quote from: garrardrj on may 17,2014
You take that into account . There has been alot of problems with studs breaking or being stuck , especially the locking wheelnut studs . Our mini when we bought it was 18 months old and the nuts were so tight i had to use a 3' breaker bar to undo them , the locking wheel nut on two wheels snapped off and we had to weld onto the remaining nut to get them off .
i've had 3 mini's to date, and two have broke the locking wheel bolt key/socket as you mention, it's the design of the actual key/socket, it's extremely weak. cooper teeside actually hold a full set of replacment in stock for this very problem, and as your's was only 18months old i'd of been inclined to contact the dealers and ask for their assistance, as firstly the car was still under warranty, and secondly 95% of mini's come with a 5 year tlc package for all the servicing ect, so theres a good chance they're responsable in my eyes.
that there would be my first point of call before welding nuts to the locking wheel bolt and marking and distorting wheels ect. last thing i'd want to do is mark my wheels from doing that.