|
How
To
Change a Flat Tire
View the How To video for this
article
Until the
day comes when we are all piloting
flying cars (and trust me, the day
will come), our cars are stuck with
these rubber things called tires.
They roll nice and all, but they
have a rather nasty problem of
sometimes losing air. And without
air, they become deflated and
virtually useless.
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. Like when you are rushing
home from work to catch your
favorite episode of "Happy Days,"
for instance. You know, the one
where Fonzie rides the killer bull
while on vacation in Colorado.
Now, there are some of you who might
be lucky and own a car with run-flat
tires or a low tire-pressure warning
system. If that is the case, you
might be able to avoid the icky
process. But even if you are a
hapless soul, changing a tire
doesn't have to be all bad. With
knowledge comes power. If you are
unsure how to change a tire
properly, and you want to know, read
on.
*
OK, so you are driving along and all
of the sudden you hear a loud bang
and the telltale thumping noise of a
dead tire. You carefully pull off to
the shoulder of the road. Checking
to make sure no other motorists are
going to run you over, you exit your
vehicle and inspect the car. Sure
enough, your car's left front tire
is completely flat. You are not
going to be able to keep driving, so
you are going to have to remove it
and install your car's spare tire in
its place.
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. Unless, of course, your car
doesn't have a 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. (Your cousin Fred
might also be large and heavy, but
it's not a good idea to use him to
block the 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. Just think about how Mr. T
from the "A-Team" would do it and
try to be like him. Say to yourself,
"Hannibal, I piddy da fool who can't
break loose wheel lugs." You'll have
those babies loose in no time. You
loosen them by turning them
counterclockwise, by the way.
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.
Again, think Mr. T. "I ain't flying
on no plane with loose wheel lugs,
Hannibal!"
That's it. Put the flat tire in the
space where the spare tire was and
put the jack and tire iron back in
the car. Most compact spare tires
are smaller than regular tires (they
look dinky and people commonly refer
to them as "rubber doughnuts"), so
it is possible that the flat tire
won't fit in the spare tire well.
Also, compact spares have a limited
top speed. The tire's top speed will
be written on its sidewall. If your
vehicle has a full-size spare, you
won't encounter these problems. With
the spare installed, you should be
able to reach your house or the
nearest service station. |
