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

You've not noticed a different sort of wear between front and rear tyres? Different type of wear depending on suspension design? Hmm.

The oft quoted rule is that if fitting a new pair of tyres, they go on the back regardless. The idea being that understeer is always safer than oversteer.

If you have a spare jack, place it under the extension bar to reduce sideways load on the socket. You can then use your full body weight on the breaker bar with less chance of breaking the tools.

Shucks. I forgot. I actually know someone who has a Range Rover. There was a Jag convertible around for awhile but I haven't seen it for years. Nissans are Japanese, Mexican, or American made at least for the North American market.

That's because 12 point sockets are not the best to use on an impact

- as discussed previously.

And yes, they ARE fatter - because they REALLY need to be.

Or Korea if it wears a bow-tie.

Is this your way of excusing yourself from finding any article that backs up your claim "Rotating them could well lessen the grip in poor road conditions"?

Once again, can you cite any article proposing a long term loss of grip through tyre rotation? I couldn't find any, apart from the time of replacing with new tyres.

I think the only time I ever saw that was on the fuel pump bolts on a '67 Pontiac. I wondered why there of all places.

But the extension is not a mile long and anything lost in twisting a 10" extension is too small to measure. However if you have the extension so it's tipped a little, not in line with the axis of the nut/bolt, then some torque is not in the direction of turning the nut, and the longer the extension, the more is lost. This happens when the socket is loose on the nut, not especially lug nuts.

Good idea.

I left my car sitting for a month after I had surgery, and one wheel had no cover. And snow covered up to the top bolt for most of the month.

Months later, I was at Newark Airport and when I got back to the car, it had a flat tire. I had the jack handle/lug wrench, and the bolts were rusted on so tight I had to stand on the wrench to loosen them, I even had to lift my body up and down on a couple, and I broke off 3.

What to do? Leave the car there, have it towed to a shop, take public transportation back to NYC and then to Brooklyn, then take public transportation back the next day, or drive home.

Of course, i drove.

Tire was on the left rear,and every time I turned right it went clop, clop, clop. When I turned left or went straight, it was quiet.

Drove on Route 1 -- fairly quiet because most people on the Turnpike -- to the Holland Tunnel. What to do? If you break down in the Holland Tunnel, you delay traffic when it's heavy (This was Sunday evening, when everyone is coming back from the weekend) so they keep a tow truck there all the time. But they charge you a 100 or 200 in the 1970's which would be at least 500 now. Still, it had worked well so I took the tunnel. Turned east on a small street towards the Brooklyn Bridge and just as I got to Broadway, big thump. Got out. Wheel has come off the car. Last two lug nuts had broken. What to do?

Almost no cars Sunday night, but Monday morning it's lower Manhattan rush hour. Cars everywhere. Not allowed to park on the narrow street I was on. Scouted ahead and found a parking lot a short block North up Broadway, which is one-way South.

Jacked up the car, put it on on the brake drum with no bolts. Lowered the car and drove. Got 8 feet!! Hey, that's pretty good, but then the wheel fell off. Jacked up the car, put it on on the brake drum with no bolts. Lowered the car and drove. Didn't make it 2 inches. Wheel fell off. Jacked up the car, put it on on the brake drum with no bolts. Lowered the car and drove. This time it went 40 feet to Broadway, turned left (the good direction) 100 fett up Broadway, left across the curb and sidewalk into the parking lot. All in one shot. The wheel fell off just as I got fully inside the parking lot.

Took the subway home and returned the next day with tools to punch out the broken lug nuts, and new lugnuts. Took 45 minutes. Done by 10AM. Parking lot guy wanted to charge me for 3 spaces because I was parked sideways, but he caved easily when I said it was only 10 and he'd fill the spaces, and he only charged me 1.5 times the daily rate. (His point was that the lot filled up by 9, but I guess I was right that some people came later.)

I've never heard it and I don't think it's true.

It's a multipurpose tool. The tapered end is for removing hubcaps and wheel covers, and the length is determined by what works for a jack handle, on the millions of cars which have used this wrench as the bumper jack handle. If they made it longer, and didn't use a stronger grade of steel, one could bend it by standing on it. Indeed, I did bend one that way, and that was when I weighed 170. If it was longer, a lot of them would end up bent. Once they're bent, they're never as strong again.

Apparently most people don't even change their own tires, if you figure that 90% of women don't and that's 45% of drivers. Plus what, 10, 20,

30% of men. Of those who do, most don't even think of standing on it, or, I suspect, are afraid to do so.

Of course there are very few flats these days so getting good data is harder.

This video tested a ten foot extension with the torque wrench.

I don't know of any studies, but if you look at the way tyres wear (without faulty alignment) you see that front tyres gain a curved profile, while rears become more square, logically when swapped they will have less than ideal profiles until worn away again.

Garrett turbocharger compressor nuts are bi-hex (and cack handed). I had to special order a 8mm bi-hex 1/4 drive socket as it's not a stock item. You won't find bi-hex 1/4 drive sockets even in "pro" socket sets.

All nuts/bolts used by a Derby based jet engine maker are bi-hex flange nuts/bolts. They are much lighter (and unbelievably expensive when made from aero grade nickel alloy) as the bi-hex size is at least a size smaller - there are 12 points to drive it so it's stronger.

None of which are British.

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). 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.

2002 FWD Mazda 232F owners manual says rotate front to back every 6K miles.

If you don't rotate on FWD you should always have the tires with the best tread on the back. Move the part worn tires to the front and fit the new ones on the back. This ensures the back tires don't get too aged (cracked sidewalls) before they wear out.

For RWD rotation my '94 Nissan 200SX (170bhp turbo 240SX) owners manual its advised every 6K miles. The owners manual for a '84 RWD Toyota Celica also says rotate front to back every 6K miles.

Many 4WD systems require a full set of evenly worn tires. This is because the limited slip couplings will be damaged by overheating if one wheel is always running fast/slow by enough to lock the coupling. If you damage one tyre then it's a full set of new tires. If there is any tendency to uneven front/rear wear, then they must be rotated.

The French at least have a word for "inch" which translates as "thumb" and is a colloquial measure of length. They also have a word for "foot" which would be recognised as a length.

There are lots of other historical French units, some of which are still used in particular applications in (UK) English such as printing (e.g. points).

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.