I’m an expert mechanic

Apr 16, 2023

A FEMALE mechanic has revealed how to start your home wheel changes off on the right foot.

The auto technician outlined the tools you’ll need for this task as a socket, car lift, and a ratchet or breaker bar.

Mechanic, Lina Donnelly (@linadonelly), explains in her TikTok video clip that you want to crack the lug nuts off a wheel before lifting your vehicle, contrary to many drivers’ methods.

You’ll loosen the lug nuts by using your socket attached to a ratchet or breaker bar.

Lina adds that you want to lift your vehicle then and finish unscrewing the lug nuts you’ve loosened.

The mechanic said: "Next, you want to lift the wheel off the wheel hub.

"Be careful not to damage the studs that are on the back, and take your wheel off."

Lastly, Lina instructs viewers to reattach the new wheel to its assembly before re-tightening the lug nuts.

Lina recommends using a torque wrench to re-tighten these lug nuts, saying she sets the tool to 110-120nm meters (81.13-162.7 pound foot of torque.)

But you can still use a breaker bar to tighten lug nuts if you don't own a torque wrench.

This isn't the only wheel-changing tip recently gifted by an expert female mechanic.

Kirsten Vaughn's (@vermilionvixenmain) TikTok clip begins with overlay text: "How your man tightens down his lug nuts."

The video shows Kirsten tightening a Pontiac wheel's lug nuts in a clockwise pattern.

Next, this female mechanic's overlay text on her video said: "How I tighten down my lug nuts," with a shot of herself performing a star-torquing pattern underneath.

A star pattern involves tightening any lug nut before moving to the farthest nut.

The star pattern's result is an evenly drawn down wheel with equally torqued lug nuts free of vibrations.