Wheelbraces

BrianD3

The wheelbraces supplied with most cars these days are pathetic yokes. They are just about sufficient for opening properly torqued wheel nuts - but how many tyre fitters torque up wheel nuts properly? Most just give the nuts a blast with a pneumatic wrench.

I freely admit that I have major difficulty opening my cars wheelnuts with the standard brace. And it's not as if I'm some weakling (I do heavy weight training several times per week) So I went and bought a 24 inch breaker bar + 19 mm deep socket in Halfords. This thing is a joy to use, it makes mincemeat of even the tightest wheel nuts. It's better and more solid than those extendable wheel braces that are on the market although they are OK too.

I used to use a "spider" type brace with a length of heavy pipe for extra leverage. Did the job quite well too.

What sort of wheelbrace do people here use.

BrianD3

lomb

BrianD3 wrote:

The wheelbraces supplied with most cars these days are pathetic yokes. They are just about sufficient for opening properly torqued wheel nuts - but how many tyre fitters torque up wheel nuts properly? Most just give the nuts a blast with a pneumatic wrench.

I freely admit that I have major difficulty opening my cars wheelnuts with the standard brace. And it's not as if I'm some weakling (I do heavy weight training several times per week) So I went and bought a 24 inch breaker bar + 19 mm deep socket in Halfords. This thing is a joy to use, it makes mincemeat of even the tightest wheel nuts. It's better and more solid than those extendable wheel braces that are on the market although they are OK too.

I used to use a "spider" type brace with a length of heavy pipe for extra leverage. Did the job quite well too.

What sort of wheelbrace do people here use.

BrianD3

my foot!
they reakon that if the nuts are on any tighter than the tightest u can get them on with a normal wheelbrace by hand you can strip the bolts ir the hub threads. i always torque them a little extra with my foot on it to be sure, but its only a rough guess.

BrianD3

Yeah I would be a bit cautious tightening the nuts with the breaker bar. It'd be easy enought to go overboard with the torque alright.

But for opening nuts - great! Say you get a puncture on some dirty, wet, dark country road. The last thing you want to be doing is messing with a small useless wheelbrace where you're kicking/jumping on it to get the nuts to budge. In contrast, with a long wheelbrace opening nuts can be done quickly and easily with one hand.

BrianD3

Silvera

BrianD3 wrote:

Say you get a puncture on some dirty, wet, dark country road.

I always carry a can of tyre weld for just such an occassion !

Otherwise it's my standard (Honda) wheel brace and 'foot' job

Seth Brundle

Silvera wrote:

I always carry a can of tyre weld for just such an occassion !

Correct me if Im wrong but don't many tyre centres refuse to repair punctures on tyres if they have this stuff in them?

fletch

Yeh the standard brace that comes with my car is a joke....had to go out & buy a spider brace to get the wheels off.....also got a nice torque wrench & 19mm socket to tighten them to the correct setting....
About the stuff in a can that repairs puntures....I also heard that once you use the stuff....the tyre has to be replaced? Is this true? Cause that would be one expensive puncture with most tyres costing at least €70 these days

AMurphy

BrianD3 wrote:

The wheelbraces supplied with most cars these days are pathetic yokes. .....
So I went and bought a 24 inch breaker bar + 19 mm deep socket in Halfords. This thing is a joy to use, it makes mincemeat of even the tightest wheel nuts. It's better and more solid than those extendable wheel braces that are on the market although they are OK too.

....

BrianD3

Teh one in the Toyota is fine for the job. However the van OEM eq is a soft tube, which I have replaced with an item I found in the local store.
It is a bit like your setup. It has an interesting double socket, 19 & 21mm with the 1/2" square drive between the two. The braker bar is 1/2" rod affair in a "L" configuration, the short ~2" end goes into the dbl socket and the other leg, ~12" has incorporated a tube which slides out to about 22" total length. (unfortunately this is a no-name tool so I cannot locate a picture of it for you.)
Nice thing is it tuck away neatly in teh OEM tool kit, yet is quiet long when required.

However, no matter what the great features of the tool, they are useless if not applied in an intellegent manner.
Major problems I have seen there are, raising the wheel before loosening the
nuts. Trying to loosen the nuts with the lever vertical.
Bouncing on the lever. (this tends to work the socket off the nut and round off some corners)

If you have a mechanically challenged co-pilot, might be worthwhile to insure they know how to use any of these tools.

That includes inflating the minature spare tyre on some newer models.

Seth Brundle

BrianD3 wrote:

but how many tyre fitters torque up wheel nuts properly? Most just give the nuts a blast with a pneumatic wrench.

I would never let one of these monkeys touch my wheels (alloy) with a pneumatic wrench!

