VF commodore/calais lock nut covers

[M4nny91]

Hi all!

Have a VF Calais V with lock nuts on it. I noticed one of the lock nut covers has partly broke on the wheel.

See below:

The chrome part has come off and I cannot get the cover part off now which is just rubber. For reference this is how the cover looks normally:

Any ideas on how I can remove it? Tyres were recently changed and its been tightened so much I can't move it.

Thanks.

 

[Forg]

I believe the traditional wheel-thief method is to sacrifice a socket by crudely smashing it onto the lock-nut with a hefty hammer.
I … can’t imagine doing that myself, it feels extremely irreversible. And a good chance of damaging the metal of the wheel.

I don’t suppose a ring spanner could work, does the top of the locknut stick out far enough?

 

[vc commodore]

Yes, hitting a socket over the wheel locknut will undo it....Secret is, make sure the socket is square, so you don't mark the rim. I've done a shed load of them

You can also buy lock nut removers.....It's basically a socket, with teeth that grip the locknut and are perfect to remove locknuts. Again, it's hit onto the locknut and then undone with a ratchet/breakerbar

The only downside to both these methods is, it stuffs the locknut, so they have to be replaced....

 

[chrisp]

I’m confused! If it’s just the plastic part of the cover that’s stuck, you might be able to simply dig it out with a couple of pointy tools. I don’t think that you actually need to resort to damaging the actual locknut (yet).

 

[Forg]

I’m confused! If it’s just the plastic part of the cover that’s stuck, you might be able to simply dig it out with a couple of pointy tools. I don’t think that you actually need to resort to damaging the actual locknut (yet).

Oh, there's a sleeve over the whole thing?
I thought the whole thing had disintegrated somehow!
What if you get something like an old coat-hanger, put the tiniest bit of the end in a vice, like 2mm, then hammer a 90-degree bend - to make a hook? Which you can grind or hacksaw down if the hooky-bit comes out too long.

There are undoubtedly tools for such things ... eg:

 

[chrisp]

IIRC, the plastic bit has little ratchet fingers to prevent the cap from unscrewing too easily. I suspect that all that needs to be done is to simply grip the remaining bit of plastic with something like long-nose vice-grips (or similar) and unscrew it. The locknut will then be visible.

 

[M4nny91]

Thanks everyone for inputs! I'm going to try above see how I go stay tuned!