How to Loosen Lug Nuts

Series Summary

Your car is a complex machine made up of simple machines that have many different parts and processes that must be checked for breakage, leaks, and wear. Properly working brakes are obviously essential to your driving safety and they should be checked periodically and especially if you notice problems with them. At some point you will need to replace the brakes and brake pads on your vehicle. Problems with the brake rotors can be caused by wear due to prolonged use, and also long periods where the car is not driven. Would you like to know how to install new brakes yourself? The process is not as complicated as it sounds, and makes a great do-it-yourself weekend project.

In this free video series you’ll learn how to inspect and replace the brakes on your car. Expert professional mechanic Nathan McCullough demonstrates the steps to replace your brakes such as breaking loose the lug nuts, jacking up the vehicle, removing the brake calipers, pads and inspecting various parts like the brake hoses and rotors as you work. He also offers tips on cleaning the perches and greasing the calipers before installing the new brake pads and wheel. And no auto repair project is complete without a method of checking your work, and Nathan demonstrates the brake pumping technique you should use to ensure your brakes are functioning properly.

Video Transcript

"My name is Nate McCullough on behalf of expertvillage.com. In this clip we are going to talk about proper way to break the lug nuts loose on your car. The first thing you have to do is gain access to the lug nuts. You can see here that its got a protective cover over it. I like to use a flat screwdriver for this slot right there. Just insert the screwdriver and give it a little twist and pop, there you go. I use a 4-way. You get a lot more leverage that way. You want to break your lug nuts loose with the tires still on the ground. If we had jacked this up already and tried to break them loose, the tire would just free spin due to the differential action in the transmission. All right, that should be good enough right there. The lug nuts are all broken loose and we can spin them off pretty easily now. "