... or call mobile service to do it. that you have to ask how to remove the wheels kinda concerns me. I hope I'm just misunderstanding.
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For those who have
never changed a wheel...umm ... practice on another car. It seems simple enough but ... you can f this up and not know it.
this is a very heavy car, so a proper- rated floor jack is required = nothing "discount brand",
and a hard, level surface, like concrete.
asphalt won't do: you'll just pump the jack into the ground without raising the car much, and it will continue to sink into the asphalt while you are trying to get the wheel off. Maybe put plywood under the jack to spread the load if you have to do this on a driveway or street.
also a torque wench (ha) of high quality (please not Harbor Freight, etal), and a star lug wrench for speed (not necessary) a breaker bar (don't use a torque wrench to break your nuts free) and
wheel chocks. Oh. You might want to turn the shock and tilt alarm off first.
If you have vinyl covers over the lug nuts the tongs that come with the vinyl covers (auto parts store) be very handy, otherwise some leather gloves to remove the aero covers, which have sharp edges and take some muscle/technique. You will need to yank on these plastic covers with enough force that you think they will break.
check the tires carefully once off , both the tread and inside/outside sidewalls= check for cuts, nails and screws,
bubbles...check the side of the tire that is normally towards the car whilst you can. If you have a ding or curb rash on the rim check the tire sidewall in that area carefully. bubbles can be hard to see but once the sidewall cords are broken it's game over.
Each wheel should have a marking inside indicating where it goes. RF, LF, RR, LR. check that no wheel weights are missing. while the wheel is off check all you can in the wheel well and elsewhere. look for damage, missing fasteners, check the aero wedges in front of the front wheels are there and the rear edge fasteners are in
-- or just marvel at how it's built. If you have never gaszed at the underside of this car now's the time. It's an F1 under there. You could lower it to 3 centimeters no problem...thing would suck paint off the lane markers. This car is the most aircraft-like I've ever owned. Driving it is flying it, so do a proper walk-around and pre-flight inspection.
The most important part of the job is seating and star- torquing the lug nuts. After about 50 miles you should check the torque on the lug nuts in case you missed one or the wheel was miss-seated on the hub...something weird like that....this is important on such a powerful car. I know, the pros never do this, but you already have the torque wrench so why not? Even the pros can miss one occasionally. Click and Clack (PBS Car Talk) had a mechanic in their shop who insisted he would not pass inspection on a car wtih no hub caps. He said if a wheel nut came loose it would rattle in the hub cover so you'd know immediately. He has a very good point. I had a HS buddy who "did his own work" on a '65 GT 350 Shelby Mustang. On a drive one day his right front wheel passed him and two cars in front of him before it ran into the woods. That was fun.
tires brakes wheels .... everything else can go to hell but make sure these bits are good. Test drive a few miles before you go on a trip or take it to speed. OK I'm a bit paranoid ... I just don't trust anyone working on my cars = I always check their work. You should see the collection of Snap-On tools I've found in my cars over the decades.
or better yet have Lucid Mobile service do it and watch them. if you can afford the car you can afford the pros.
Back on topic:
or might I suggest that Lucid does have rust-free brakes: carbon / ceramic w/ floating hub and forged wheels. oou la la
no rust: kinda pricey though
In a few years I'm goona pick one of these bad boys up on the second-owner market. count on it. and I said the Lucid GT would be my last car...Peter had other ideas for me...sneaky Welshman. I bet he has a roadster up his sleeve too. Dammit.
I made the mistake of trying to clean the rust myself using rsut remover gel without removing the wheels and now it looks worse than with the rust. Is my only option to remove the wheels to clean and if so, how do I even do that...I doubt a typical jack will do the trick to lift the car up.
