Can you teach me more about lug bolts & related tire tools?

In article >,
Peter Hill > wrote:
> On 19-Feb-18 1:00 AM, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
> > In article >,
> > Dean Hoffman > wrote:
> >> The only British car I see in the mid USA is the Mini.
> >
> > Wot - no Range Rovers? Jaguars? Nissans?
> >

> None of which are British.

Nor is the Mini - BMW owned.

But I doubt the OP is referring to ownership, given how many US brands
ain't wholly owned by the US. I'd guess he is referring to where they are
assembled. But even then various parts can come from factories anywhere.

> Range Rover and Jaguar are now JLR and owned by Indian steel firm TATA.

> Nissan never were British, Japanese forever. Nissan built their
> reputation on British and German engineering using an American
> production system that the Americans refused to use. The OHV "A" series
> engine that powered the Cherry and Sunny though the 60's and 70's was
> derived from a licensed copy of the BMC "A" series engine (original
> Mini).

Actually first saw the light of day in 1947 in the Austin A30. Must have
been one of the longest production runs of any basic engine.


> The SOHC "L" (also bottom end of "KA" and "Z") series engines
> that powered 510/710/810/910/Violet/Bluebirds/Zeds was a licensed copy
> of a Mercedes 6 cylinder design (had 2 cylinders lopped off for 4 pot
> versions). Both had been improved to the extent that the fee was no
> longer payable.

> Yes new Q30's are being made in Sunderland, UK.

Nissan UK says the US is its second largest export market for UK assembled
models. After the EU.

--
*Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 19/02/2018 18:49, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:

>
> the EU will soon be gone, and good ****ing riddance.
>

Long live the bureaucracy of un-elected EU technocrats!

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 2/18/2018 2:40 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Feb 2018 21:29:24 -0000, Mr Pounder Esquire
> > wrote:
>
>> James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
>>> On Sun, 18 Feb 2018 21:17:55 -0000, ultred ragnusen
>>> > wrote:
>>>> *wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> No need to with those little **** ant things you blokes call cars.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> That must be why merkins are so keen to own English cars.
>>>>
>>>> I'm not sure who is trolling and who is joking as rotating and
>>>> inspecting tires is a natural thing that you do on most vehicles
>>>> simply because fronts wear differently than rears, and crowns affect
>>>> wear and alignment setup per side.
>>>> http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/...ic_balance.jpg
>>>>
>>>> Besides, rotating tires gives you a chance to doublecheck their
>>>> static balance and to inspect and remove between 50 and 100 pebbles
>>>> and shards from the carcass.
>>>> http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/18/splinter2.jpg
>>>>
>>>> With respect to the country of origin of most cars driven in
>>>> America, I'd wager that Japan has the rest of the world beat in
>>>> terms of what 'mericans prefer overall.
>>>
>>> Yes, the fronts wear faster than the rears, but so what?!* You
>>> replace whatever wears out when it wears out.* What on earth is the
>>> point in moving them around so you have to replace all four at once?!
>>
>> It's called preventive maintenance. You are too stupid to understand
>> this.
>
> It doesn't change the speed at which the tyres wear out, so is utterly
> pointless.* Don't bother replying, you're killfiled, I just peeked into
> it to see what ****e you were spouting.
>

Wrong again.

On 2/18/2018 4:13 PM, ultred ragnusen wrote:
> wrote:
>
>> You really need to find something more interesting to do with your life.
>
> Pot, kettle, black.
>
+1

I almost said the same thing, then thought I'd better check the response
first.

I've never seen anyone else trying so often to demonstrate their own
stupidity.

