How to Remove a Wheel Nut
Tricky things, wheelnuts.
Seriously. They look so simple - just nuts holding the wheel on, nothing to them. And they are simple pieces of technology, for sure; but that doesn't mean they can be taken for granted when removing them or, indeed, putting them back on. This is because they can cause injury if they are handled the wrong way.
For a start, when undoing wheelnuts, they should first be loosened, when the wheel is still on the ground - always assuming that you are removing the nuts in order to remove the wheel. This is so that the attempt at loosening them doesn't end with the wheel spinning - which can end in injury through loss of control. It doesn't matter that the wheelnuts belong to one of the rear wheels and that they are held by the hand-break, or indeed that the front wheels on a front wheel drive car can be held by the engine in gear. These methods are fine in theory, but why create wear when the weight of the car can do the job without any?
But this isn't the first thing to be mindful of when removing wheelnuts. It doesn't even begin with removing the hub-cap. No, the first base is to secure the car. Safety is of paramount importance - not only for yourself, but also for the car. Whenever possible, therefore, always ensure that you are on a firm, level surface when you need to remove a wheel. Of course, it is possible that you will have a puncture half-way up a long, steep incline, and in this case working against the law of gravity is in some measure unavoidable - but even in this instance, there are things which can be done. But that is beyond the scope of this article.
Having secured a firm, flat surface, it is always a good idea to put chocks under the wheels of the axle at the opposite end of the car to that which is to be raised. This is so that you aren't reliant on the handbrake or the gearbox to keep the car still; although the handbrake needs to be in good order for the car to be considered roadworthy, it doesn't hurt to play safe.
Now you can work on the wheel. If your car has a hub-cap, this is useful because, upturned, it is a handy receptacle for the loosed nuts. This is very important, because otherwise a nut can easily be lost, and then you would have to acquire another one; while it is perfectly possible to drive with, say, three nuts on a four-nut wheel - I've done it myself - it's not a safe thing to do, especially over the longer term. Then - with the wheel still on the ground, jacked up part way so that the weight of the car is taken by the jack, but still well within the reach of the suspension, loosen the nuts. It's best to do this diagonally: if we number the nuts clockwise in sequence, we loosen number one nut and number three, then number two and number four. This is to prevent unequal stress on the wheel, and potentially dangerous weakness developing.
Then you can jack the car up fully and remove the nuts completely, after placing a block of wood beneath a strong component of the car (a chassis member or similar) beneath the car so that, should the jack slip, the car doesn't tumble to the ground.
This is possibly the safest and most efficient way of loosening a wheelnut to the purpose of removing a wheel.
