Snow (tire) season
The time has come to swap out your nice winter wheels for snows. Manchester Makerspace has the space and tools to make this process easy.
❅Winter is coming! While summer (or “all season”) tires are great for road grip and reduced noise in the warmer months, now is the time to swap your regular tires for winter snow tires. Winter tires are made with a softer rubber compound and tread pattern that is designed to grip snow and ice more effectively than regular tires. This can help to improve your car’s handling and braking performance in winter conditions.
❉ Winter tires or winter wheels? While some people just have one set of rims and mount the appropriate set of tires on the same rims, that can lead to premature failure (and salt damage on your nice mag wheels). You can acquire a cheap set of “steelies” to fit your vehicle, and use these with snow tires only to avoid having to mount and unmount the rubber on the wheel.
Steps to swap regular tires for winter/snow tires
- Park your car on a level surface (or in our auto bay, out of the weather)
- Engage the parking brake and put the car in gear.
- Loosen, but do not remove, all lug nuts on the currentwheel you are working on.
- Use a jack to raise the car until the tire is clear of the ground.
- Remove the lug nuts, set safely aside, and take off the wheel.
- Mount the winter tire, secure it with the lug nuts, snug them down but not fully tighten.
- Lower the car, then use a torque wrench to do the final tightening of the lug nuts, in a star pattern.
- Repeat steps 3-7 for the other three wheels.
The proper pattern for tightening lug nuts is to tighten them in a star pattern. This helps to ensure that the wheel is evenly tightened and reduces the risk of warping the rotor or brake drum. To tighten the lug nuts in a star pattern, start with the lug nut that is directly opposite the valve stem. Then, tighten the lug nut that is next to the valve stem, and so on. Continue tightening the lug nuts in a star pattern until they are all snug.
❆ Manchester Makerspace has torque wrenches for members checked out on the auto bay. A torque wrench is a tool that allows you to tighten nuts or bolts to a specific torque. This is important because over-tightening lug nuts can damage the wheel and lugs, while under-tightening lug nuts can cause the wheel to come loose. The torque specification for your car’s lug nuts can be found in the owner’s manual.
❊ Even if properly torqued, lug nuts may work loose after your first drive! To re-check the lug nuts, simply tighten them again in a star pattern (preferably using a torque wrench).
