My youngest daughter has finally arrived at driving age, but unlike her two older sisters who didn’t feel the need to promptly get their licence, this one is raring to go.
I spent the Sunday before her scheduled in-car test a few weeks ago doing what many other parents have done before – sitting in the passenger seat driving around the neighbourhood looking for opportunities for her to practise her parallel parking skills. It was a long and painful afternoon.
As we drove around, I counted nine cars in the process of having their winter tires installed on driveways and on the road. Only one was using a decent jack and jack stands. Most were using the vehicle’s flimsy, factory jack and stock lug wrench. I understand people have been changing their own tires for a long time and I have no problem with that, but out of the remaining DIY’ers one had clearly lost control. The jack had fallen over and the car was sitting on its axle. I stopped to offer help, but was told he had it under control. Hardly.
Two others were working on slightly inclined driveways with nothing preventing the vehicle from rolling back, which is an incident waiting to happen. It seems obvious to me, but some basic tools to do the job properly and safely should be considered a minimal investment if you plan to repeatedly undertake this task yourself.
A small floor jack starts at $50, but spend more and get something bigger and wider, which will spread the load and offer more stability. Once you have your vehicle elevated, use at least one jack stand to ensure things don’t fall over, $60 – $70 will get you a decent pair. Always find a way to chock wheels to prevent the vehicle from rolling. Your vehicle’s parking brake is not sufficient.
A ½-inch breaker bar is probably the cheapest item on your list coming in below $50 and a decent torque wrench will be the most expensive item. Torquing wheels is an important part of the process and should not be skipped. Don’t skimp out on this tool as the cheap ones tend to lose their accuracy. I would spend at least $200 on this item. Keep in mind the professional torque wrench’s we use start at $500.
And if you want to get fancy, an electric impact tool makes the job almost completely pain free, most of the time. Except when it is misused like when using it on the antitheft wheel lock key. So, to you eight DIY’ers swapping your tires without any proper equipment, you have the whole long, frigid winter to source equipment to assist you with your spring swap over.
And how did my daughters’ drivers test go? Sadly, the driver test centre cancelled her test two hours before because of unforeseen circumstances and now she is delayed another month. She is not a happy teenager, but at least it gives us more time to fine tune her parallel parking skills.
Your automotive questions answered
Hi Lou,
I’m just writing to say that I appreciate your articles and that, by coincidence my most trusted garage is/was Garage Rejean Trottier, in Rigaud, Que. So, it’s interesting that you share a family name, profession and, I think, philosophy of straightforward honesty. But, Rejean would sometimes let me bring my own parts, simply because he didn’t have a source for them (I have a predilection for out-of-the-ordinary rides).
Take care, keep up the good work, and best regards. – Jean L.
Thanks Jean,
I am not going to reopen the bring-your-own-parts conversation here any time soon, but yes, I do also let people bring their own parts when they, like you, have a predilection for out-of-the-ordinary rides.
Curious about your opinion about ethanol in gas. Should I avoid it? I have heard mixed opinions. Is it hard on fuel lines and injectors?
Thanks – Shaun O.
The endless internet debate on ethanol continues and will likely continue until the world goes electric, but I can distill it down into one short and sweet statement. Unless you are driving a much older vintage vehicle, or your vehicle sits unattended for months at a time, I would not waste any time or energy on avoiding ethanol.
Lou Trottier is owner-operator of All About Imports in Mississauga. Have a question about maintenance and repair? E-mail globedrive@globeandmail.com, placing “Lou’s Garage” in the subject line.
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