BrianD3

I've noticed that wheelbolts tend to be harder to loosen than wheel nuts. And obviously it's handier to mount a wheel held on with nuts as there's no problem lining up the wheel with the hub unlike with bolts where you have to line up the holes for the bolts. Pain in the ass if it's dark and raining and the wheel is heavy and you have no torch

I've also noticed that alloy wheel nuts/bolts are harder to loosen than those on steel wheels.

My previouss posts were a bit inaccurate should have used the word bolts instead of nuts. I have never owned a car with wheel nuts.

BrianD3

comanche

Manufacturer's ones are a joke - two have snapped in my hands in the last few years. One when helping an elderly taxi driver fix a puncture on new years eve (save by another taxi drive with a cross wheel brace a four foot piece of plumbing) and the other a few weeks back on a renault megane. They are a joke of the highest order!

Scruff

Arrrgh an Avatar Thief!!

back on topic. Should i get a special torque wrench type thing for the lock nuts on my new alloys? Heard the threads can go on the nuts pretty easy.

TKK

I had a case lately when I had a puncture that I got the wheelbolts off no problem (but then again I've been known to take lorry wheelnuts off with a wheelbrace with only a metre long handle) but getting the wheel off the hub required a large hammer, block of timber and much heavy beating...it's a good job the puncture happened at home...

BrianD3

TKK wrote:

I had a case lately when I had a puncture that I got the wheelbolts off no problem (but then again I've been known to take lorry wheelnuts off with a wheelbrace with only a metre long handle) but getting the wheel off the hub required a large hammer, block of timber and much heavy beating...it's a good job the puncture happened at home...

If the wheel is sticking to the hub, loosen the nuts a bit (not too much!) and drive around for a while. The wheel will wobble a bit and will certainly unstick from the hub. Thanks to AMurphy for this tip

BrianD3

TKK

BrianD3 wrote:

If the wheel is sticking to the hub, loosen the nuts a bit (not too much!) and drive around for a while. The wheel will wobble a bit and will certainly unstick from the hub. Thanks to AMurphy for this tip

BrianD3

A good idea but at the time my wheel was completely flat so I'd have done more damage than good...I think it's a problem with alloys from what the tyreman said...

Seth Brundle

you will know when it has come unstuck when you can see sparks coming from ythat corner as the brake disc/drum scrapes the ground

TKK

Lol

BrianD3

IME wheel bolts have to be very loose before the wheel will fall off. I know because I accidentally drove 40 miles with all 4 bolts on one wheel loose enough to unscrew by hand :eek: I kept hearing a kind of rumbling/flat tyre noise while driving along and stopped a couple of times to check it. Didn't think of checking wheel bolts until after I'd checked the tyre, wheel, CV joint boots etc. Learned me lesson

BrianD3

lomb

BrianD3 wrote:

IME wheel bolts have to be very loose before the wheel will fall off. I know because I accidentally drove 40 miles with all 4 bolts on one wheel loose enough to unscrew by hand :eek: I kept hearing a kind of rumbling/flat tyre noise while driving along and stopped a couple of times to check it. Didn't think of checking wheel bolts until after I'd checked the tyre, wheel, CV joint boots etc. Learned me lesson

BrianD3

yeah i experianced this too although only for half a mile. forgot to tighten the bolts :eek:

Scruff

Scruff wrote:

Should i get a special torque wrench type thing for the lock nuts on my new alloys? Heard the threads can go on the nuts pretty easy.

*bump*
anyone?

Seth Brundle

Alloy wheels should *always* be tightened to the exact torque specified by the manufacturer. Therefore a torque wrench is a must!

AMurphy

If you work on your specific vehicle enough, you can get very close to the right torque just by feel and that's more than adequet for roadside repairs. the important thing is not to overtighten and strip.

A former co-worker was telling me of her incident, when she went to collect her car from a tyre installer place, backed out and the wheel fell off inthe forecort. Now that is professioinal grade.

Some time back I stopped to help someone parked dangerously close to the highway edge, trying to change a wheel. I noticed them when running an errant and >30 min later they were still there working on it when I was returning.
She had stopped right on the lane edge just feeet away from passing 18 wheelers, etc, while there was 20 feet inside her. So first item, she move the vehicle to a safer location. However, I failed to notice she had removed all 4 nuts and no sign of a jack under the vehicle. Hopped in and drove about 6ft. when off comes wheel. Sheet. Now I have to park my own vehicle behind and outside so it got hit before I did. Anyway, managed to get her out of there in a few minutes, fortunately with no damage to the wing metal.
Whenever or if ever I have a flat about here, I drive very slowly along the shoulder to the next exit and change it there.

On sticking/rusted on wheels.
Get in the habit of putting a film of grease on the metal contact zones. it will not get in the brakes, etc..