Frozen tire change

[hostileNabusive]

Had to change a flat this afternoon. In -25 windchill! AArrgh! Dammit I hate this state!

How... the hell am I supposed to take it easy on a cracked rib when I have to remove lug nuts.... that are frozen?! How I ask you?!?!

Fingers starting hurting after 5 minutes, nevermind the gloves I had on. Toes went after 10 even though I was wearing wool socks and Gortex lined shoes.

So not only is my chest killing me but my surgically repaired knee is more stiff than usual from being outside.

..... now where is that Apfelwein?!

 

[arturo7]

I respect a man who changes his own tires.

 

[holden]

I think with a cracked rib, I might've just called a AAA.

 

[HBHoss]

Where's that Global Warming when you need it??

 

[John Beere]

Yeah, sorry to chime in with this... but the high was 81 degrees today here in GA. I had to turn the A/C on when I got home today it was so hot...

 

[Yunus]

Sorry to hear of your luck with the tire. But just a suggestion from when I lived in North Pole, Alaska. Fill your tires with Nitrogen, that is if the puncture was not from a nail or something but if its just the cold that flattened your tire nitrogen helps prevent that from happening.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

You did hit the lug nuts with a touch first right? Not doing that in that kind of cold is the easiest way to snap them off.

 

[KingBrianI]

Imagine my disdain when I realized it was me in the cold, by the road, changing a flat. But then I saw my hand and it was holding the mouse, not a tire iron and the realization that I was cozy and snug in my house reassured me as I clicked the back button and went to the next thread.

 

[DeathBrewer]

i probably would've called AAA in your situation

i don't mind changing a tire, but i do NOT miss the freezing cold of the midwest winter, not one bit.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Imagine my disdain when I realized it was me in the cold, by the road, changing a flat. But then I saw my hand and it was holding the mouse, not a tire iron and the realization that I was cozy and snug in my house reassured me as I clicked the back button and went to the next thread.

I think Im going to start reading everything this guy writes!


But seriously, that sucks. I think Ill be doing something similar when I head home, except the car will be in a snowy field. Of course its not that cold at home either.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

Been there OP (minus the cracked rib and knee)...

My best time changing a tire was right after I got my Wrangler (used). Some how a pot hole (filled with freezing water so I couldn't see) popped the tire of the rim making it flat. Of course, my puny little jump starter/compressor just wasn't fast enough to reseal it with it jacked up or tire off. Time for the spare- LOCKNUT! No key! GREAT! Luckily it wasn't that long of a walk to advanced auto... Lets just say a threaded socket, breaker bar, and a mallet. My hands KILLED after being in the freezing rain, holding breaker bar, pounding the crap out of this lug to try and get it off. The reverberation killed.

I have AAA- wait WTF was I thinking! Hope that magical hop and grain elixir aids in your recovery!

 

[McKBrew]

I had to put on the doughnut spare a few months ago in warm weather. The lugnuts were so fricken tight it was hard for me to get them off. I couldn't imagine if my SWMBO would have tried to attempt it. I imagine they make some sort of lubricant for lugnuts, any suggestions?

You definately get props for changing it in the cold with a cracked rib. Sadly, I think there are more than a few men in this world that have no clue how to change a tire.

 

[eriktlupus]

when i bought my last car used i went to change the brakes on the rears and broke 3 different impact sockets trying to get them off.

 

[DeathBrewer]

Sadly, I think there are more than a few men in this world that have no clue how to change a tire.

wut? thos aren't men!

 

[superfluent]

I imagine they make some sort of lubricant for lugnuts, any suggestions?

Copper Paste or Aluminum Paste (depending on the material of the rim). I make sure they apply that on the bolts when they change my wheels (living in Sweden it's the law to use special winter/studded tires during wintertime and ordinary tiers otherwise). Since they use pneumatic tools to tighten them it is redicilously hard loosening those bolts in subzero temps with just elbow greece...

H

 

[bobthebiker]

I imagine they make some sort of lubricant for lugnuts, any suggestions?

yeah, we call it antiseize. works wonderfully on the threads of any lugnut, or really any nut you dont want to get stuck on there forever. I wish the guys that worked on the big flatbed superduty I used to run knew what that was, oh and a concrete work space to change my trucks' friggin tires. 16" commercial tires aint a joke when you're tryin to lug em around.

 

[McKBrew]

Figured that something simple like antiseize would do the trick, wasn't 100% there was not something specifically for that application.