This is what I mean by the folding wheel brace.  The socket folds out of one side.  The 'tongue' for wheel trims the other.

6 minutes ago, Chainsawcharlie said:

Thanks Tom, I've been looking at the electronic version of the handbook, but it didn't mention the wheel trim remover, guess because it is vignale which had the spare wheel as an option, and it has alloys

It's on Page 188 Steve.   Top of the page.

3 minutes ago, Bobr said:

It's on Page 188 Steve.   Top of the page.

Thanks Bob

3 minutes ago, Bobr said:

It's on Page 188 Steve.   Top of the page.

Don't forget Steve's is a Mk8.  Mk7s had the rigid wheel brace which fitted on top of the wheel, along with the jack.  Mk8s moved the jack under the wheel, using the folding wheel brace to secure it.  It's a pretty clever system...but I can't help wondering how strong a folding socket can actually be...

 

1 minute ago, TomsFocus said:

Don't forget Steve's is a Mk8.  Mk7s had the rigid wheel brace which fitted on top of the wheel, along with the jack.  Mk8s moved the jack under the wheel, using the folding wheel brace to secure it.  It's a pretty clever system...but I can't help wondering how strong a folding socket can actually be...

 

Thanks Tom, yes following your reply  that will explain the lip I saw on the wheel brace, and thinking about it now the little space in that polystyrene is bit small for a wheel trim tool

 

You're right I think although the jack and wheelbase are a clever compact design, I wouldn't like to trust how robust it will be when undoing gas driven gun tightened wheel nuts

I dug out my cross brace I bought about 30 years ago

Thats why its a waste of time having a spare wheel nowadays if the wheel nuts/threads haven't had cooper slip applied and or removed in the past year the only way to get the nuts/bolts out are with a wheel brace and then with the force you would have to apply car would probably fall off the jack and damage sill. so would have to carry a trolley jack as well for safety. As well as the force you would need to get ali wheel off of steel discs. I had this problem on a mondeo could get the wheel nuts out but wheel was still seized on rear discs. If i kicked the wheel the car would of fallen off Jack.

Best solution is to have relay they have proper tools and can even tow you to a garage to get tyre replaced.

I always carry an extendable wheel brace.   Never had a problem getting a wheel off.

13 hours ago, st line x 140 driver said:

the only way to get the nuts/bolts out are with a wheel brace and then with the force you would have to apply car would probably fall off the jack and damage sill.

It's best to loosen the nuts before jacking the car up.  Makes it much easier as the wheel can't turn at all with the weight of the car on it and of course can't fall off a jack if it's not on one.

I do agree with with the wheels being seized to the hub though.  Mine haven't been off for two and a half years...  

I usually spray inside the wheel where it contacts the hub before each winter with Plus Gas. Copaslip is the wrong stuff to use here because it promotes corrosion but a smear of grease if the wheel is off doesn't do any harm. A 24" breaker bar with a good six sided socket is the best tool of all, though for removing but tighten using the factory wheelbrace to avoid overdoing it.

This is what I use.   £10.99 from Amazon.   Something else that was in the car when it was stolen.😠

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

It's best to loosen the nuts before jacking the car up.  Makes it much easier as the wheel can't turn at all with the weight of the car on it and of course can't fall off a jack if it's not on one.

I do agree with with the wheels being seized to the hub though.  Mine haven't been off for two and a half years...  

Standard procedure not to jack car up first and to have hand break on - you don't want to take the car for a stroll down the road with your wheel brace lol

2 hours ago, tomshepp said:

I usually spray inside the wheel where it contacts the hub before each winter with Plus Gas. Copaslip is the wrong stuff to use here because it promotes corrosion but a smear of grease if the wheel is off doesn't do any harm. A 24" breaker bar with a good six sided socket is the best tool of all, though for removing but tighten using the factory wheelbrace to avoid overdoing it.

i thought copper and aluminium = brass that must be a very corrosive material lol

copper grease and steel bolts are commonly used together for torquing cylinder heads down too think you will get no corrosion between these surface even submersed in water.

Brass is copper and zinc

Alloy of copper and zinc. Commonly contains lead. May include iron, manganese, aluminum, silicon, or other elements.

18 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

 

This is what I mean by the folding wheel brace.  The socket folds out of one side.  The 'tongue' for wheel trims the other.

I think what we have concluded here is, we have all bought expensive cars with alloys that obviously don't have wheel trims so no one has the wheel trim removal tool hence the spot for the Gherkin  🤣

9 minutes ago, Tom44 said:

I think what we have concluded here is, we have all bought expensive cars with alloys that obviously don't have wheel trims so no one has the wheel trim removal tool hence the spot for the Gherkin  🤣

All 4 Fiestas that I've had have had alloy wheels.   In fact, I can't remember the last car that didn't.

2 minutes ago, Bobr said:

All 4 Fiestas that I've had have had alloy wheels.   In fact, I can't remember the last car that didn't.

Just looking at fords website out of interest, even the "trend" lowest spec model of the MK8 has "16" 8-SPOKE ALLOY WHEEL ROCK METALLIC" and i don't see an option to spec steels so must all be alloys now.

