Failed Tire Cover Bolt FYI

ecohen2 · Jun 11, 2024

Yesterday I needed to remove my spare tire to have the Grenadier ceramic coated. I pulled off the tire cover and found this plastic cover that protects the rim. When I tried to unscrew the star bolt in the center it just spun forever. I am guessing it was stripped at the factory or dealer. Has anyone else experienced this?

I managed to remove the cover by reaching behind cover and unscrewing the three bolts holding the mount for this cover. I would recommend just making sure you can access your spare easily because there was no way I could have removed this cover with the tools available in the kit in the field..

Barney · Jun 11, 2024

Thanks for the tip. It goes on the list.

Shaky · Jun 11, 2024

I seem to remember someone on here reporting a stripped bolt on the rear tyre cover a few months ago. Pretty sure it was the same one.

ecohen2 · Jun 11, 2024

My dealer service manager said the factory is replacing the star bolt with a 10mm and implied that other changes were also being made to the part...

emax · Jun 11, 2024

The "star bolt" is a 'torx' bolt or screw.

The screw does not look damaged, to be honest. A too small torx bit is sometimes not detected immediately, so I recommend to try a larger one.

MTNDOG · Jun 11, 2024

emax said:
The "star bolt" is a 'torx' bolt or screw.

The screw does not look damaged, to be honest. A too small torx bit is sometimes not detected immediately, so I recommend to try a larger one.

I think he is saying, the bolt just spins, not an issue with the head stripped., There is another report of this happening as well, seems somewhere on this forum, someone noted that the design had been updated, maybe @anand remembers

anand · Jun 11, 2024

MTNDOG said:
I think he is saying, the bolt just spins, not an issue with the head stripped., There is another report of this happening as well, seems somewhere on this forum, someone noted that the design had been updated, maybe @anand remembers

Yea, the PTO2s had the Torx, but I remember someone in the US saying their's came with a traditional hex head (12mm maybe?) bolt.

I have the box so I can't check mine; but I do recall on the PTO2s we had several where the plastic the bolt screws into stripped and made removing the panel a unique adventure. from what I remember all we had to do was put some outward pressure on the plastic panel (from behind) and it would unthread

CRH · Jun 11, 2024

I've checked mine today and it's a 10mm hex bolt head. Tried removing it but it just rotates. Added it to the list for 24th when it goes in for work

MTNDOG · Jun 13, 2024

Finally took the spare wheel cover off mine. 10mm hex bolt, is the brass insert what spins to prevent the cover from coming off or is this an updated design on mine?

anand · Jun 13, 2024

MTNDOG said:
Finally took the spare wheel cover off mine. 10mm hex bolt, is the brass insert what spins to prevent the cover from coming off or is this an updated design on mine?

IIRC the old design was a Torx and a plastic insert

ecohen2 · Jun 13, 2024

CRH said:
I've checked mine today and it's a 10mm hex bolt head. Tried removing it but it just rotates. Added it to the list for 24th when it goes in for work

That is EXACTLY what mine did... I am drilling the bolt out, putting a rethread insert in and installing a new bolt...

@MTNDOG I don't have that brass insert... Mine is the torque screw in plastic...

CRH · Jun 13, 2024

ecohen2 said:
That is EXACTLY what mine did... I am drilling the bolt out, putting a rethread insert in and installing a new bolt...

@MTNDOG I don't have that brass insert... Mine is the torque screw in plastic...

I was going for the 'cut, pull, rip & destroy method', (what is commonly known as the 'Man method'), I then remembered it was probably going to be under warranty and due in for repairs so stopped fiddling with it

ecohen2 · Jun 13, 2024

CRH said:
I was going for the 'cut, pull, rip & destroy method', (what is commonly known as the 'Man method'), I then remembered it was probably going to be under warranty and due in for repairs so stopped fiddling with it

Find someone with small hands and you can bend the cover outward, reach in and unscrew the three bolts holding the mount... Then you can just give that entire piece to the dealer... You don't have to unscrew the bolts that hold the wheel...

Darby · Jun 13, 2024

ecohen2 said:
Find someone with small hands and you can bend the cover outward, reach in and unscrew the three bolts holding the mount... Then you can just give that entire piece to the dealer... You don't have to unscrew the bolts that hold the wheel...

That’s how I removed mine, I’m leaving mine permanently removed, as I don’t want extra frustrations when I need to do a spare haha.

ecohen2 · Jun 14, 2024

I decided to take the mount for the cover apart and see what was going on.

It turns out the bolt was not stripped, however it was screwed in so tight that the brass fitting came unglued from the plastic mount. (Photo 2) This explains why it would just spin and couldn’t be pulled out even with tension. I put the casing in a vice and still could not unscrew it, so its really tight.

What I did for a short term fix, is insert some threads where the original brass fitting was. (Photo 1) I am going to make sure that is anchored in and then use a short stud with a nut to hold it in place. Once the cover is placed on I will use a nut with a washer to keep the cover on.

Yeah I mangled the plastic, but I imagined one thing was going on when something completely different was happening while trying to remove the nut.

Mountain4x4 · Jun 29, 2024

That is why I skipped that thing. Just worried about dealing with it on the trail to change a tire.

ecohen2 · Jun 29, 2024

Mountain4x4 said:
That is why I skipped that thing. Just worried about dealing with it on the trail to change a tire.

No kidding... I was in my garage and it took a while to get it off.. Have a standard sized bolt gives me some level of comfort that I can remove it..

Tazzieman · Jun 30, 2024

One day , when the G achieves classic car status, the original Mk1 bolts will be highly sought after. Mark my words

Rok_Dr · Jun 30, 2024

Mine came with a 10mm blot which was a PITA to remove using the INEOS tool kit spanner.

So I removed the cover entirely and put a vinyl tyre cover over the whole tyre.

Cheers
Steve

ecohen2 · Jun 30, 2024

Rok_Dr said:
Mine came with a 10mm blot which was a PITA to remove using the INEOS tool kit spanner.

So I removed the cover entirely and put a vinyl tyre cover over the whole tyre.

Cheers
Steve

So my problem was the nut part that is embedded in the plastic is what came loose. The 10mm bolt is definitely easier to deal with, but it doesn't help if the fitting in the plastic is shredded. Just make sure you can unscrew it and then don't over tighten it...

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