NY wrote:

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
idual.net...
On Sat, 13 Apr 2019 12:06:32 +0100, NY wrote:

Changing a wheel is a skill that doesn't seem to be taught to drivers
nowadays.

Most people don't have the basic knowledge of how a nut and spanner
works let alone use a jack in the right place or centralise each
nut/bolt and tighten evenly in an "across center" pattern. Possibly
the biggest reason is they'd get their hands dirty.

Yes, it's not "cool" to be mechanically proficient any more. Many people
seem to regard not being able to do *simple* maintenance on a car as a
positive virtue. By "simple" I mean even things like checking oil, coolant
and windscreen washer levels and tyre pressures / tread depths periodically,
and checking for leaves blocking the drain holes on the sill at the base of
the windscreen. I mention the windscreen drain because I once fell foul of
this: I got into my car one morning in autumn after a heavy night's rain,
and my feet were paddling in water. The ducts which drain the water that
runs off the windscreen into the sill where the windscreen wipers come from
had got blocked with leaves and the water couldn't drain away so it had
overflowed down the back of the bulkhead into the car. That was a nice
"little" job removing the centre gear lever console and the front seats to
get all the carpets up to wash them and dry them out. For a couple of days I
was running around with no carpets or underlay (a lot more road noise!) and
no passenger seat. I always check the drain holes now when there are leaves
falling.

- once the nut has turned half a turn, raise the wheel and undo it the
rest of the way by hand; at this stage, check again beforehand to make
absolutely certain that the handbrake is on and the car is in gear -
it's embarrassing if the car rolls off the jack.

As for method, yes, but loosen *all* the bolts/nuts half a turn on
the required wheel before jacking the car up. B-)

Yes I meant to say that you loosen *all* the nuts half a turn before jacking
up. The main thing is, don't try to exert a lot of force on the nuts when
the wheel is in the air and therefore free to rotate if the brakes or
transmission won't stop it turning. I've never had to change front wheel on
a rear wheel drive car (I've never owned one) but those wheels are
completely unbraked when they are raised unless you've got someone to press
the footbrake for you. I *think* all my cars have been new enough to have
bolts that you remove, rather than nuts that engage with captive bolts that
remain attached to the hub. I imagine it's a little bit harder to locate the
wheel onto four captive bolts than to locate it only onto the central boss
and then be able to rotate it until the bolt holes are lined up with the
wheel.

Have you ever *lost* a spare wheel? I did once on my first Pug 306 which had
the spare in a cage under the floor. I was driving down a country lane when
I heard a grating sound which was the cage rubbing on the road. I drove back
slowly to look for the wheel, but I never found it, so maybe it fell out
further back than I drove, though when I hadn't found it after half a mile I
parked up and walked forwards again to the place when I noticed it had gone,
in case it had rolled into a ditch. So that needed a trip to Quickfit to buy
a new steel wheel and tyre. I'd been driving for maybe a half an hour before
I noticed it was missing, so it's not as if someone had nicked it while I
was stopped and then I noticed a short distance further on. That was in the
days of proper serviceable spares that can be used as far and as fast as a
real wheel, until it's convenient to take the punctured tyre in for repair,
without a puncture turning into a high-priority "must get the fixed NOW
before I can continue my journey" emergency. The only time I would call out
the RAC is for a puncture on the offside when I'm on a motorway - let the
RAC man face the extra danger of being close to traffic, protected by the
flashing lights on his van. So far in 40 years driving, I've never had a
puncture while I've been driving (apart from the blow-out when the tyre
scraped against the edge of the tarmac when I was forced off the road by an
oncoming tractor) - all my punctures have been of the sort where the car is
fine when I park, and then the tyre is flat when I come to drive away: very
slow pi

Some would say that you should take part of the weight off the wheel by
jacking it up a bit before loosening the nuts at all, partly to make it
easier and partly to avoid bending forces on the edge of the hole in the
wheel.

As far as wheel studs are concerned, in some ways it is easier to put a
heavy wheel on studs, as it stays in the right place even if slightly
skewed or not fully on.

--

Roger Hayter