On 19/02/2018 4:00 AM, ultred ragnusen wrote:
> wrote:
>
>>> First question is what is the practical difference between these three 21mm
>>> (13/16ths) "sockets" for the lug bolts on the car I was working on today?
>>> http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/17/socket_ends.jpg
>>> 1. The standard lug wrench (green) has 6 points, each at a sharp angle.
>>> 2. The impact socket (black) has 6 points, each at a semicircular angle.
>>> 3. The standard socket (chrome) has 12 points, each at a sharp angle.
>>
>> The impact socket is superior for that application - whether using an
>> impact driver or not. A 12 point socket is better in situations where
>> fine motion is required.
>
> This is good to know that the impact socket is superior, probably for two
> reasons, right?
> 1. It has those radius corners (someone said it reduces stress on both the
> nuts and the socket itself).

Cracks are more likely to start at a *corner*. That's why crankpins on a
crankshaft have a radius at the fillet. The radius also keeps the impact
forces back away from the very tip of the hex point.

> 2. It is stronger overall (presumably)

It is thicker and made of a stronger material.
>
> Since there is always a drawback, I think the drawback might be:
> 3. They're "fatter" it seems, than my normal sockets

They are stronger because they need to be in order to resist the
*impact* forces.

> 4. They don't seem to come in 12-point sizes (at least mine aren't)
>
A hex socket is much less likely to round off a nut.

--

Xeno

wrote:

> I was talking to someone recently who is in the car rescue / roadside
> assistance business and he was saying that one of the growing problems
> he sees is that cars come without spare tyres and an increasing number
> of call outs are to people where the tyre cannot be repaired with a can
> of squirty gunk and there is no spare in the vehicle.

It's off topic, but I put the following related items in my trunk kit, even
though I prefer to repair my flats at home by removing the tire completely
from the wheel and then using a one-piece patchplug that both seals and
fills the hole from the inside out.
1. Compressor (operated off the cigarette lighter socket)
2. External plug kit (they work just fine even though they're not approved)
3. Magnetic LED light from HF (so you can see what you're doing at night)

wrote:

>> I'm an electrical engineer - but this has nothing to do with that.
>>
> Maybe it does in the sense that you want things down to the gnat's
> ass.

I can't please everyone with the details, but I do appreciate learning from
others who have the intelligence to understand and convey the details
better than I do.

> Good enough for what it's for is a common measure in my world. I've
> changed a few tires over the years and never had a torque wrench.

I wouldn't think of not using a torque wrench, but, I did watch a dozen
videos last night on how to /calibrate/ the torque wrench.

The problem is not in twisting the calibration mechanism, but in having a
known good standard. A lot of the calibration videos use the Harbor Freight
$40 Item #68283 "digital torque adapter", which seems like a neat tool if I
didn't already have a bunch of old-style torque wrenches already.
http://manuals.harborfreight.com/man...8999/68283.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjEP1KMBbAY

Since my old-style "made in usa" (so you know it's old!) Craftsman torque
wrench is likely still accurate, I can use that as my calibration standard.

> None
> has ever fallen off or the rim wallowed out.

There's value to doing a job right, in and of itself.

For example, when you choose a tire, you choose it by the specifications,
and then when you mount it, you mount the red or yellow dots (depending on
the brand) next to the valve stem, and you clean and statically balance the
wheel sans tire, and then you mount the tire by the dots, and then you
statically balance the assembly (often it takes no weight) and then you
take it for a drive at speed for your dynamic balance test (almost never do
you feel any vibration that would indicate a dynamic imbalance at speed).

Same with repairing a puncture, where we all have successfully plugged a
hole from the outside with the rope plugs, which aren't approved by the RMA
but we all know that method to work just fine.

I get pleasure out of the method of marking the tire (so that I don't
change the balance), breaking the bead with the HF bead-breaking tool, and
then dismounting the tire with a different HF tire mounting tool, then
marking the location of the injury from the inside, removing the offending
protruding nail (or whatever), honing the hole from the outside to 1/4 inch
standard size (or whatever was chosen), buffing the inside area to remove
non-sticky layers, applying the cement and waiting for it to get tacky,
applying the cement to the patchplug and then pulling it through with
pliers, rolling down the patchplug from the inside from the centerline
outward to force out air pockets, and snipping off the protruding metal
tip, and then covering the inside area with the blacktop formula (whatever
that black gunk is made up of).

