Did I miss something?

[Missy]

you jack up the car, remove the lug nuts, then pull off the tire right?

So if the car is sufficiently high enough then the tire should come right off? Is there any reason it would not? If it doesn't that would probably be a bad sign . . . right?

[Beguile's Mistress]

Once all the lug nuts have been removed and put in a safe place so they don't get lost a little manipulation should be all you need.  You may have to lift the tire a fraction of an inch to clear the threads in the bolts or the tire may be tilted in a way that has the wheel or rim wedged in place. 

[Missy]

Thanks for the help, I'm not sure what else to do at this point. I suck with mechanics, always have, it's just frustrating to try to work with.

I've tried lifting, I've tried tilting and I've tried pulling I'm just not sure what else to do.

[Oniya]

Spray a little WD-40 around the bolts?

[Inkidu]

Spray a little WD-40 around the bolts?

The miracle compound, but really all you should need is a little elbow grease.

Also if  you're rotating your tires bring the front ones straight back and bring the back ones up putting the left on the right and the right on the left for a front-wheel-drive vehicle, and do the opposite for a rear-wheel-drive vehicle. (Bring the back ones straight to the front and cross the front ones on the way back.


Also, when you go to affix the new tire always tighten every other lugnut first. Don't tighten them in a row. Not sure what it does exactly. I've never knockd it. I think it provides a less-stressed fitting.

[Psi]

Before you jack up the car, and if its had WD-40 applied to it, apply the tyre lever to the nuts, and let it hold in place.   

Then kick it in the appropriate direction.   Sometimes the sudden force is enough - then once its twisted a half turn, move to the next.   Once all are loose, then jack the car up and attempt to remove them in the normal fashion.

Is the tyre off the ground?   If so, try kicking the tyre and see if the force of kicking the tyre is enough to rock the tyre on the bolts, it has possibly rusted to the axel - not good however.

If all else fails you have two options.

1 - You have roadside care - call them.   (If your asking here however, and waiting this long, I don't think this may be the case)
2 - Call the nearest tyre place for support.

As for tightening the nuts, and crossing the wheel, it provides equal stresses upon the wheel, and ensures it fits correctly.
I run into the same thing in IT, if you start on top left when mounting a piece of equipment, you then go bottom right, bottom left, top right - its more likely to line up with all the correct holes.

[stormkitten]

you jack up the car, remove the lug nuts, then pull off the tire right?

So if the car is sufficiently high enough then the tire should come right off? Is there any reason it would not? If it doesn't that would probably be a bad sign . . . right?

Tires when they are put on typically have some kind of lube that allows them come on and off.... if the lub is not there, not applied, or worn off, the tires can seize in place making it difficult to get the wheel off. At that point it takes a lot more than a little pulling to get it to come off to change that tire.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Get a rubber mallet and give it a few hard raps.  A block of wood and regular hammer might work just as well.

[Missy]

Actually I'm worried the wheel might actually be rusted to the axle, which I agree would be really bad, especially since I don't know how to fix that or how much it would cost. I might have enough though it sucks to do that.

Thankyou all for helping out, wish me luck in figuring it out.