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Centre Lock Q? Do you really need to get the car up on all 4 corners?
...to do all 4 centre lock swaps (summer to winter tire and wheel sets)? The good videos of folks doing this illustrates the car up off all four corners.
I just realized I really don't have a safe way to get all four corners off the ground without investing in some additional equipment.
Any reason why I can't simply do 1 corner at a time?
I don't have the specifics, but recommended Porsche Service protocol is to have the car up on all gour corners before the wheels are touched. The only jack stands I know of that facilitate this in a safe an easy manner, are JackPoint, about $850 for a set of four (4). These jackstabds are extremely rugged, carry 4,000 Lbs. per corner. Or get a QuickJack, about $1,500.
The "cheater" approach I have seen at the track is:
Break all four (4) Centerlocks with the car resting on all four wheels on the ground,
Use two jacks to get the back off the ground.
Uss the 48" breaker bar to back off one side of the rear at a time.
Off come the rear wheels, swap out the replacement wheels,
Thread on the center lock nuts, and torque to spec, > 400 Ft. Lbs, 466?
Same procedure at the front, but you'll need a body behind the wheel to fix the brakes and to hold the steerting wheel to resist the torque being applied to the front wheels.
In. my case, I schlep the wheels to be swapped to my local independent shop who deals with centert locks quire frequently. Their guy puts the car up on the lift and follows Porsche Service procedure. This necessitates three (3) seperate trips to the shop, drop the wheels, take car in for the swap, return to pick up the old wheels.
If in the shortcut process, you damage a splindle, $$$$.
If you jack up at one of the rear jack points you can get the front up as well. Just have to break the bolts loose before you lift up the side of the car.
I find it very stable to change wheels..... I would never work under the car like this.
Loosening the nut while on the ground is the wrong thing to do. There's no reason to do this. Rears have the parking brake applied and fronts just need someone to press the brake pedal or use a jig. Doing one corner at a time is just fine. The Porsche procedure is assuming that you have a two-post lift.
I lift one end at a time using two jacks. I add a safety 2x4 in the jack mechanisms and chock the other end (depending on which way I'm torquing the nuts). I also use a 3:1 torque multiplier so I don't need a big breaker bar. You can find lots of procedures on Rennlist and YouTube. You also need to source the aluminum paste. Dealers have 100g tubes of this and it's pricey but a little dab will do ya. Wear nitrile gloves, keep everything clean, and try not to get the paste on the wheels. Also critical is that you apply the 600 Nm, back off 90 degrees, and then re-apply 600 Nm. That's 442 ft-lbs. And lastly, make sure the internal lock pops out flush when you remove the socket.
Agreed that it's completely fine to do one corner at a time.
To stress though: it is definitely NOT a shortcut to torque the CL nut back on with the car lowered and the tire on the ground. If you don't follow Porsche's instructions and attempt to single person torque the wheel(s) on while it's on the ground, the nut will not be on tight enough. In that instance, the locating pins on the rotor hat/wheel hub WILL sheer and the wheel & rotor will spin freely on the hub under acceleration (at least for a driven wheel). The locking mechanism should keep the wheel from falling off altogether, but that's the best case.
In short: follow the directions carefully. Find someone to help you and have them apply the brake while the wheel is suspended. The extra effort is absolutely not wasted time.
If you jack up at one of the rear jack points you can get the front up as well. Just have to break the bolts loose before you lift up the side of the car.
I find it very stable to change wheels..... I would never work under the car like this.
That is how I changed tires on my 981 and 991.2 as well. I agree. Would never work under the car like that but fine for changing tires.
Loosening the nut while on the ground is the wrong thing to do. There's no reason to do this. Rears have the parking brake applied and fronts just need someone to press the brake pedal or use a jig. Doing one corner at a time is just fine. The Porsche procedure is assuming that you have a two-post lift.
I lift one end at a time using two jacks. I add a safety 2x4 in the jack mechanisms and chock the other end (depending on which way I'm torquing the nuts). I also use a 3:1 torque multiplier so I don't need a big breaker bar. You can find lots of procedures on Rennlist and YouTube. You also need to source the aluminum paste. Dealers have 100g tubes of this and it's pricey but a little dab will do ya. Wear nitrile gloves, keep everything clean, and try not to get the paste on the wheels. Also critical is that you apply the 600 Nm, back off 90 degrees, and then re-apply 600 Nm. That's 442 ft-lbs. And lastly, make sure the internal lock pops out flush when you remove the socket.
Much cheaper then everything else out there, and you can adjust the height of the jack stands.
You can do one side at a time, but really it's easier and faster to just get it up on 4 jack stands, then do the swap. I got it down to about 45min total from start to finish.
Center locks are cool, great but also suck. You also got to invest in all the tools!
1. Good jacks stands
2. Good jack
3. Good breaker bar
4. Spare center lock nut for breaker bar
5. Pression Torque torque wrench.
Don't forget the stupid messy wheel paste and gloves with a couple rolls of shop towels and W40 to clean off the paste.
One corner up at a time is fine. Think about it, what do the other three wheels do while you work on one? Nothing. CLs are really not that much harder.
I do all my wheel swaps by myself....I've found that jacking up one wheel at a time is quicker than setting up my QuickJacks. I use this brake depressor and can complete a wheel swap in about 20min max.
03-09-2022 | 12:33 PM
Centre Lock Q? Do you really need to get the car up on all 4 corners?
