Winter Wheels swap over - Dunfermline recommendations

[BeillyNoy]

Morning
It's time to put the Winter tyres onto my car.
I have a set of winter tyres already mounted on wheels (I used them last year) so am looking to swap them over for the standard wheels/tyres currently on the car. Should be a really simple job, but I have tyre pressure sensors on the current wheels (not sure about the winter set). Not sure if that complicates matters. Oh, and its a Saab if that matters.

I was planning to go to the local KF this weekend but thought I'd check in case anyone has a strong recommendation for elsewhere (and indicative price)?

Thanks
Neil

[acowan84]

Hey I've used fife auto center a lot and never had an issue. They are behind KF on halbeath road.

[mrmr96]

Surely you can manage this yourself? Jack up the car one corner at a time, unbolt the old one and bolt on the new one?
Don't worry about the pressure sensors. HTH

[monthefish]

mrmr96 said:

Surely you can manage this yourself? Jack up the car one corner at a time, unbolt the old one and bolt on the new one?
Don't worry about the pressure sensors. HTH

^^^this.

Can be done quite quickly if you have a decent trolley jack, a wheel brace (so you can 'spin' it when undoing/doing up the wheel nuts) and a torque wrench. (but remember to loosen the nuts on thw wheel you're about to do very slightly before jacking the car up).


Pressure sensors should be fine, because you will have checked/adjusted your pressures after the wheels being in storage for so long.

[mrmr96]

Besides which, if the garage charges say £20-30 to do it for you (will be about 20min work, less with better tools) you'll pay the same in spring. So £40-60 you've spent on this service will go a long way towards buying yourself a trolley jack and torque wrench and a socket if you don't have them already.

[BeillyNoy]

mrmr96 said:

Besides which, if the garage charges say £20-30 to do it for you (will be about 20min work, less with better tools) you'll pay the same in spring. So £40-60 you've spent on this service will go a long way towards buying yourself a trolley jack and torque wrench and a socket if you don't have them already.

Thanks for the suggestion. I was unconvinced when I saw your first post suggesting that I do it myself (no tools and a DIY dimwit), but when put into cost terms it does seem more persuasive. And I might even get to use them on the TVR at some point....
Food for thought.

Now to find a trolley jack supplier so I can work out if its possible for this weekend.....

Thanks.
Neil.

[mrmr96]

Halfords, pretty much all you need £59, plus a creeper as a bonus. You may need to get a torque wrench if you don't have one already.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

[BeillyNoy]

Thanks.
May need to check if that trolley jack will fit under the other car (it's very low), but certainly food for thought... Looks like a trip to Halfords is on the cards.

N.

[monthefish]

BeillyNoy said:

Thanks.
May need to check if that trolley jack will fit under the other car (it's very low),

Mines the same (trolley jack won't fit underneath).
Just reverse the car onto some blocks of wood.

[mrmr96]

monthefish said:

BeillyNoy said:

Thanks.
May need to check if that trolley jack will fit under the other car (it's very low),

Mines the same (trolley jack won't fit underneath).
Just reverse the car onto some blocks of wood.

Indeed, that jack is pretty basic to be fair. You can get lower entry ones but they'll cost more. However as Mon points out, the cheap answer is to drive up onto wood to lift the wheels a bit to give you clearance. Be sure to lower the car back onto the boards too, else you won't be able to get it off the jack!

Good on you for looking at giving it a go. The only technical thing is making sure you do the nuts up to the correct torque setting. The car's handbook will tell you the setting (either in Nm or LbFt) and you just set the torque wrench to that (using the corresponding scale of Nm or LbFt) and that's about it.

Other stuff:
1, slack the bolts a quarter turn whilst the wheel is on the ground and handbrake on (but the weight is on the jack)
2, when the car is up, spin off the nuts. You may need a rubber mallet to loosen the wheel if it's been on a while. If you have to get physical with it, make sure you don't pull the car off the jack!
3, put the new wheel on and put the nuts on with your fingers, be sure not to cross thread them
4, do the nuts up finger tight, and be sure that they're sitting centrally in the holes in the wheel
5, lower the car down (weight still on the jack, but tyre touching the ground) then torque to the final setting. You should torque the nuts in a star pattern. So if you number the bolts 1 to 5 in a circle you'd do 1, 3, 5, 2, 4.
6, finally lower the rest of the way and remove the jack

You can use axle stands whilst changing a wheel, but I consider it to be 'overkill' since I'm not going under the car and the wheel is only off for a matter of moments before the new wheel goes on. Oh yeah, and also make sure you get the jack on the jacking points, so you don't make a hole in the floor of your car!

