"NY" wrote in message
o.uk...
"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.

And a bit of a risk of it falling off the jack if you have to jump
on the wheel brace to get the nut undone with it on the jack.

I've never had to change front wheel on a rear wheel drive car (I've never
owned one)

I've owned 3 and changed the wheel on more than 3.

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 know my 2006 Getz still has lose nuts.

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.

Yeah, that's why I prefer to actually sit on the ground
when putting the wheel back on the hub, makes it
easier to get the holes on the fixed bolts.

Have you ever *lost* a spare wheel?

No I havent. All of my cars have had the spare
inside the car except the work landrover.

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

Most of mine have showed up when driving. With one I could hear the ticking
of the screw in the tread as I went around the corner and didn't bother to
do
anything about it because it was on the garage sale run. It did eventually
end
up visibly well down so I used the real spare. Another time, also on a
garage
sale run, someone pointed it out to me. The Getz doesn't give much
indication
of a flat tyre handling wise. Another on another garage sale run, forget how
I became aware of that one.