NGC. It only cost me $130 to...

[azguzzirep]

Change my winter tires for my summer tires on my VW Gulf!

Let me explain. My late wife bought this car about three years ago. She would not let me  change the tires myself, "A shop has to do it" she would say. Well, it's her car and her money, so a tire shop did it.

Now that the car is mine, I set out to change the winter wheels for the summer wheels /tires. But first , I want a nice floor jack. $30.  Then last night I start to do the job. All I have to work with is a star wrench as this car has no spare and no jack!  (Just discovered that!)

Well, the darn bolt were stuck. I spent a lot of time, sweat and cuss words doing only one front tire. This is BS. THIS MEANS WAR !

I wasn't about to lose this battle.  Today, I bought an electric impact wrench($50) and a breaker with a short extension and a 17mm socket. ($50).

I did the other three wheels tonight in less time than it took me to do the one front one the other night. I only used the impact wrench, so I still have me a new breaker bar to try out on something 😊.

Now it's time to eat some bratwurst and sauerkraut and drink a hock beer. (6,8% alc)

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Now you need some anti-seize and a torque wrench.

[Muzz]

Tom, I have a DeWalt 18v impact driver. It has the hex drive for the screwdriver bits but I have the set of male hex to male 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2" drives. With wrists not being all that crash hot I find this thing is a real boon. It does things up to about the equivalent of a good heave with a strong bar, and for wheels it is just brilliant. I use it all the time and throw it in the car if we go away in case we want to remove a wheel.

Most tire shops use them, and they tend to do them up too tight to be undone with the (usually supplied) wheel brace.

[not-fishing]

I use an old cross style lug wrench that I've had since the '70's and a 3 foot piece of pipe I put over my breaker bar.

For torque I stand on the plane breaker bar handle until it "squeaks".    of course the "torque" is a little higher now

Mark      mandatory suspender snap

[Lannis]

Most tire shops use them, and they tend to do them up too tight to be undone with the (usually supplied) wheel brace.

I use two tire shops for my car tires, and both of them use torque wrenches to put the lug nuts back on.

I think that most places are realizing that they not only have a liability issue, but they make people mad when spares have to be put on, when they put the lug nuts back on with a shaved ape jumping on a breaker bar or hammering away with a 120 psi air wrench ...

Lannis

[azguzzirep]

I've been changing my own tires since I'm 16 years old!

But these suckers were STUCK. They aren't lug nuts but bolts that screw through the wheel and into the hub.

Yes, I need to put on some anti seaze. I wonder how you say it in German 😊

[Zoom Zoom]

Generally it is somewhere close to 90 Lb/Ft of torque on the lug nuts. Over tightening may cause the rotor to warp. Things are much thinner and lighter these days when compared to their yesteryear counterpart. I believe many rotors are also composite as well. Impact drivers and reefing on a cheater bar is not a good thing when tightening.

John Henry

[Lannis]

Generally it is somewhere close to 90 Lb/Ft of torque on the lug nuts. Over tightening may cause the rotor to warp. Things are much thinner and lighter these days when compared to their yesteryear counterpart. I believe many rotors are also composite as well. Impact drivers and reefing on a cheater bar is not a good thing when tightening.

John Henry

While we're on the subject, does anyone believe what they see in this video here, the one about dripping candle wax onto a frozen lug nut and it spins right off?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFdFsfSAuyc

Lannis

[azguzzirep]

Since my car has screws and not lug nuts, there would be no way for the wax to wick itself onto/into the threads. So whether it works or not, it wouldn't help in my case.

But it's on the internet so it has to be true😉!

[Lannis]

Change my winter tires for my summer tires on my VW Gulf!

Just had 4 new tires balanced and installed on my '90 Festiva (and tightened on with a torque wrench to 85 ft-lb, a lot for a little car but just a good hard pull on a 16" wrench handle.    $198 all told.

I can't buy one decent tire for the Outback for that ....

Lannis

Lannis

[Muzz]

But these suckers were STUCK. They aren't lug nuts but bolts that screw through the wheel and into the hub.

Tom, a couple of the Peugeots we had had those. I found a wipe of grease under the taper of the nut part that seats in the rim used to help when the time came for the wheel to be removed. The 404 only had 3 studs and I think the slight fretting made the imperfections on the taper to act like a schnoor washer after a while.

[Muzz]

$198 all told. I can't buy one decent tire for the Outback for that ....

Lannis

A tire for the Nissan Mistral is about the same. They came with two tire sizes and ours has the big expensive ones.

[Lannis]

A tire for the Nissan Mistral is about the same. They came with two tire sizes and ours has the big expensive ones.

Tires $49 each, gets 43 MPG on 87 octane, cruises at 70 MPH, my last one went 275,000 miles and still running when I sold it ... I'm safe in saying that they don't make cars like this anymore.   For better or worse, they just don't.   So I'm glad I've got this one.   And as a motorcycle rider, I know that riding in this with a shoulder harness is like riding in a tank compared to riding a motorcycle, so it pushes all my buttons for a car ...

Lannis

[not-fishing]

I've been changing my own tires since I'm 16 years old!

But these suckers were STUCK. They aren't lug nuts but bolts that screw through the wheel and into the hub.

Yes, I need to put on some anti seaze. I wonder how you say it in German 😊

I have a way to take the wheels off that I've used in the past ('70's) but you'll have to buy a set of tires and hubs after you've pulled the lugs through the hubs.  it entails a lot of drifting "Dukes of Hazzard" style     

I'd first try a penetrant Acetone and ATF 50/50 overnight.  It did wonders on my Lemans fuel injector screw.