[monthefish]

^^ good tips.

and check the nuts again after 50 miles.

(or if you're me, after 10 miles, again at 40 miles, and again at 80 miles, and then again at 100 miles just for luck.
and maybe again)

((do I have OCD I wonder??))

[GilesGuthrie]

I agree with all of the above. I bought a Halfords trolley jack in the sale for under £40. I'm "borrowing" a torque wrench at the minute (i.e. I just haven't got round to giving it back to dad!)

Only additional piece of advice is to re-torque your wheels after 20-50 miles of driving.

[BeillyNoy]

Looks like I might try MachineMart.
Low profile 2.25t trolley jack for £45 (provided it fits under the Tiv)
Torque wrench for about £20.

Lets see if I'm still up for it in the cold light of day......
Either way, thanks for all your help.

Neil.

[GoneAnon]

If you want someone to (figuratively) hold your hand while doing this I'm not too far away, but have to be in Edinburgh all day tomorrow (at the Foodies show, if anyone is interested) - should be free Sunday though.

[BeillyNoy]

Thanks for the offer GoneAnon. Very kind - one of the reasons PH is magic.

Unfortunately, now that I'm back in the house, I've just been "reminded" by the good lady wife that I only have about half a nanosecond unaccounted for this weekend. So looks like the new toy jack purchase will need to wait until the winter wheels come off. Looking on the bright side, it means I can look for a better/cheaper low profile jack and torque wrench - even if it means waiting for delivery.

Thanks again for all the great advice: I've got this thread saved in my ReadingList for springtime.

Neil

[Davie]

Not sure if you got this sorted or not chap but I'm in Dunfermline too and have a reasonable arsenal of tools/jacks/stands/plasters/tea/coffee plus a flat drive and a 1 billion watt floodlight that really annoys my neighbours, you're welcome to use and of the above or if you need to borrow a torque wrench, I have one of those too although it's at my unit but can certainly get it one evening. I've also got a Halfords Trade Card so if you're buying from there, might save you a couple of quid too.

Edited by Davie on Sunday 2nd December 19:45

[monthefish]

[mattius]

I can't recomend this trolley jack enough

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...

Its pricey but has lasted us 4 years so far still going strong, thought i needed something a bit better after a halfords one gave way at 5 years old (scary moment, but should always have an axle stand there anyway as a precaution). Its low enough to fit under my renaulsport megane, my spitfire and the old boys vette.

Only downside is its not portable. But i couldn't afford the alloy ones.

Spend some decent money on the jack don't skimp, remember your life literally could depend on it if you go underneath the car.

[F3RNANDO]

Swapped my mercedes onto its winters this afternoon - about 3 hours before the first snow here of this year - perfect

[BeillyNoy]

Davie said:

Not sure if you got this sorted or not chap but I'm in Dunfermline too and have a reasonable arsenal of tools/jacks/stands/plasters/tea/coffee plus a flat drive and a 1 billion watt floodlight that really annoys my neighbours, you're welcome to use and of the above or if you need to borrow a torque wrench, I have one of those too although it's at my unit but can certainly get it one evening. I've also got a Halfords Trade Card so if you're buying from there, might save you a couple of quid too.

Edited by Davie on Sunday 2nd December 19:45

An awesome offer. Thank you. But I needed to squeeze the wheel change into an hour on Saturday morning so had to go to a local fitter after all that.
That said, the garage didn't charge me a thing - so that's where the Saab's going for its first MoT. What a fantastic approach to take - especially as I've never been there before. I'll certainly be back.

I've decided to try the change myself in the Spring. So watch this space in a few months time.... either I'll have bought the kit (to "force" me to do it myself), or I'll be on the lookout for some help.

Again, thanks for everyone's advice / offers of help.

Neil

PS
D&G Autocare at Inverkeithing = top blokes.