Out of the 40+ cars I've owned, I think only 3 have had steel wheels.  2x 106s and a 306.  Oddly, I still see plenty of wheel trims at the side of the road, despite few actually being fitted to cars these days.

Just to clarify, the trim removal tool is part of the wheel brace on the Mk8, there's not a separate tool for it.  So we're still no closer to finding out whatever fits in the gherkin spot yet!   

13 out of the 25 cars I've owned  had trims but last 4 cars were alloys . Obviously I've gone up in the world in recent years with better specs. 😂

Never put copper and aluminium together with steel. It forms two corrosion cells. If you don' t understand the electrochemistry, then fine but don' t make a twerp of yourself by laughing at those who do

38 minutes ago, tomshepp said:

Never put copper and aluminium together with steel. It forms two corrosion cells. If you don' t understand the electrochemistry, then fine but don' t make a twerp of yourself by laughing at those who do

Brass is manufactured from copper aluminium and zinc  among other composites if you read the thread. I certainly wasn't laughing just stating fact.

Im talking about copper slip you would be surprised where they put it even on Steel shims and calipers between brake pads to stop squealing.

Insert other media

Interesting meandering thread. Bit of a copaslip fan myself. Never had corrosion on my wheels and I keep cars up to 10 years.

Theory of Molyslip Lubrication
In use, Molyslip products form a lubricating layer of Molybdenum Disulphide on metal surfaces in the following manner.
The Molybdenum Disulphide molecules arrange themselves into plates with a laminar structure in which each molybdenum atom is sandwiched between two sulphur atoms. The sulphur atoms are attracted to metal and therefore become plated or bonded on to each of the adjacent bearing surfaces. In between these two platings further layers of molecules form. The sulphur-to-metal bonding is very strong, but the sulphur-to-sulphur bonding between adjacent molecules is very weak.
Thus, there are two bearing surfaces, each protectively plated by a layer of Molybdenum Disulphide molecules with sliding or lubricating layers of molecules in between. In this way direct contact of metal-to-metal surfaces is prevented, friction is considerably reduced, with the consequent elimination of local heating, wear is inhibited and protection achieved even under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature.
The molecular thickness of Molybdenum Disulphide is such that there are approximately 40,000 lubricating or cleavage planes in an MoS2 film one thousandth of an inch thick!
The Molybdenum Disulphide plating is, in effect, a separating layer of immense strength, greater than the yield stress of most metals...and in addition it possesses the low coefficient of friction of ·03 to ·06 which gives more efficient lubrication combined with this greater protection.

 

However ...

Back to topic ...

The space is forward planning because the new powerplant in development requires a flux capacitor service tool that fits in the space.

48 minutes ago, fiestaecoboostman said:

Interesting meandering thread. Bit of a copaslip fan myself. Never had corrosion on my wheels and I keep cars up to 10 years.

Theory of Molyslip Lubrication
In use, Molyslip products form a lubricating layer of Molybdenum Disulphide on metal surfaces in the following manner.
The Molybdenum Disulphide molecules arrange themselves into plates with a laminar structure in which each molybdenum atom is sandwiched between two sulphur atoms. The sulphur atoms are attracted to metal and therefore become plated or bonded on to each of the adjacent bearing surfaces. In between these two platings further layers of molecules form. The sulphur-to-metal bonding is very strong, but the sulphur-to-sulphur bonding between adjacent molecules is very weak.
Thus, there are two bearing surfaces, each protectively plated by a layer of Molybdenum Disulphide molecules with sliding or lubricating layers of molecules in between. In this way direct contact of metal-to-metal surfaces is prevented, friction is considerably reduced, with the consequent elimination of local heating, wear is inhibited and protection achieved even under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature.
The molecular thickness of Molybdenum Disulphide is such that there are approximately 40,000 lubricating or cleavage planes in an MoS2 film one thousandth of an inch thick!
The Molybdenum Disulphide plating is, in effect, a separating layer of immense strength, greater than the yield stress of most metals...and in addition it possesses the low coefficient of friction of ·03 to ·06 which gives more efficient lubrication combined with this greater protection.

 

However ...

Back to topic ...

The space is forward planning because the new powerplant in development requires a flux capacitor service tool that fits in the space.

didn't realize they made them that small nowadays 👌

On 10/23/2020 at 3:44 PM, Chainsawcharlie said:

I know this sounds like a quiz 🙂

On my used Fiesta 2019 Vignale that has spacesaver wheel I noticed this on top off the sparewheel with a supposedly missing item next to the white shewee....ahem I mean funnel 🙂

could it be the locking wheel nut found in my glove compartment ? But surely the slot in the polystyrene is too big for that.

UFO - UNIDENTIFIED FORD OBJECT

Brass may contain minute traces of Aluminium (or lead, manganese or even arsenic) but these constituents are not considered part of the alloy which is copper and zinc. Aluminium being the less noble metal in a mixture of copper and steel will disappear very quickly indeed. Why do you think the wheels are hard to take off the hubs?

Molybdenum is a very interesting element, its by product Technetium being a dairy product as any nuclear scientist will tell you.