Removing a wheel - a word of warning

[Goldfish11]

Decided to do something rather dareing this afternoon. As I have two new tyres on the back I thought it would be good to give my W211 Alloys the annual once over clean. The one where you remove the wheel and give the inside a good scrub Autoglym wheel cleaner and then apply Autoglym alloy wheel seal to protect them for a further 12 months.

Got out my jack, lifted wheel and removed first wheel. Thought I would be clever and just put an axle stand under the vehicle just in case. (Good job I did!)

Anyway I started giving the my wheel a good clean looked round and noticed jack was starting to lean. The car, despite having foot brake and P on vehicle was moving. Managed to get wheel on real quick before thing finally shifted, luckily supported by stand. Got jack under again but car seemed to want to move, axle stand smashed the rear offside plastic underbody protector as it slipped . Anyway after a few minutes of sweating I managed to get everything stable and wheel sorted and secure. I had a very lucky escape .

Decided all this was a little un-nerving so did what I always do with my MB when life gets stressful. READ THE OWNERS MANUAL .

It says when jacking car to put "wedges" behind wheels to stop the thing moving! So went and got 3 large bricks.

This is the first time I have ever had a car that you need to "wedge" before jacking up

Anyway cured the problem my wheels are now all beautifully clean and sealed but what have I learnt? and I am glad I learnt it on my drive and not on the M1 or some other road.

1) Mercedes have thought about just about everything. In my jack pouch I found a full set of spare fuses, a pair of gloves to wear when changing the wheel, a nice bag to put your dirty wheel in and also a strange bit of metal slid into a holder I thought this was to put under the jack or something but guess what! this assembles into a wedge!.

2) Make sure you use the wedge and it may be worth carrying a couple extra - a few bricks will do.

3) Some alloys rust onto the car, this can be sorted by lying on your back and kicking the wheel hard, (this may be an other use for the nice poly bag as I would hate to mess up my suit).

4) Have a trial wheel change on your drive with your car to make sure wheels will come off and you know how to do it.

5) I found my battery next to my spare tyre in the boot and a nice space next to it which is just the right size for my 12volt compressor and an other little space for my bulb kit.

6) Interior of alloys is already treated with a cream paint, which means they are really easy to clean.

6) You get really mucky when you do this.

7) I feel I have "bonded" with the vehicle .

8) DO NOT FORGET TO PUT WEDGES UNDER THE OTHER WHEELS TO STOP THE CAR MOVING!


Things I need to find out:

How much is a new rear off side under side protector thing?? Has anyone got any idea?

I suspect the above is very obvious to many of you but it was not for me hence my word of warning.

I am now going go and have a stiff drink. Looking forward to my next interior wheel clean in 12 months time I have lots of bricks ready.

 

[GrahamC230K]

Glad you didn't cause too much damage. I thought you always had to chock a car when jacking unless perfectly flat. Your handbrake only brakes the rear, so jack it up and you have trouble!

The one where you remove the wheel and give the inside a good scrub Autoglym wheel cleaner and then apply Autoglym alloy wheel seal to protect them for a further 12 months.

Tell me more about Autoglum Alloy Wheel Seal?? Never seen that one. Sounds good!

 

[Shude]

A lucky escape!

The manual will probably also say that the Jack is for emergency use only and is not designed for long periods of use!

 

[guydewdney]

tried to find the chock in the EPC... mine onlty has the 210 series, and the s 220 and cl 215 - none of which have a chock..

but the 600 series (1950 odd) does - part number 110 583 01 75
no price

Also sell a mat for kneeling on when doing said wheel change....

I would look up your plastic thingy, but a) i dont know which bit you are talking about, and b) my epc doesnt have your car in it

 

[sym]

Scarey !! But I'll bet your wheels look great now One of the first jobs for me to do when I move house in a few weeks . . . my current temporary accomodation has a very steep driveway . . . not suitable for jacking at all ... chocks / wedges / or anything !

Moving to wheels & tyres section too

S.

 

[roj]

tell me more about autoglum.....

Autoglym alloy wheel seal is a spray on wax/polish that prevents brake dust,tar etc. building up on your alloys. It is especially usefull on the inside of the wheel. Try this link and look in 'New products'.

http://http://www.autoglym.co.uk/frame2.html

I used to use around once a month. It's really easy to use, just spray on the wheel (preferably with the wheel off to prevent it going on the brake disk) and beff off excess with a cloth. Ten minute job per wheel. You'll notice the difference when you next wash the wheels how easy it is to get brakedust off!

PS I dont work for autoglym!! Turtle wax make brake dust barrier, which seems to do the same job.

 

[Goldfish11]

Glad you didn't cause too much damage. I thought you always had to chock a car when jacking unless perfectly flat. Your handbrake only brakes the rear, so jack it up and you have trouble!




Tell me more about Autoglum Alloy Wheel Seal?? Never seen that one. Sounds good!

It comes in a spray can and is really easy to use and works well. Get the wheels really clean with no black stuff on then just spray it on and give it a buff. I did the outside of the wheels in March and when cleaning now the brake dust just wipes off.

I use the Autoglym HiTech Wheel Brush, this is excellent, with Autoglym Clean Wheels, remember to only leave this stuff in contact with the alloys for about a minute (Read the instructions!). I have heard horror stories about the Wonder Wheels stuff it is far too agressive and can remove the laquer. The Alloy Wheel Seal then means I have not had to use Clean Wheels again because they just clean off easy.

www.autoglym.co.uk has details. It cost about Alloy Wheel seal is about £4.50 a can and I have done my car wheels (all over) my wifes and mums and still have some left so it goes a long way.

