Got some newbie questions. I'm going to buy winter tires and I'm planning to change them out myself. Never done this before, but from what I understand, since the tires come with the wheels balanced and mounted from Tire Rack, all I have to worry about is changing them out twice a year, right?
So to change them out, I got the Craftsman 2 1/4 ton floor jack (on sale for $30 from Sears). Contrary to what some other people were saying, it fit under my ZHP with no problems whatsoever. I'm not sure where to position it, though. I guess that's what the manual is for, but if some kind soul wishes to help me out, I'd be appreciative.
Okay, so the process is: stick jack under car, lift the car, maybe put some jackstands underneath (since they don't seem completely necessary, I decided against purchasing them until I start changing my own oil), use a 17mm socket lug wrench (I bought a metal four-prong Craftsman metric lug wrench with 17, 19, 21, and 22mm sockets for $10 from Sears) to take the lug bolts off. Do I need to take them off in a star pattern, or is that not necessary? BTW, I have the BMW wheel locks, but are they supposed to come with instructions on how to mount/dismount them? Or is it pretty intuitive how to do that? (I haven't looked at them yet.)
Then I take the Tire Rack wheel/tire, stick it on, (I read that some Leather Z wheel pin thing is supposed to make that easier? I'll probably wait to buy that until I decide I really need it, even though it would bring me to within one piece of a complete toolkit...), and use the lug wrench to tighten the bolts in a star pattern. Oh, I can use the BMW wheel locks on the winter tires, right?
Finally, I read that I'm supposed to lower the car and then use a torque wrench to make sure the bolts are torqued properly at 88 N-m?
Assuming all that is right, let me ask this: I've always heard that when you mount tires manually, you can just tighten the bolts using a wrench and then, when you've tightened them, just give one more twist and you're set. In fact, when I've seen the roadside service people change tires, they just jack it up, use an electric tool to undo the bolts, mount the tire, and then screw the bolts back in. No torque checking or anything...
Last question: do I need to get a separate lug wrench and torque wrench? Does a torque wrench double up? Should I return the cross-shaped lug wrench I got from Sears?
TVMIA.
So to change them out, I got the Craftsman 2 1/4 ton floor jack (on sale for $30 from Sears). Contrary to what some other people were saying, it fit under my ZHP with no problems whatsoever. I'm not sure where to position it, though. I guess that's what the manual is for, but if some kind soul wishes to help me out, I'd be appreciative.
Okay, so the process is: stick jack under car, lift the car, maybe put some jackstands underneath (since they don't seem completely necessary, I decided against purchasing them until I start changing my own oil), use a 17mm socket lug wrench (I bought a metal four-prong Craftsman metric lug wrench with 17, 19, 21, and 22mm sockets for $10 from Sears) to take the lug bolts off. Do I need to take them off in a star pattern, or is that not necessary? BTW, I have the BMW wheel locks, but are they supposed to come with instructions on how to mount/dismount them? Or is it pretty intuitive how to do that? (I haven't looked at them yet.)
Then I take the Tire Rack wheel/tire, stick it on, (I read that some Leather Z wheel pin thing is supposed to make that easier? I'll probably wait to buy that until I decide I really need it, even though it would bring me to within one piece of a complete toolkit...), and use the lug wrench to tighten the bolts in a star pattern. Oh, I can use the BMW wheel locks on the winter tires, right?
Finally, I read that I'm supposed to lower the car and then use a torque wrench to make sure the bolts are torqued properly at 88 N-m?
Assuming all that is right, let me ask this: I've always heard that when you mount tires manually, you can just tighten the bolts using a wrench and then, when you've tightened them, just give one more twist and you're set. In fact, when I've seen the roadside service people change tires, they just jack it up, use an electric tool to undo the bolts, mount the tire, and then screw the bolts back in. No torque checking or anything...
Last question: do I need to get a separate lug wrench and torque wrench? Does a torque wrench double up? Should I return the cross-shaped lug wrench I got from Sears?
TVMIA.