In a message dated 7/8/05 10:05:36 PM, wil@CHARMFX.COM writes:

<< Was this just the result of a mechanic with an air ratchet and no thought
for the poor owner? >>

I've have suffered the same problem of stuck lug nuts.  Once, I went to a
service station to watch as a puzzled mechanic bogged down an Ingersoll-Rand
impact driver trying to remove a couple of them that I couldn't get off.  I have
ruined a quality breaker bar by going animal with a cheater on it and I even
had to resort to cutting off a lug nut a couple of times.  As strange as this
must sound, I think that a stuck lug nut on a Vanagon can be caused by applying
too LITTLE torque.  I think some form of fretting corrosion might be caused by
insufficient tightening torque especially since the fasteners are hardened
steel and the tightening spec calls for more torque than mechanics normally use
for wheel mounting.

George