Hello all, I was just told by my tire shop they wouldn’t r&r my knock off wheels in order to put the new tires on due to the fact that they can’t torque them. With that said, how many “hits” do I apply to the spinner to insure it is on tight enough?

 

Eight hits with a lead hammer. Before installation, I strongly suggest doing a search for this topic. Instructions have been posted on the forum. A few vendors also have the instructions on their websites.

 

Be glad the shop refused to deal with your KOs. My number 1 Corvette rule is no one touches my KOs except me. When I need a tire fixed or new tires I put the car up on jack stands, remove the wheels/tires and carry them down to the tire shop and then re-mount them myself. It’s too much of a dangerous risk to let a stranger mount your KOs.

Get a ******-Thumper 6 lb lead hammer and don’t use that cheap little lead mallet that Chevrolet provided, it will wear down quickly, wear you out and eventually damage your spinners. Use both hands and short hard, but controlled hits on the spinner ear and once the spinner is initially snugged up, it shouldn’t take more than 7 or 8 hits as describe above, before the spinner is tight.

 

Get the giant socket, the torque spec is 450ft/lb per the AIM.

 

My tire shop refused to touch them, mounted or dismounted

 

I did it the same way as Dansyellow66 described to a tee. I've had no problems with loose wheel(s)
I do not let anyone remove my wheels. If you had to for some emergency reason, before you drive off give each spinner 8 Wacks with a 7lber.
The factory hammer is a joke.
A local tire/alignment shop mounted my new sneaks and balanced them, but I loaded them up in my bro-in-laws pickup and dropped them off.

The adapter I torque to 70ft/lb. x 5 each wheel adapter.

 

Be thankful for that as mentioned above. The worst case is someone with no knowledge attempts it, guaranteed to end in heartache and potentially far, far worse than heartache.

This has been covered ad-nauseum here but I never tire of it because its too important and ignorance is deadly. The shop manual has specific and correct instructions for removing and installing its "quick take-off" wheels which were engineered to be used exactly, that's exactly, as written in said manual. This means using care not to confuse the drive pin holes for the lug holes, and using only, that's only a lead hammer, which can be the one Chevrolet provided, a reproduction of the same, or better the "Mother Thumper" hammer discussed here. No other hammer, dead-blow or otherwise should be used. No socket with internal protection for the spinner should be used either, its creator completely oblivious to the design of the spinner and hub.

There will be those here who will dispute this or write that they have done it some other way for 30 years. Ignore them. Plenty of lucky people can do something stupid for 30 years and get away with it. Their time will likely eventually come.

The engineers who designed the wheels were deliberate in their work and specific in their directives for proper use. Don't allow your hubris, yours or someone else, wreck your car and endanger others on the road. These wheels are eminently safe. Follow GM's instructions.

Dan

 

Another point - it’s OK to give the spinner a couple taps to seat the wheel and snug up the spinner while it’s jacked up. But lower the weight of the car on to the tires before really getting after it with the lead hammer. Up in the air you’re beating on the bearing and race about as much as the spinner.

 

I also highly recommend that you apply a thin coat of Never Sieze to the tapered surfaces of the knock-off spinner and the tapered seating surface in the wheel hub as well as the threads on the hub. It will make future removal much easier.

Ted

 

Discount Tire has mounted four sets for me. I took the wheels to them. You don't want anyone but you to do as said above.

 

You should have at least one of these long lug nuts holding each wheel's KO adaptor to the hub. This will ensure that you get the KO wheel indexed correctly. If not correctly indexed, no matter how hard you hit the KO Spinner, they WILL come loose and possibly FALL OFF.
Gary
https://www.zip-corvette.com/63-66-k...l-lug-nut.html