How to change a wheel on your Volvo XC40

By Stuart Johnston

 

Changing a wheel on a Volvo XC40 is easy. It’s all a matter of following procedures and these are detailed for you in the car’s owner’s manual. But just in case, this  article tells you how.

1. In the case of a flat wheel, stop the car gently, and pull off to a safe place. Never slam on the brakes as the car will be unstable with one of the wheels flat. Brake gently and look for a good safe place to pull over.  This will preferably be a level piece of tarmac or earth, where you can jack the car up safely.

2. Once you have stopped, put the car in Park if it’s an automatic or in low gear if a manual, and block off the three  wheels that aren’t punctured with rocks or stones, so that that the car won’t roll forward when you jack it up.

3. The Volvo XC40 has a space-saver spare wheel and this is located under the flip-up floor tray in the boot.

4. All the necessary tools to jack up the car, remove the wheel-nut dress-up covers and loosen the wheel nuts are contained in a smart styrofoam holder that fits inside the space-saver wheel.

5. Remove the space-saver and place it on the ground next to where you will be loosening the wheel. Note that the space –saver wheel should be inflated to 420 kPa. Check this regularly.

6. Slot the scissors-type  jack into designated points on the underbody designed to accept the shape of the jack. On the XC40 these are unpainted strips on the black underside of the chassis near either the front or the rear wheels . Adjust the jack so that, when it is standing upright,  it can just slip in under the car. Then tighten it using the lever, so that the jack stands on its own in position, but is not yet raising up the car.

7. Use the special wheel-nut cover removing clip, to prise off the five black wheel nut covers.

8. At this point you should slightly loosen the nuts one turn before jacking up the car. This is because they may take lots of force to loosen and you don’t want to do this when the car is jacked up, as the car may fall off the jack.  Fit the wheel spanner to the nut at a good angle so that you can stand on the wheel-spanner to  loosen the nuts, using your leg power (much stronger than arms!) loosening in an anti-clockwise direction.

9. With the nuts loosened one turn, raise the car by cranking the jack, so that the punctured wheel is clear of the ground.  Jack it up just a bit more so that, later, the space-saver wheel and  inflated tyre can easily fit on the wheel hub. Then loosen the nuts fully and gently remove the wheel and place it on the ground. Don’t bump the car or jiggle it while it is raised on the jack.

10. Replace the flat wheel with the space saver, and tighten the nuts firmly but not too tight in a clockwise direction when the car is still jacked up . Then once you have  lowered the car onto the ground, so that the wheel won’t turn,  you should tighten the wheel nuts as tight as you can make them, using your arms.

11. Pack the jack, wheel spanner, and nut cap tool away neatly into its Styrofoam container. The full size wheel will take more space than the space saver, so you will have to make adjustments for this if you are carrying lots of luggage.

12. Proceed to your nearest service station at a speed of not more than 80 km/h. That is the legal limit for using space saver wheels. Get the puncture repaired as soon as possible, replace the space saver with the correct wheel, and go on your merry way.

* A note for our female drivers who often drive in stylish shoes. It is a good idea to pack a pair of solid hiking boots or trainers into the boot, so that you can loosen those wheel nuts if ever you have to. You will sometimes need to give that wheel spanner a good stamping with your booted foot, as these nuts can become very tight over time, often all but impossible to loosen using just arm-strength.

Recommended: Read our review on the Volvo XC40 click here.