Removing wheels for a detail - thoughts?

Hey gang -

I've now done a few trucks for people where, ideally, I'd have removed the wheels to clean them properly. There seem to always be portions of the barrel - particularly behind the wheel spokes - that no number of brushes will clean to my satisfaction. The answer, I'm pretty sure, is to remove the wheels from vehicles like this.

My current situation is that I've got a floor jack that is only rated to 1.5 tons. It's a Harbor Freight aluminum "racing jack" that I use to change the tires on my S2000 at autocrosses. It's just not strong enough to get something like a pickup truck off the ground safely.

So...how do you guys do it? I figure the answer is to simply get a stronger floor jack. But, questions remain. Read on...

JL raised an interesting point to me last month. He usually doesn't remove wheels from customer cars, because of liability concerns. The last thing any of us need is to get finished detailing a car, and have a wheel come loose while the customer is driving home! :yikes: Seems like a recipe for disaster. Torque settings for wheel nuts vary pretty widely as well - my Honda needs 80 lb/ft., but my former Excursion diesel needed 150. And, inevitably, there will be vehicles where you can't get the lug nuts off, due to corrosion, or a tire shop using an impact gun to replace the wheels. Then, we (possibly) go down the road of customers coming back to complain that we warped their brake rotors, or otherwise damaged the vehicle.

What say you?

 

A lot has been said.

Taking off wheels for your details

 

Thanks for the link. I didn't get a hit with the search parameters I was using.

 

I usually ask clients if they want their wheels removed for a more thorough cleaning and if they opt for it, they do so at their own risk. Usually I only do this for my friends/family or well-known clients.

 

The only time I ever remove wheels is for a show vehicle and then I have them sign something so that I'm not liable.

 

Good discussion over on the other thread. I've learned some new things - like the Audi Allroad having to be put into "jack mode" before lifting it. Ugh.

Another concern that springs to mind is where to put the jack. It's not always obvious. With my S2000, for instance, there's a specific place at the front and back of the rocker panel. If you miss it - which would be easy to do - you could bend the sheetmetal where the unibody comes together. The previous owner of my car (or some shop) did this :crasy:. Nevermind that once you have one end of the car up in the air, sometimes there's no suitable place to put a jackstand, because the jack is in the way.

At the moment, I think I'm going to take the position that I don't remove wheels on customer cars. It's obviously complicated to do it, and the risks, to me, don't outweight the rewards.

Denzil, this sounds like a reasonable approach.

Justin, is this waiver anything you'd be willing to share?

 

Hm, I'd be interested to hear if this is something that Justin may share. I was actually thinking of writing my own document to cover this issue since you brought it up krshultz.

 

Thats a good point!

 

Keep in mind that waivers do not really hold up well in a court. This applies to personal injury and/or property damage. I had an at length discussion on this topic with my lawyer last year. Basically, a liability waiver is null if they can introduce negligence into the case (which is pretty easy in most cases to show to to a "non-expert" audience). Once the case is about negligence, it is a whole different story. The waiver becomes useless because they never signed a waiver in light of negligence.

Kinda screwed up but it is just the way it is in most cases. Legal aspects of business are a major PIA!

 

I just had a brain wave.

One of my customers is a contracts attorney. I'll ask him what he thinks.

 

I guess it really wouldn't be considered a waiver, on my invoice or estimate I just write down customer gives permission to remove wheels from the vehicle. Then I have them sign it. If they sign something, in my opinion, I think if something did happen, they would be less likely to file a lawsuit.

 

I think removing the wheels is a very bad idea unless it is a close friend or family member. Even if you did nothing wrong you could get sued if they were in a random accident, especially during today's financial situation, everyone is hungry for money.

 

I would do what you can do and call it a day. I would never take a chance like that with a clients car. MB43 hit he nail on the head. You've got way too much to lose. It's like baby seats. I will remove them to clean an interior, but refuse to re-install them. I leave that up to the client.