soft VW 6mm allen key heads

I’ve been using the same 12mm multipoint socket for removing them for years, its only because I couldn’t find the little fecking thing that I opened the box of extractors for the first time

 

Rounded brake nipples, calliper hanger bolts and an ABF Cam cover bolt... made short work of these... Bolt grippers = Life savers!

 

Im surprised to see people use them so often, maybe a god quality set of single hex sockets is what they need to buy first

 

Yeah deffo, never use allen keys!!

Also alot of people (and garages) don't replace with new bolts which cost pennies from VW... have you noticed that once that green coating is disturbed once from undoing they tend corrode fairly quickly.

 

I always keep the clutch, front pulley and some assorted manifold bolts in stock, they always go slack even if they dont round off as they have the consistency of a soft cheese. I hate it when you follow on from someone elses work and theyve rounded off the allen key heads when tightening them up

 

just hammer in a t40 torx socket (6 point star shaped) gets them off every time

 

You can’t do that in certain applications, the PD TDi front crank pulleys have an aluminium centre where the bolts are raised on ally tubes, it damages the ally tubes if anything is hammered into or around the key head, and the pulleys are about 140 + VAT. I’ve seen a couple that have been damaged when the cam belt has been changed, expensive compared to the price of an extractor

 

agreed on the 6 sided sockets, much better than 12 pointers but why not use allen head bolts?

.9 times out of 10 their 8.8 or heigher - my sump bolts are 12.something now .

.they have a more compact head.

.smaller sizes round off less easily than 6 siders when you compare like for like.

.they look neater.

are there any more plus sides i missed? still cant think of any negatives though????

 

I've got a set of the SnapOn ones and they are brilliant. The bigger ones are great for removing locking wheel nuts when the owner of the car has lost their key.

 

...remind me not to park to close to your house if I ever buy nice wheels