of anyone else who does !; I would not like to think that anyone could be caught out on a highway with a similar problem , that is whyI posted on this subject;

"Prevention is better than Cure !! "

Ron

 

It's called regular tire rotations. You have had your car for 13 months and never rotated the tires? It should be done every 6K miles.

 

Thats perfectly normal.