Jack/Rotate Tires/Wheel Chocks/Torque Wrench

[Bunmar@aol.com]

Here it goes.  I'm pretty sure that the dealer is going to rotate the tires
every 10k on my '98 GLX.  But I would prefer to rotate every 5k, 15k, etc. and
let them do the 10k as is on the maintenance schedule.  Anyway, I don't have a
floor jack and when I had my Corrado, I used the spare to rotate the tires
(MAJOR HASSLE).

Anyway, I saw a 2 ton floor jack at Auto Palace (similar to Pep Boys) for $20.
Are these reliable?  Any other suggestions on a jack?  How about where to
place it under the car (please be descriptive as I'm not fully familiar with
the underside of autos)?

Should I chock the wheels or can I rely on the emergency brake and leaving the
car in gear especially if I'm only jacking up the car enough to get the wheels
off?

How about a torque wrench?  I've never used one before to tighten lug nuts.  I
know that there was some discussion on the list previously about good/bad
torque wrenches and some people had opinions on the Craftsman models.  Are
there different sizes of these things?  Should I use one?

Which way to rotate the wheels?  Keep on same side of car, just swap left
front with left rear, ditto on right side?  Cross?

Thanks for any info.

Chuck Marshall