Melenium
12-01-2004, 11:27 PM
I just put on the winter boots, and I thought I\'d put together some pointers for anyone else looking to do the same.
First, tools:
1. A torque wrench.
Some say its not a must, but I\'d say it is. Overtighten the nuts and it\'ll cost you new discs. Undertighten them and your wheel could come flying off. I made do with the bendy kind, but I plan to change it for the clickly kind. Its kind of tough to put on the right torque consistantly and it will make things a bit easier. $25 for the bendy kind, $99 for the clicky kind. Be sure to get one in FOOT Pounds, NOT inch pounds. Most 1/2\" ones are in foot pounds; the 3/8\" are usually inch pounds.
2. A 21mm LONG socket.
Most socket sets come with a 19mm and a 22. Not good enough. You\'ll round the nuts. Nobody wants to have their nuts forcefully rounded. Sears has a 21mm socket, sold individually. Came out to just over $10, taxes in. Its a long kind instead of the regular shorter ones so that you have clearance to swing the torque wrench. Shorter ones were $2 cheaper. Canadian Tire doesn\'t seem to stock it (21mm sockets) period. I also used a 3\" extension on top of the long socket for a bit more clearance and it made things a tad easier. If you get only a regular (short) socket, you\'ll need the extension.
3. A jack.
You can use the one from the trunk, but its a bit iffy. A decent hydraulic 2-ton will run you about $25. You can get away with a 1-1/2 ton too.
4. Jack stands.
I didn\'t use them, but its a gamble. If you trip over the jack while the wheel is off, your car may drop and bad things could happen. It may be worth the $17 as \"insurance\". Don\'t blame me if bad stuff happens if you don\'t use it (heck, don\'t blame me either way!)
5. Latex or disposable gloves.
I really wish I had a pair. Your hands will get filthy with all the muck on the tires such as brake dust and whatever roadkill you may have run over for the past 2 seasons.
Prep.:
Before beginning, take a good look at the tires you plan to install. Make sure all the rims are in good shape and well seated, and that there isn\'t damage to the tire. I found that my steelies had a layer of orange dust/sand on the inside, I don\'t think it was rust, but all the same clean it out. Clean the insides well because any stones or dirt could fall onto your discs, get jammed into the pads and cause grooves in the discs. The 5 minutes you spend clearing the wheels could save you a few hundred dollar brake job down the road.
When moving the wheels, lie them flat when you\'re not dealing with them right away to prevent them rolling away. When lying them flat, put them down gently to avoid damaging the rim.
Check the air pressure of the replacement tires before you put them on. If they\'re less than about 25-27psi you\'ll probably want to pump them up a bit before dropping your cars weight on them.
Process:
Park on level and sturdy turf, concrete or asphalt. Block the tires that you\'re not taking off right away (put a small 2x4 infront/behind to prevent rolling). Put the car in Park or 1st gear (if 5sp). Pull up the parking brake. This stops the wheels from spinning while you\'re trying to losen or tighten the bolts.
For those of us who.. uhm.. don\'t work out at the gym, watch your back-- if you\'re dealing with steelies, they are heavy and awkward to get lined up and on to the lugs.
Before jacking up the car, losen the bolts on the wheel you\'re about to swap. When I say losen, I mean turn them about a quarter turn or less. Put the jack under the jack point (check the manual); they\'re marked fairly well on the body itself. Make sure you put the jack under the vertical part indicated and not the flat member behind it.
Jack it up until the tire just lifts off the ground. Loosen the bolts in a star pattern, starting with the locked bolt if you have wheel locks. Don\'t take them all the way out, one by one-- rather a couple turns, then move onto the next (in a star pattern), until they\'re all off. Make sure gunk (dirt/water) doesn\'t get into the bolts.
Remove the wheel, make sure the disc is clear of any debris; make sure the replacement wheel where it mounts is also free of any gunk. Put it on and push all the way to the back with grinding the lags as little as possible. Wipe the bolts (lags) with dry paper towel to make sure they\'re clean. Spin on the bolts until they hit the wheel. Hand tighten them in a star pattern. Try to jiggle the wheel a little to make sure that it seated just right every so often (not a mad amount to make the car fall off the jack, but just a little wiggle). After that tighten with the torque driver in the star pattern, torquing each bolt first to about 20ft-lbs in the star pattern, then to about 40ft-lbs, then to 60ft-lbs, then finally to about 80-90ft-lbs. Don\'t tighten a single bolt all the way up-- work in the pattern and only a bit at a time!
When I took off the stock ones from the factory they were tightened to about 90ft-lbs, so I tightened the winter ones to 85ft-lbs.
Lower the jack slowly. Don\'t just drop it!
Block the wheel, that you\'re done with, move onto the next.
Once all are done, head to the gas station to put in some air. The door says to inflate to 32psi all around. The manual says to pump in another 4.5psi to each tire if they\'re winter tires, so I pumped all mine up to about 35psi total.
If the wheels you removed were especially dirty, clean them first and make sure to dry them. Put them in bags and store horizontally to avoid flat spots. The bags protect them from winter salt and stuff if you\'re storing them in the garage; if you\'re storing them inside, they keep the house cleaner ;).
Its essential to retorque the nuts after you\'ve done a bit of driving as they can work their way loose. Some places recommend after driving 25km and again after driving about 100km. Better to be safe than sorry.
For more reading, I recommend checking out the TireTrends install manual (http://www.tiretrends.com/InstallManual.pdf). If you are not comfortable doing this sort of thing or haven\'t done it before, best get a pro to do it. It\'ll probably run you back about $20 per set.
