The worst experience I've ever had - Changing a wheel!
 

Guys I dont know if it is only me or anyone of you faced the same! Yesterday, I was driving to work, and there was a sharp rock on the side of the road and I did not see it. I drove over it with the right front tyre so it got broken from the side wall.

As it was the first time for me to change an X5 wheel, I pulled over, opened the trunk and tried to figure out what to do. Here are my negative notes:
- The spare wheel lifting mechanism is fine, but to take the wheel out you have to say goodbuy to your suit and tie :(
- Of course the wheel is so heavy. I wonder if that happened to a lady what would she do!
- Here comes the worst thing, taking the lifting jack out of its place. In spite that I am tall (190cm), i could not reach it from outside the car. I had to jump inside the trunk to reach it!
- I took it out and started to lift the car up from the right front side using the plastic hole as drawn on the jack. All of a sudden, the car moved forward in spite that the parking brake is up and i had some rocks on both sides of the opposite wheel. Thank god that the wheel was still there but the bolts were removed. I went down to see what happened and I found the plastic hole broken and the jack is slightly damaged.
- A guy with a Toyota Land Cruiser was passing and he noticed that I am facing troubles so he gave me his hydrolic jack which was just perfect! I wonder why BMW does not the same type of jacks.
- I finally changed the wheel with the 17" spare. The final disaster was putting the damaged wheel back inside the trunk, full of mud and brake dust :rolleyes: ... I have 19" wheels and you can imagine how heavy it is and for sure I had to use my both hands and my right thigh to push it up to the trunk ... and i had to say goodbye to my pants!

Finally I went to check if the tyre can be repaired but the technician said it cannot be fixed because the side wall is damaged and you have to buy a new tyre. Since i was planning to change the 4 tyres soon I took the chance and changed them all instead of having the same situation again. I got Pirelli Pzero Rosso tyres 255/50/19 front and 285/45/19 rear. They told me it is better than the Michelin tyres. Let's see. This costed me around 1,350$ installed.

To be honest, the car ride is now much much smoother and the tyres seems to have glue. The car is sticking to the road wherever I go or whatever I do.

Somehow it seems to me BMW roadside assistance would have been a better option. ;)

i wonder if they have BMW roadside there...

i think the guy in the land cruiser bought his own hydrualic jack...toyota's rarely come with useful assist things...at least not in america...

at least you found an exuse to get new tires :D

I wish we have this luxury in Saudi Arabia!

You know what. I've been thinking about checking out that operation again my self. It's been a while since i checked it out. ;) BTW what day and time is it over there?

forgot how to change a tire?

Of course not. Just need to review the BMW process. Although I don't change tires any more it would be nice to know what the procedure is and where the tools are that are needed to get my 6000 lb beast in the air to remove the tire.

ooo...that would be good to know...

right now this is my procedure:

dial BMW Roadside Assistance...say that no, i am not safe...and wait an hour for AAA to arrive...;)

if I have ever to get a flat with any of the cars.

My procedure would be:

get out car - get phone out of pocket - press home number - tell husband to get over here toot sweet as I have a flat, once he had arrived take his car and leave him to change flat.:thumbup:

I'll agree almost every factory car jack blows!! As for heavy, just imagine us folks with 20's with 315 tires on the :wow:

Sorry the experience sucked.