The biggest mistake when changing a wheel, which is made in almost any tire shop

Every driver at least once in his life visited a tire shop: balancing or repair, seasonal “changing shoes” or replacing a damaged tire. The service is widely available, in demand, and doing it yourself is dirty and troublesome. It's easier to take "to the address." But how to choose this very address so that they help, and not harm?

With rubber, its installation and repair today there are no difficulties even in the most remote and reserved corners of Russia. Perhaps the masters will “wrinkle” their noses when they see the RunFlat tire, which allows you to continue moving after a puncture, or they will scold you for too large a disk radius. However, "hard currency" will quickly resolve this issue.

Problems at tire fitting, as a rule, begin at the moment the already assembled wheel is installed in its rightful place. Few people would guess to treat the surface with copper high-temperature grease. Caring for colleagues and the client is not the strongest side of domestic business. Forgetfulness will turn into difficulties during the subsequent uninstallation of the wheel - the disk will “stick”, efforts and some skill will be required.

But the worst flaw is the tightening of the bolts. First, the fastener must be placed in a strict order, and not as it should. For a four-bolt hub - 1-3-4-2, for a five-bolt hub - 1-4-2-5-3, for six - 1-4-5-2-3-6. And nothing else, because the wheel can stand up crooked, causing unpredictable behavior of the car on the road. By the way, you can count from any hole - it is important to follow the principle here.

Secondly, tire shops, as one, neglect the key safety element of mounting a rim on a car. The force with which nuts and bolts are screwed. For each car, this indicator is set by the manufacturer. For example, the wheel bolt tightening torque for LADA Granta is 80–90 n/m (8.15–9.17 kgf/m), and for Niva it is 62,4–77,1 n/m (6,37–7,87 kgf /m) Have you ever seen a torque wrench in the hands of a tire fitter?

According to the technology, the installation should look like this: on a car that has been jacked up in advance, the wheel is carefully installed and fastened with bolts or nuts by hand. Not with a trowel, not with a key, but with a hand, as far as nature allows. After that, with a special tool with the ability to set the limit force, tighten all the bolts in the same order in which they were “baited”.

If the rules are neglected, brushed aside or done “as taught”, then you will be surprised at the wheel flying into your neighbor along the stream, as well as unpleasant emotions when the connection “does not give in” at the most crucial moment, or, worse, the stud is unscrewed from the hub along with the nut - not worth it. And finally: the master, which gave ground for reflection, turned the nuts with a force of 16 kgf / m. In field conditions, on a dirt road, in a deep rut, out of five, only two were unscrewed. The rest "came out" along with the studs.