Help with swapping wheel & tire set... (first time - basic question)

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Oct 22, 1999 | 09:48 AM

K.L.

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Help with swapping wheel & tire set... (first time - basic question)

Hi, as you can tell, I am new at this. I was wondering if it is really hard for someone with no experience (ME) to swap a set of OEM 16" sports wheels with SP 8000E that I currently have on my 99.5 1.8T QTipS with a set of 15" steel wheels with snow tires. I wanted to order the steel wheels and snow tires online and have them shipped to me in Toronto. But just don't know if is a pain to change all 4 myself. I think the Tirerack people can help me out with finding a good set of wheels that fit, however, so much is said about wheel nut torque pressure (?) and stuff like that which I have no clue about. How do I know if is tight enough or not and within specs.? Can anyone help me out, I know this probably sounds like a stupid question, but I am trying... On another note, if I do take it outside to get it put on, how much do you think would be a reasonable labor charge? Thanks in advance.

Oct 22, 1999 | 02:11 PM

robfox

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some suggestions

If you will be swapping every season, I would recommend buying a nice car jack. I would not recommend using the emergency jack to change 4 wheels twice a year.

So, if you have a good jack and a little bit of room, do it yourself! Bringing it somewhere else might cost $20-$30 (US) but it is not worth it.

Either buy a torque wrench to get the lugs exactly the right tightness, or just do it "pretty" tight. You kind of get a feel for the right tightness after several times swapping back and forth.

I think there is a good article on this at tirerack's web site, about how to go about tightening and such.

If you can't find more info, I or some other people here can help some more.<ul><li><a href="www.tirerack.com">The TireRack</a></li></ul>