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Comment by Etheryte | Hacker News Reader

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, why did you need to disengage the parking brake? You can change a wheel with the brake on, in fact I don't think I've ever done it with the brake off?

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The oldschool way of installing wheels is not hammering them down with a pneumatic impact wrench in 5 seconds and calling it a day, but rather tightening each screw slightly and incrementally in an X pattern while slowly rotating the wheel, so as to make it seat as centered as possible (a questionable point, the hub should center it regardless) and without unnecessary remaining stresses (a valid point), and only then tightening with the full recommended torque.

I'm all for the careful oldschool way.

I do the incremental X pattern, but never thought to rotate the wheel while doing it.

The rationale is that it kind of applies radial forces in varying directions when you rotate the wheel, and if there's any tiny slack between the hub and the wheel, helps make that slack 100% concentric while the wheel is still able to slide against the hub.

But honestly I do that simply for the peace of mind :) A soothing personal idiosyncrasy inherited from my dad.

I never saw a guy turn the wheel, it doesn't make sense. Wheel is mated to rotor, any misalignment of rotor to the rest of the assembly doesn't matter.

Most people doing the right thing use a torque limiter to "gun" the wheel on and then set final torque with the tires just touching the ground (for friction) which is totally adequate.

The thing people might forget is to clear the corrosion off of the wheel and hub which can be a problem if it breaks away as you drive.

You know, I have no idea. Maybe he was trying to hunt for the hole before deciding to swap it (they often do the rubber plug thing here for minor punctures)

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