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[mikepinkerton]

Ok, so let's say that I decide to take the plunge and get a set of winter tires and rims ($$$$ ouch!). I wouldn't really feel right having my local tire place store them, so I'd keep them in my garage.

So what do people do when they need to put on the winter rims? Do you cram them in the car and drive to the local tire place or do you put them on yourselves? Is there a reason why you wouldn't want to do it yourself, besides being a pain and having to go buy a jack?

Curious.
-Mike

[Mark]

do it yourself, its so simple, why pay anyone else to do it ? Just make sure you put them on tight

If you've never changed a wheel before, you may want to read on how to do it first, its very simple, but if you've never done it you may miss something that would make your life easier.

Just a quick run down on what to do:

1) Get yourself a jack, also a wrench/breaker bar will make your life 10x easier.. These wrenches made for cars are long with a nice grip, it GREATLY reduces the amount of strength needed to loosen/tighten the lugs.

2) While car is on the ground, loosen all 5 lugs (dont take them out, just loosen them!). The reason for doing this, is that they are held on real tight, and you don't want to be banging on a wrench while the car is off the ground.

3) Now, raise the car off the ground with the jack, the wheel should not be on the ground at all.

4) Now fully remove the lugs, be careful as the wheel will fall off the hub easily.

5) Take the wheel off the car.

6) Inspect the hub and make sure there is no extra rust or residue.. give it a quick wipe and try to make the surface even and clean. (there will likely be rust and discolorization)

7) Put the new wheel on and put in 2 lugs at opposite sides of the wheels. Make sure you put them at opposite sides and tighten them up fairly tight. Make sure that as you are tightening the lugs, the wheel stays perfectly flat on the hub surface. Sometimes when tightening the wheel can jar in at a certain angle which would be very bad. So after you tighten the 2 lugs, spin the wheel to make sure it looks even against the hub at all points (360degrees)

9) Put on the rest of the lugs in the same fashion (going from opposite sides), make them all semi-tight.

10) Lower the car to the ground.

11) Now fully tighten the lugs, I believe BMW spec is around 88-90 ft-lbs of torque

[mikepinkerton]

Awesome, thanks. I noticed the manual has a diagram of jacking points, are they easy to find on the car? Obviously I don't have a bmw so I can't go check myself

How does one gauge torque on the lugs? I assume I shouldn't use a drill fitting as that might overtighten?

-Mike

[Mark]

Originally Posted by mikepinkerton

Awesome, thanks. I noticed the manual has a diagram of jacking points, are they easy to find on the car? Obviously I don't have a bmw so I can't go check myself

How does one gauge torque on the lugs? I assume I shouldn't use a drill fitting as that might overtighten?

-Mike

yea you cant miss them, they are giant plastic blocks sitting under the sideskirts

as for torque on lugs, theres a special wrench called a torque wrench which has a little meter so you can select exactly how much torque you want applied.

[English e91]

hi, but over here in the UK the cars do not come with a spare wheel or jack to raise the car off thbe ground... do yours ?

[KL2DC]

I believe all e90s do not come with provision for spare tire / jack due to BMWs fascination with RFTs but you can get purchase a BMW jack set from your dealer, a search will net you the appropriate p/n.

[trick50]

Originally Posted by MarkE90M3

do it yourself, its so simple, why pay anyone else to do it ? Just make sure you put them on tight

If you've never changed a wheel before, you may want to read on how to do it first, its very simple, but if you've never done it you may miss something that would make your life easier.

Just a quick run down on what to do:

1) Get yourself a jack, also a wrench/breaker bar will make your life 10x easier.. These wrenches made for cars are long with a nice grip, it GREATLY reduces the amount of strength needed to loosen/tighten the lugs.

2) While car is on the ground, loosen all 5 lugs (dont take them out, just loosen them!). The reason for doing this, is that they are held on real tight, and you don't want to be banging on a wrench while the car is off the ground.

3) Now, raise the car off the ground with the jack, the wheel should not be on the ground at all.

4) Now fully remove the lugs, be careful as the wheel will fall off the hub easily.

5) Take the wheel off the car.

6) Inspect the hub and make sure there is no extra rust or residue.. give it a quick wipe and try to make the surface even and clean. (there will likely be rust and discolorization)

7) Put the new wheel on and put in 2 lugs at opposite sides of the wheels. Make sure you put them at opposite sides and tighten them up fairly tight. Make sure that as you are tightening the lugs, the wheel stays perfectly flat on the hub surface. Sometimes when tightening the wheel can jar in at a certain angle which would be very bad. So after you tighten the 2 lugs, spin the wheel to make sure it looks even against the hub at all points (360degrees)

9) Put on the rest of the lugs in the same fashion (going from opposite sides), make them all semi-tight.

10) Lower the car to the ground.

11) Now fully tighten the lugs, I believe BMW spec is around 88-90 ft-lbs of torque

Suggestions:

If you are doing a DIY about changing a "wheel" which is a fairly simple DIY (basic automotive knowledge) wouldn't it be a good idea to show/tell how to jack up the car? Where is the best jacking point? Jacking up the rear; use the jack pads or jack it right up from the rear diff? The only reason I recomend this is that if someone is replying on this DIY to change a wheel/tire and they do not know the basics of changing a tire which you basically summed up, then they probably DO NOT know how to jack a car up properly.

Just a thought.

[Jaws]

This thread is from May of 2006. There have been many discussions since then regarding jack points.

[JLL325ci]

Buy a small jack at Sears for $20

[Kiss335i]

I but a jack from Wall Mart, 20 $, but the clearance of the front wheels was 1/2 inch to short for the jack, so I just drive the car's front wheels overs 2 smalls wood tablets to raise up the car and be able to slide the jack under the front jacks pads. Then it was very easy to change my summer wheels for the the winter wheels.

[monkeyboy]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread.... but as a newbie, it seemed apropos...

I had the chance to (try to) remove a rear wheel the first time (as a part of the alarm install) on my newly acquired 2007 328xi. However, after I removed all the lugs, the wheel+tire still would not budge or come off. I then removed the plastic BMW cap and found inside the cap, the mount fitting was surprisingly rusted (given that the rest of the car appears to be in pristine condition). My questions are:

1) have I forgotten something ? why didn't the wheel come off easily ? (the rust perhaps?)

2) is it normal to have so much rust underneath that plastic wheel cap ? for a 2007 328xi that otherwise looks news ?

thx

[Orient330iNYC]

Originally Posted by monkeyboy

Sorry to resurrect this old thread.... but as a newbie, it seemed apropos...

I had the chance to (try to) remove a rear wheel the first time (as a part of the alarm install) on my newly acquired 2007 328xi. However, after I removed all the lugs, the wheel+tire still would not budge or come off. I then removed the plastic BMW cap and found inside the cap, the mount fitting was surprisingly rusted (given that the rest of the car appears to be in pristine condition). My questions are:

1) have I forgotten something ? why didn't the wheel come off easily ? (the rust perhaps?)

2) is it normal to have so much rust underneath that plastic wheel cap ? for a 2007 328xi that otherwise looks news ?

thx

galvanic corrosion between the aluminum wheel and steel hub. normal especially when they use salt on the roads in the winter...


aluminum oxide is fluffy, white, and will "weld" the rim to the hub.

use to pb blaster and spray the junction between the hub and wheel. let it sit. take a deadblow mallet and start tapping around the circumfrence of the tire. apply more penetrating oil. let sit. more tapping. eventually it will pop loose.

to keep it from happening in the future, clean both the hub and the wheel bore with a wire brush, and then apply a coat of either copper antiseize or high temp grease to both the hub and the wheel bore.