Swapping all four wheels. A DYI guide.

I've written successful the past astir however we successful Sweden (and different countries with colder climes) are expected to alteration from wintertime to summertime tires and vice-versa, doubly a year present (Switching from wintertime to summertime tyres)

December 1st is the hard deadline to alteration to wintertime tires but if wintertime conditions get sooner than that, we are obligated to marque the tyre alteration earlier. In the past, I've near the task of changing the tires to assorted tyre changing stations that outpouring up erstwhile it's clip to swap tires. This clip however, I decided to bash it each myself, arsenic I was already doing rather a spot of enactment successful lugging the wheels retired of my storage, loading them onto the car, paying a steep interest for the tyre swap lone to person to cart the wheels backmost location wherever I'd person to instrumentality them to storage. If I did the changing myself, I'd lone person the other task of changing the wheels myself, but would prevention myself astir 5K INR arsenic compensation for tthe further labor, I thought.

Additional purchases/expenses

A close occupation of changing the wheels would mean torquing the wheelnuts to spec, which according to the manufacturer's instructions was 120 Nm. The tyre changing unit person torque wrenches but besides cognize very, precise good by acquisition conscionable however overmuch to torque. Since I didn't person this experience, a torque wrench would beryllium a indispensable for maine to get it right. A decent torque wrench that would bash the occupation would acceptable maine backmost by the precise aforesaid 5k INR that I'd prevention by doing the instrumentality swap connected my own, but hey, this would beryllium a one-time disbursal and the torque wrench would beryllium successful my postulation of tools for a agelong clip to come, truthful I went up and bought it.

D-Day.

When I checked the upwind study for the week up connected Sunday, the 17th of November, I saw that the temperatures were acceptable to spell sub-zero from Monday itself, and how! An amber alert for a snowfall tempest had been issued for Wednesday! Unless I changed the wheels close away, my car would beryllium amerciable connected the roadworthy and determination are a batch of random checks by constabulary to guarantee that radical are successful compliance, arsenic they don't privation to spot a spate of accidents caused by radical who've been excessively lazy to alteration tires connected time.

The plan

Since I'd ne'er done this before, I made a program for the series successful which I'd spell astir it. I'd already identified the jack points connected my car and knew what to bash to debar harm to the car. The program past was similar this

1. Loosen the wheelnuts by a 4th crook oregon truthful earlier jacking up the tires, to forestall unnecessary rocking of the car portion jacked up.
2. Fetch the wintertime tires from the storage, cheque the tread depths with the extent checking tool, and treble cheque the rotating absorption to guarantee that rights and lefts don't get mixed up.
3. Note the tread depths, usage a chalk to people the wheels their intended placements. The amended tires spell onto the backmost axle; this is simply a best-practice for information for each kinds of cars irrespective of whether their are beforehand oregon backwheel driven (or AWD).
4. Jack up the car utilizing the close jack points.
5. Undo each bolts, including the peculiar anti-theft bolt utilizing the peculiar remover caput provided by the manufacturer.
6. Get the instrumentality off, enactment the presumption it came disconnected from, and enactment its tread extent for the records.
7. Clean up the disk and surroundings of dust/rust particles.
8. Get the replacement instrumentality successful place.
9. Bolt and tighten successful a cross-pattern, i.e acceptable successful a bolt and fractional tighten it, instal past the bolt that's diagonally other and bash the same. Get each bolts successful spot successful a akin pattern.
10. Use the torque wrench to torque the bolts to astir 3/4th of the desired value, successful my case, this would beryllium 80 Nm, and travel th aforesaid transverse pattern.
11. Use the torque wrench to torque the bolts to astir 3/4th of the desired value, successful my case, this would beryllium 80 Nm, and travel th aforesaid transverse pattern.
12. Torque the bolts up to spec (120 Nm).
13. Lower the car, repetition for the remaining wheels.
14. Once each the wheels were changed, usage the compressor to pump successful aerial into the tires and cheque and set the unit with the high-precision Topeak integer unit guage. 2.5 barroom for the beforehand tires and 2.6 for the ones successful the rear.
15. Set the TPMS noting that each pressures were arsenic they should be.

The execution

The wheelnuts were the archetypal challenge. They were stubbornly tight; my guess? They'd been overtightened by the 'experts'. When I realized that my arms were not beardown capable to marque the bolts budge, I angled the wheelnut remover parallel to the ground, and stepped connected it and drove down steadily, applying adjacent and expanding unit with my foot, till the instrumentality went down with a clunk. This did the trick, oregon astatine slightest for astir of the bolts. Two bolts were inactive refusing to budge, and I had to backmost the car a fewer meters to alteration the space connected the nuts, truthful I got a amended presumption with the tool, and that did it, but boy, the muscles successful my limb were screaming successful protestation erstwhile I was done!

With the archetypal wheel, I realized erstwhile trying to undo the bolt nearest to the crushed that I'd not jacked the car precocious enough, arsenic the instrumentality would onslaught the ground. The extremity portion jacking up is truthful this; jack it up capable truthful that your instrumentality doesn't onslaught the crushed adjacent erstwhile loosening/tightening the bolt closest to the ground. Another extremity is to ever guarantee that nary portion of your assemblage is ever nether the vehicle, to forestall immoderate unfortunate mishaps if thing happens to the jack, causing the car to travel down. The bolts came distant and the instrumentality did too, without overmuch ado, but the wintertime tyre was overmuch heavier than the instrumentality that'd conscionable travel off, and I grunted successful discomfort arsenic I tried it vain to cheque that the holes lined up. I needed 1 manus and a ft to clasp the dense instrumentality successful spot portion the different escaped manus held the wheelspanner. I enactment down the instrumentality and rang an SOS telephone to my wife, asking her to bring maine my helmet-lamp, truthful I could spot with small effort. This is my 3rd extremity to those of you who've not changed wheels earlier but request to; either bash it successful cleanable lighting conditions, oregon other person a almighty helmet camera, truthful your hands are escaped to bash different worldly portion you get your operating country lit up. The remainder went precisely to plan. I didn't clip my archetypal instrumentality change, but I took lesser and lesser clip for each change. I timed myself for wheels 3 and 4, and they took 25 minutes and 19 minutes respectively. I should beryllium capable to bring this down to astir 15 minutes per instrumentality without excessively overmuch trouble and without the request to chopped immoderate of my checklist items. It should truthful instrumentality an hr to really alteration the wheels, but further clip is needed to cheque and acceptable the tyre pressures, fetch the wheels from the retention and to regenerate them aft the occupation is done. All successful all, it should beryllium doable wrong 2.5 hours is my guess.
My last tip? Buy a acceptable of work-overalls. They support you lukewarm adjacent successful a acold basement and tin beryllium utilized supra different apparel if moving extracurricular successful the cold. They person loads of pockets and slots for tools, and you don't person to worrry astir getting your apparel soiled nary substance what you do.