Ferrari Testarossa Single Wheel Nut Removal & Re-Install (DIY)

Hello FChatters,

Next up in our how-to/DIY series is a complete list of all the steps we used (and worked for us) to remove and re-install the single wheel & nuts on our 1987 Ferrari Testarossa. Again, there is a better formatted and printable (with more pictures) version on TrueDriversCar.com.

There are many ways you can go about removing and installing the single wheel nut. Our intention with this (and our other posts/guides) is to offer a reference to anyone attempting this for the first time or little experience. Hopefully, others will be able to reference our experiences to gain confidence and think "these guys did it this way, and their car hasn't blown up yet, so it can't be too hard." These are the types of posts/guides that we search for when doing any work on our cars for the first time. Hopefully that makes sense...

We performed this on our car a few months ago, so we have done a decent amount of 'spirited' back road driving to test that the wheels do indeed stay on! The brake pad replacement/upgrade also made a substantial performance difference (a post/guide on this coming later).


Overview

For our car, the wheel nuts were really stuck on tight. It took us a number of attempts, specialty tools, and consultations with mechanics who have worked on these cars. There are a number of horror stories of the wheel nut coming loose while driving, resulting in the wheel coming off. Therefore, doing this correctly to insure the driver/passenger's safety and the safety of others was paramount. As always, this was just our experience and what has worked well for us - each situation may be different.

One of the most difficult issues we encountered when removing the wheels, was preventing the wheel from spinning (even with the car on the ground). In the end, one of us applied and held the brake pedal with the car running. Since we were removing the wheels to replace some old, under performing brake pads, the brakes had difficulty preventing the wheels from spinning. A combination of wood for wheel chocks and using an angle less than 45° to the ground ended up working (thank goodness).

Tools Used (with links)

• Quick Jack BL-5000XL portable lift
• Jack Stands
• Hill Engineering Testarossa Wheel Socket
• 3/4" Drive Breaker Bar
• 3/4" Drive Torque Wrench [1]
• Torque Multiplier (1:3) [2]
• 1" Female to 3/4" Male Drive Adapter
• Extension Pipes for Leverage

[1] Yes, this 3/4" drive torque wrench does fit in the front trunk of the Testarossa.
[2] This style of torque multiplier was the one that worked for us. Torque multipliers (like this torque multiplier) did NOT work.


Procedure Used
Removal
1. Before attempting anything, we found the direction in which the nut must be turned to be loosened. Each of the octagonal wheel nuts have an arrow showing the direction to LOOSEN the nut. The direction to loosen is also the same direction as the forward rotation of the wheel [1][2]. For the left side it should be counter-clockwise, and the right side clockwise.
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2. Next, we put painters tape on the wheel nut and duct tape on the inside of the Hill Engineering wheel socket. This worked well to preserve the finish of the nut. We also had a few moving blankets on hand to protect the body work if something slipped.

3. After many trials, the figure to the right was the final setup that worked for us. We placed the Hill Engineering wheel socket on the wheel nut, attached the 1" female to 3/4" male drive adapter and placed a jack stands under it for support and to keep the socket level (see image to the right). We then attached the torque multiplier to the adapter. Put an ~8' long extension pipe over the reference bar coming out of the torque multiplier. Finally, we used the 3/4" drive breaker bar with a ~4' long extension pipe as the input to the torque multiplier.

4. With the car running, one of us applied and held the brake pedal (for the front wheels, this person also held the steering wheel from turning). To remove the nut, we then applied force to the end of the ~4' long extension pipe. It was important to insure that the extension bar created no more than a 45° angle with the ground, such that the force was applied downwards toward the ground to loosen the nut. We also used some scrap wood to help prevent the wheel from spinning.

5. After the wheel nuts had broken loose, we lifted the car off the ground to prevent any unnecessary pressure or damage to the wheel and hub.


Installation
For the installation, we roughly followed the methods described in the owner's manual for a Porsche 918 Spyder, since the Testarossa's Owner's manual merely says to "tighten as much as possible" and to complete the tightening of the nut to 325 lbs ∙ ft [1][2].

1. We used a QuickJack to lift the car off the ground. The car must be lifted high enough such that the wheels are off the ground.

2. Next, we placed the wheel on the car while insuring that the wheel is flat against the hub. The wheel nut was then hand tightened.

3. With the car still off the ground and running, one of us applied and held the brake pedal (for the front wheels, this person also held the steering wheel from turning).

4. Using the 3/4" drive torque wrench, we tightened the wheel nut in the direction opposite to the forward wheel rotation to the specified torque of 325 lbs ∙ ft.
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5. Next, we loosened the wheel nut 1/4 of a turn.

6. We repeated Steps 4. and 5. at least one more time. The reason Steps 4. and 5. are done repeatedly, is to insure that the wheel is seated flush against the hub. If the wheel is not flush with the hub, the wheel will wobble when driving and possibly come off.

7. We tightened the wheel nut to 325 lbs ∙ ft one last time while the car was still off the ground.

8. After repeating Steps 2. - 7. for each wheel, we then lowered the car to the ground. While on the ground, we checked that all of the wheel nuts were tightened to 325 lbs ∙ ft.

9. Finally, we did a series of short drives, pulling over (when safe) to check that all of the wheel nuts were still tightened to 325 lbs ∙ ft. We did a 1/4 mile drive, a 1 mile drive, and finally a couple of miles with a couple decent accelerations and braking. In between each "drive," we checked that all of the wheel nuts were still tightened to 325 lbs ∙ ft. For the next few uses of the car, we checked the tightness of each of the wheel nuts with the 3/4" drive torque wrench before and after each drive.

 

Those are good points.

For us, hitting the socket with a hammer didn't do anything... From our records, the wheels probably had not been off for 3-5 years. We tried everything we could find discussed on here, along with suggestions from Ferrari techs, until we reached the method described above. The only suggestion we did NOT try was using a 1" pneumatic impact wrench (like this one) because of the risk of damage to the finish of the nut.

To be honest, we were torn whether or not to apply some type of grease to the threads. We received conflicting advice from Ferrari techs (we called a couple dealerships) along with the "scary" and polarizing threads like this (for example, posts like this). So, when we took off the wheel, we just moved around the grease that was already on the threads. Our reasoning was to error on the side of the wheel being a PITA to remove, than the wheel coming off too easily.

Which grease did you use? We were leaning toward a copper based grease, if we chose to use grease.

 

Our's definitely did not come off that easily! Our biggest problem was that the wheel would spin when we tried to loosen the nut (with the car on the ground). After we bent a 1 1/4" steel pipe trying to loosen the nut, we were ready to sell the whole car LOL

 

- Try an even longer extension pipe from Lowes/Home Depot (make sure it is at least 1.25" diameter, since we completely bent a 3/4" steel pipe).

- We also found out that it was important to insure that the extension/breaker bar created no more than a 45° angle with the ground, such that the force was applied downwards toward the ground to loosen the nut.

- The only way we could get the wheels to stop spinning was to have someone apply and hold the brakes, with the engine running.

- If all else fails, try a torque multiplier like this one - Torque Multiplier (1:3) . A torque multiplier, like this one, does NOT work in this situation.

Good luck!