Enjoy :)
Edit: added link to TireTrends.
First, tools:
1. A torque wrench.
Some say its not a must, but I\'d say it is. Overtighten the nuts and it\'ll cost you new discs. Undertighten them and your wheel could come flying off. I made do with the bendy kind, but I plan to change it for the clickly kind. Its kind of tough to put on the right torque consistantly and it will make things a bit easier. $25 for the bendy kind, $99 for the clicky kind. Be sure to get one in FOOT Pounds, NOT inch pounds. Most 1/2\" ones are in foot pounds; the 3/8\" are usually inch pounds.
2. A 21mm LONG socket.
Most socket sets come with a 19mm and a 22. Not good enough. You\'ll round the nuts. Nobody wants to have their nuts forcefully rounded. Sears has a 21mm socket, sold individually. Came out to just over $10, taxes in. Its a long kind instead of the regular shorter ones so that you have clearance to swing the torque wrench. Shorter ones were $2 cheaper. Canadian Tire doesn\'t seem to stock it (21mm sockets) period. I also used a 3\" extension on top of the long socket for a bit more clearance and it made things a tad easier. If you get only a regular (short) socket, you\'ll need the extension.
3. A jack.
You can use the one from the trunk, but its a bit iffy. A decent hydraulic 2-ton will run you about $25. You can get away with a 1-1/2 ton too.
4. Jack stands.
I didn\'t use them, but its a gamble. If you trip over the jack while the wheel is off, your car may drop and bad things could happen. It may be worth the $17 as \"insurance\". Don\'t blame me if bad stuff happens if you don\'t use it (heck, don\'t blame me either way!)
5. Latex or disposable gloves.
I really wish I had a pair. Your hands will get filthy with all the muck on the tires such as brake dust and whatever roadkill you may have run over for the past 2 seasons.
Prep.:
Before beginning, take a good look at the tires you plan to install. Make sure all the rims are in good shape and well seated, and that there isn\'t damage to the tire. I found that my steelies had a layer of orange dust/sand on the inside, I don\'t think it was rust, but all the same clean it out. Clean the insides well because any stones or dirt could fall onto your discs, get jammed into the pads and cause grooves in the discs. The 5 minutes you spend clearing the wheels could save you a few hundred dollar brake job down the road.
When moving the wheels, lie them flat when you\'re not dealing with them right away to prevent them rolling away. When lying them flat, put them down gently to avoid damaging the rim.
Check the air pressure of the replacement tires before you put them on. If they\'re less than about 25-27psi you\'ll probably want to pump them up a bit before dropping your cars weight on them.
Process:
Park on level and sturdy turf, concrete or asphalt. Block the tires that you\'re not taking off right away (put a small 2x4 infront/behind to prevent rolling). Put the car in Park or 1st gear (if 5sp). Pull up the parking brake. This stops the wheels from spinning while you\'re trying to losen or tighten the bolts.
For those of us who.. uhm.. don\'t work out at the gym, watch your back-- if you\'re dealing with steelies, they are heavy and awkward to get lined up and on to the lugs.
Before jacking up the car, losen the bolts on the wheel you\'re about to swap. When I say losen, I mean turn them about a quarter turn or less. Put the jack under the jack point (check the manual); they\'re marked fairly well on the body itself. Make sure you put the jack under the vertical part indicated and not the flat member behind it.
Jack it up until the tire just lifts off the ground. Loosen the bolts in a star pattern, starting with the locked bolt if you have wheel locks. Don\'t take them all the way out, one by one-- rather a couple turns, then move onto the next (in a star pattern), until they\'re all off. Make sure gunk (dirt/water) doesn\'t get into the bolts.
Remove the wheel, make sure the disc is clear of any debris; make sure the replacement wheel where it mounts is also free of any gunk. Put it on and push all the way to the back with grinding the lags as little as possible. Wipe the bolts (lags) with dry paper towel to make sure they\'re clean. Spin on the bolts until they hit the wheel. Hand tighten them in a star pattern. Try to jiggle the wheel a little to make sure that it seated just right every so often (not a mad amount to make the car fall off the jack, but just a little wiggle). After that tighten with the torque driver in the star pattern, torquing each bolt first to about 20ft-lbs in the star pattern, then to about 40ft-lbs, then to 60ft-lbs, then finally to about 80-90ft-lbs. Don\'t tighten a single bolt all the way up-- work in the pattern and only a bit at a time!
When I took off the stock ones from the factory they were tightened to about 90ft-lbs, so I tightened the winter ones to 85ft-lbs.
Lower the jack slowly. Don\'t just drop it!
Block the wheel, that you\'re done with, move onto the next.
Once all are done, head to the gas station to put in some air. The door says to inflate to 32psi all around. The manual says to pump in another 4.5psi to each tire if they\'re winter tires, so I pumped all mine up to about 35psi total.
If the wheels you removed were especially dirty, clean them first and make sure to dry them. Put them in bags and store horizontally to avoid flat spots. The bags protect them from winter salt and stuff if you\'re storing them in the garage; if you\'re storing them inside, they keep the house cleaner ;).
Its essential to retorque the nuts after you\'ve done a bit of driving as they can work their way loose. Some places recommend after driving 25km and again after driving about 100km. Better to be safe than sorry.
For more reading, I recommend checking out the TireTrends install manual (http://www.tiretrends.com/InstallManual.pdf). If you are not comfortable doing this sort of thing or haven\'t done it before, best get a pro to do it. It\'ll probably run you back about $20 per set.
Enjoy :)
Edit: added link to TireTrends.