Sunday, September 11th. While most people were up early remembering the victims of of the attack, I was still sleeping because I’d worked late the night before. So around 1030hrs, I wake up, shower and head over to MomandDads^(tm) to change my rotors. No sooner was the car up on capstans, and the lugnut wrench on the first lugnut, me straining to get it off than an evil feeling creep over me. “Dear God, I’m getting weak. I need to get back to the gym.”

My fears were soon put to rest. Let me set up the scene. I’m 5′10″ and weigh approximately 228 pounds, give or take. Sure, I’m a little chunky but from working out I have a lot of muscle. So, needless to say I’m not a small person. I put the lugwrench on the wheel so it would provide a stable “platform” and started hopping up and down on it. A lot. You would think that with my stature the lugwrench would turn. You would be very, very wrong. The lug nuts of both rear wheels wouldn’t move at all. As an experiment, my dad suggested trying all the wheels. The lug nuts on the front wheels were loosened by my hopping on the lug wrench. This meant going back to Sears Auto for them to loosen the rear lugs with an airgun, then tighten again to 100 ft-lbs of torque with a torque wrench. Why 100 ft-lbs? That is what Rick at European Performace suggested. They fix BMWs. 95% of their business is BMW repair. It’s be 100% if I hadn’t seen a poor, really beat up Mercedes Benz (INFERIOR) and a Range Rover there.

BMW Spec for this story: lugnuts on wheels should be tightened to 100 ft-lbs. and you should specify this if you get anything involving wheel removal replaced.

The Goodyear Eagle tires Sears Auto on Kirkwood Highway installed are working wonderfully. I’m not sure they grip as well as the Michellins did. The Goodyear tires are all weather so the rubber is made of sterner stuff than the softer, more clingy Michellins. I don’t mind though. The Z3 handles like a dream either way. I would find out how good a job of tire replacement Sears did when I attempted to change the rear rotors and pads on the Z3.