 

[Andy W]

Dont trust jacks ! That is my advice, when I was a spotty teenager......a mate of mine had an old Hillman Avenger ( can you remeber them ? ) the front was jacked up with the jack so we could change the springs, anyway, he was sitting with his legs under the car while reassembling the shocker when believe this or believe this not and I kid you not I heard the car creak, I pulled him away from the car by his neck and the car fell from the jack on to the floor right where he was sitting, a valuable lesson was learnt that day. DONT rely on jacks, use axle stands and always wedge the wheels with bricks.

 

[Goldfish11]

tried to find the chock in the EPC... mine onlty has the 210 series, and the s 220 and cl 215 - none of which have a chock..

but the 600 series (1950 odd) does - part number 110 583 01 75
no price

Also sell a mat for kneeling on when doing said wheel change....

I would look up your plastic thingy, but a) i dont know which bit you are talking about, and b) my epc doesnt have your car in it

Plastic Thingy - If you look under the car there seems to be moulded plastic sheets attached, on each side of the transmission tunnel. Like a plastic sump guard but different. Will call my dealer tomorrow to see if they know what it is called!

 

[Dieselman]

It will be the plastic undershield down each side of the car. I wouldn't expect it to be too expensive.

The only way I can see the car moving with the parking brake on is if it brakes the transmission and not the wheels. can the car rock forwards and backwards with the brake applied?

 

[fuzzer]

They haave redesigned the jacks now . They don't have the t shaped bit you put into the jacking point . its now just a plastic point the top of the jack slides into. The W211 moved more than my W203 when i had it jacked up in the same spot .... go figure??

step back i know.. old one was a lot better.

p.s. another thing is to remember to remove the chock from the wheel before you try and reverse off the driveway

 

[Goldfish11]

I did use a trolley jack before using the MB jack

One thing I should say is I used a trolley jack initially with the axle stand, this was a small hydrolic unit with far more stability than the MB jack. I used the MB jack to "rescue" the situation and then carried on using this. The key issue is you don't expect the car to move so much with jack under it, even a two tonne trolley jack started to lean and move. So "chocking" the car is essential. In fact I even think they should put this as a warning on their jacks and even a sticker on the spare wheel would not go a miss particularly with idiots like me around!

A day later I realise what a lucky escape I had. (They say shock is delayed!)

Worst of it is I actually worked for 3 months in a tyre fitting centre fitting tyres 20 years ago as a holiday job. Never had this problem then, perhaps cars had better brakes in those days and few were automatic.

 

[Goldfish11]

Plastic Undershield £20 and a free fit

Plastic Undershield is going to cost £20 plus vat and those nice chaps and MB Coventry are going to fit it free of charge as they say they are going to have the car on the ramp anyway for a quick check over when the do my recall work this Thursday.

I recommend MB Coventry always really helpful .

 

[Shude]

A2035830075 : Chock : Eur 3.91

 

[Aletank]

A2035830075 : Chock : Eur 3.91

Has anyone got a pic ??

I take it these will do for all cars

 

[andy_k]

any motoring store should sell wheel chocks - if you cant get one just use a piece of 4x4 timber - all you are doing is stopping the wheels from moving so any solid object will do

Andy

 

[Shude]

Has anyone got a pic ??

it's number 120 on the diagram.

 

[CMR]

I would like to take my wheels off to clean the backs of them. If I buy a basic trolley jack would I need some adapter to use it since the jack that comes supplied with the car (part 10 in pic above) has a moulded plastic part that fits securely onto the jacking point on the car. (i.e. the jacking point on the car isn't a flat surface). Also where is it best to put the axle stands? Sorry for basic questions but I would like to get this right as presumably it wouldn't be a good idea just to rely on the supplied jack. Many thanks for any replies.

 

[Vectrolosys]

Hello,

I had something similar happen once when working on my XJ40. I was jacking it up high enough to get an axle stand in, the car was in park, but the handbrake was off (doh!). I fortunately managed to hold the car on the tilting point of coming off the jack and gradually lowered it safely to the floor, then chocking it.

As already stated, it's a good idea to get the wheels off from time to time. I tend to remove them, clean the disk face, clean the inner rims then re-assemble with a smear of copper grease on the disk faces and on the wheel bolts themselves.

Makes removing the wheels for under arch rust proofing and service work all the more pleasurable.

I also find a stuck wheel can be shifted safely with a rubber mallet, not a lump hammer a local fast fit type garage once used on my old Vectra. I was not best impressed!!!

James

 

[stevesey]

it's number 120 on the diagram.

What's part 90 in that diagram - I have one but haven't worked out what it is!

On the jacking subject I dropped the MGB once when it was on 4 axle stands (no wheels at all whilst repairing sills). Jacked up one front corner to move an axle stand and the back end slipped sidewards onto the ground. Luckily it wasn't particularly high to start with and it landed safely on the rear drums without inflicting any damage. Reason for the fall was partly because I'd move the front stand around several times and the rears were already being pushed as a result (should have jacked the rear up and re-seated the rear ones) also I had them both facing the same way so the one side of the triangle on each was facing left and parallel to the side of the far, so it was much easier for the car to tip left than right - nowadays if I use two I make sure they are opposed (if you get my drift).