subject: Steps For Changing A Flat Tire [print this page] Changing a flat tire is not a very pleasant experience. It seems like your car purposely tries to get a flat tire at the least opportune moments.
So you are driving and hear a noise and notice your car is not driving straight and it is hard to turn the wheel. You pull over, get out of your car, and see that indeed you do have a flat tire.
The following steps will help you know just what to do and when.
Jack up the Car:
The first step is to find your car's spare tire, jack and tire iron. The spare tire is almost always located underneath the floor mat in the trunk.
If you own an SUV, minivan or pickup, the spare tire is often mounted on the back of the tailgate or underneath the vehicle itself.
Once you have found the spare tire, remove it from the car. If you have an air pressure gauge handy, you will want to check the spare tire's pressure.
If this tire is flat, too, you're in a bit of trouble. But let's just assume you have been keeping tabs on the spare tire's health, and its air pressure is perfect.
The next step will involve removing the flat tire. Make sure that the car is in gear (or in "park" if the car is an automatic) and the emergency brake is set.
The car should be parked on a flat piece of pavement. Do not attempt to change a flat if the car is on a slope or if it is sitting on dirt.
It's also a good idea to block the tire opposite of the flat tire. Therefore, if the left front tire is flat, it would be a good idea to place a brick or other large, heavy object behind the right rear tire.
Blocking the tire makes the car less likely to move when you are raising it. Use the tire iron (the L-shaped bar that fits over the wheel lugs) to loosen each wheel lug.
The wheel lugs are almost certainly very tight. You'll have to use brute force. Now, at this point, you don't want to actually remove the lugs. You just want them loose.
Once you have accomplished this, move the jack underneath the car. If you don't know where the proper jacking points are, look them up in the owner's manual (you keep your owner's manual in your car, right?).
Maneuver the jack underneath the jack point and start to raise the jack. Most car jacks these days are a screw-type scissor jack, which means you simply turn the knob at the end of the jack using the provided metal hand crank.
Raise the jack until it contacts the car's frame and continue expanding the jack.
Remove the Flat and Install the Spare:
Raise the car with the jack until the flat tire is completely raised off the ground. Once this is done, remove the wheel lugs completely.
Depending on how tight the lugs are you might be able to remove them by hand. Set the lugs aside in a secure location where they can't roll away.
Position the spare tire over the wheel studs. This is the most physically challenging part of the whole process.
You'll have to hold up the tire and try to line up the holes in the wheel with the protruding wheel studs located on the brake hub. One trick that might help is to balance the tire on your foot while you move it into position.
After you have the spare tire hanging on the wheel studs, screw each of the wheel lugs back on. You'll want to start them by hand.
Make sure you do not cross-thread them. The lugs should screw on easily.
Once each of them is snug and you can't tighten them any further by hand, use the tire iron to finish the job. At this point, you don't need to get the lugs super tight.
You just want them snug for now. Make sure that the wheel is fitting flush against the brake hub.
Once the spare tire is on, carefully lower the jack. Pull the jack away from the vehicle. The final step is to tighten down the lugs completely.
The reason you tighten the lugs now is that the tire is on the ground and it won't rotate around like it would if it was still hanging in the air.
Wheel lugs have a specific torque rating that they are supposed to be tightened down to, but there is pretty much no way you can figure that out using a simple tire iron. The general rule here is to tighten down the lugs as much as possible.
That is it, put your tools away, wash your hands if you can and you are on your way.