After that, if desired, I replace the valve stem, and then I remount the
tire on the marks made prior to dismounting, and then, after setting the
bead at about 60psi (whatever it takes to pop) and airing up the tire to
40psi, I doublecheck static balance, and if necessary, I rotate the tires
on the vehicle or put it back where it was, making sure to torque the lug
nuts evenly to 85 foot pounds.

Some people get pleasure in doing things the "right" way; others don't care
to.

> There was a time when someone changing a flat was a common sight.
> Tires would last about 20,000 miles.

I get a flat about once every couple of years, where it's almost always a
screw (dunno why but it is). If flats used to be more common than they are
now, you'll have to explain to me why.

If it's true that flats are less common now than before, than the natural
question to ask is:
a. Are tires more resistant to punctures now (what with steel belts)?
b. Or are screws and nails less prevalent on the roadways nowadays?

It has to be one of the above if it's true that flats are less common now
on radials than they were in the olden days of bias-ply tires.

wrote:

> I average about one puncture every 10 years between my 2 vehicles.

I have heard many times that nowadays, people don't get flats as often, but
I can't see why unless radials, by their very nature, are more resistant to
flats than were the old-style bias-ply tires.

I don't count the averages, especially since I repair neighbors' tires for
them at times, but I think I have been repairing at least one flat a year,
what with four cars now in the driveway and a few neighbors whom I help out
(and who help me in return).

So I average one flat a year, roughly, where I use the RMA-approved
patch-plug method, which can only be done from the inside. On the road, I
would use the rope-plug method, which, we all know, works just fine (even
thought it's not RMA approved).

For me, it's just so very satisfying to fix a flat at home.

I just pull the wheel, mark the location, break the bead, remove the tire,
repair the hole from the inside out using the RMA-approved method, replace
the valve stem if necessary, remount the tire, test in the pool, check the
static balance, and then mount the tire back on the vehicle (rotating other
tires if desired) to the proper torque spec.

It just feels good to do things the right way.

In article >,
James Wilkinson Sword > wrote:
> > Nissan UK says the US is its second largest export market for UK
> > assembled models. After the EU.

> the EU will soon be gone, and good ****ing riddance.

And given the EU is Nissan UK's largest export market they will likely
soon be gone too. Along with lots of others - especially in financial
services.

--
*What are the pink bits in my tyres? Cyclists & Joggers*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 19-Feb-18 11:44 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Feb 2018 23:02:07 -0000, ultred ragnusen
> > wrote:
>
>> *wrote:
>>
>>> * I average about one puncture every 10 years between my 2 vehicles.
>>
>> I have heard many times that nowadays, people don't get flats as
>> often, but
>> I can't see why unless radials, by their very nature, are more
>> resistant to
>> flats than were the old-style bias-ply tires.
>
> I get a few a year.* Mainly nails from incompetant builders.* (Builders
> have an average IQ of 50).
>
>> I don't count the averages, especially since I repair neighbors' tires
>> for
>> them at times, but I think I have been repairing at least one flat a
>> year,
>> what with four cars now in the driveway and a few neighbors whom I
>> help out
>> (and who help me in return).
>>
>> So I average one flat a year, roughly, where I use the RMA-approved
>> patch-plug method, which can only be done from the inside. On the road, I
>> would use the rope-plug method, which, we all know, works just fine (even
>> thought it's not RMA approved).
>>
>> For me, it's just so very satisfying to fix a flat at home.
>>
>> I just pull the wheel, mark the location, break the bead, remove the
>> tire,
>> repair the hole from the inside out using the RMA-approved method,
>> replace
>> the valve stem if necessary, remount the tire, test in the pool, check
>> the
>> static balance, and then mount the tire back on the vehicle (rotating
>> other
>> tires if desired) to the proper torque spec.
>>
>> It just feels good to do things the right way.
>
> To save ten quid at the local garage?* You're nuts.
>

Where do you lot live? Remind to stay right away.