Hi everyone,

I just got a used 04 cooper S, and since I live in Canada, I need to put snow tires on. I jack up the car, remove the 4 lug bolts, and the wheel is still firmly mounted to the car. I've tried everything short of taking a sledgehammer to it. Is there some bizarre German apparatus holding the wheel there, that I can't see?

 

likely rust is firmly attaching it ... hard impact at the top/bottom to loosen , when you remount clean the inner hub and the wheel with a wire brush and apply a light coat of never seize to prevent it from happening again,,,

 

Thanks bad venge. I took it to my friendly neighbourhood garage, and he used a big pipe to pry them off. Whoever installed the wheels prior obviously didn't grease up the hub. Good thing I didn't discover this at the side of the road with a flat.