"Jim GM4DHJ ..." wrote in message
...
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.

Yes I was only suggesting releasing the initial tightness in the thread
while the contact between the wheel and the road prevents the wheel rotating
uselessly which would stop you being able to get any force on the nuts at
all. If you have an assistant to keep their foot on the footbrake then
better all round to raise the wheel even before starting, but all the "best"
punctures occur when you're on your own :-( I take your point, though,
about wanting to avoid the wheel pressing against the nuts or bolt heads due
to the weight on it.

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.

It all depends critically on the hub being designed with a lip that can take
the weight of the wheel as you are rotating it until the holes line up.
Without a lip, it it virtually impossible to line up the wheel holes and the
bolt holes - but I've never seen a car like that: there has always been a
lip that the wheel can sit on as it is rotated.

With studs protruding from the hub, you have to get the orientation of the
wheel perfectly aligned with the studs before you can slot one then the next
into the holes on the wheel. But having got one stud on, that takes the
weight and allows you a bit of fine movement when lining up the next one -
and when two are lined up, they are all lined up.

One other advantage with bolts (the modern way) is that they are bigger and
less likely to loose in the dark if you've put them carefully in the
upturned hub-cap... and then accidentally kicked it, spreading the nuts all
over the place in the dark. Been there, done that - and it was when I really
*needed* to change the wheel as fast as possible because there was a crowd
of threatening, menacing drunks gathering to watch, and it would have only
taken some trivial "offence" to spark off a fight, with me at the centre of
it. I've never changed a wheel so fast in my life. That was one occasion
when I only tightened the nuts finger tight so I could scarper as fast as
possible, and then inspect things and finish off the job when I was out of
harm's way.

The other occasion when I thought I was going to get beaten up was when I
was changing a red-hot tyre (it had gone flat and started to melt, but I
hadn't noticed any change in handling immediately) in the pitch black on a
country lane with a narrow pavement between the road and a ditch. The flat
was on the nearside so after I'd removed that wheel, I put it on the
pavement behind me while I went to get the spare, ready to fit it. I heard a
tuneless humming and rhythmic screech of metal on metal, and could see a
glow-worm of light getting gradually closer. Suddenly it arrived: an elderly
chap in a greatcoat, riding an ancient sit-up-and-beg bike, humming to
himself - roaring drunk. He reeked of alcohol. Before I could shout a
warning, his front wheel hit the flat tyre and he went arse over head into
the ditch. "I'm going to get clobbered", I thought. I can't even bugger off,
with only three wheels on the car. But when this sopping wet, weed-festooned
"creature" clambered out of the ditch, he muttered "Night nice for it. Good
evening to you, Sir." with the exaggerated politeness of the inebriated. And
he picked up his bike and off he toddled. He'd had no warning of me because
I hadn't got a torch, so I was having to work entirely by feel in the dark.
I'm sure his bike wheel was running even more crookedly than it had before -
but at least it still went round. I wonder what he remembered of the
incident the following morning, and whether he remembered why he was sopping
wet and covered in weeds and mud when he got home - and why his bike wheel
was bent.