"NY" wrote in message
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"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,

I'm not convinced that its a great idea to have someone
getting in and out of the drivers seat with the car on the
jack, to much risk of it coming off the jack IMO.

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...

Few cars have hub caps anymore.

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.