The wheel of a car is an element of the running gear, connecting the car to the road. Through the wheels, the movement of the car is made possible. The driving wheels generate traction when in contact with the road, ensuring the car's maneuverability during motion. Vertical loads from the car and the road are directly transferred and received through the wheel. Ultimately, the car's manageability and stability depend on its wheels.
A car wheel consists of two components - the disk and the tire.
The wheel disk serves as the basis for installing the tire and transmitting rotation from the axle to it.
The wheel disk is characterized by the following main parameters:
- Disk width, distance between sides.
- Disc diameter.
- Disc overhang, the distance from the imaginary center of the disk to the plane of contact with the hub.
- Number of mounting holes and distance between them.
A car tire provides traction between the car and the road. Passenger cars are mostly equipped with tubeless tires. But some tire models, as well as old tires, can only be used with a tube installed.
Tire markings and parameters
- Width
- Ratio of height to width in %
- Diameter in inches
- Load index
- Speed index
Replacing a wheel on the road with a spare wheel
Signs of a flat tire
- Extraneous noise from outside, as well as loss of speed.
- If one of the front wheels is punctured, the car’s handling deteriorates, and great efforts have to be made to keep the car on the road.
- If the rear wheel is punctured, the car begins to slip, and the rear of the car begins to sway from side to side.
If you notice these signs while driving, do not panic under any circumstances. Level the car and gradually reduce speed, pull over to the side of the road.
You cannot continue driving with a punctured tire, but for safety reasons, do not be afraid to drive a couple of tens of meters to choose a place on the side of the road.
Procedure for changing a wheel on the road on your own
- Turn on the hazard warning lights and install an emergency sign
- Take out the spare tire, jack and wheel wrench.
- Secure the car with the handbrake and the gear engaged, and before installing the jack, you need to additionally secure the wheels using stops, you can use any stones or pieces of brick.
- Loosen the wheel mounting bolts or nuts.
- Raise the car on a jack.
- Unscrew the wheel fasteners completely.
- We remove the punctured wheel, for safety reasons, you can put the punctured wheel under the car.
- Install and check the spare tire
- Remove the broken wheel from under the car, lower the jack, and finally tighten the bolts. In wheels with four or six holes, opposite bolts are tightened in pairs. If there are five holes, then you need to pull in such an order, as if you were drawing a five-pointed star.
- Assemble the tool, remove the jack and stops, and check the pressure in the installed wheel.
Your further actions are to go to a car service center as quickly as possible to repair the punctured wheel, since you have only one spare wheel and if you puncture the wheel again, you will not be able to replace it, and you will have to call a tow truck.
It is better to carry out seasonal tire replacement in car repair shops, in this case, we recommend that you perform wheel balancing, this will extend the life of your tires.
Very often, the factory equipment provides for the installation of disks of different diameters on the same car. In this case, a disk of a smaller diameter is installed in a set with tires of higher sizes, and vice versa, if a disk is larger, then low-profile tires are used in the set.
