How to Change a Flat Tire

Changing a tire was once something everyone except little old ladies did when they had a flat. Now many people rely on roadside emergency assistance like AAA. There may be a time, however, when you just don't have the time to wait for roadside assistance or it's just not available for some reason. If that ever happens, you will need to know how to change your tire. It's not complicated, but there is a right way to do it.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• car jack
• lug wrench
• emergency flare

1. If you're forced to fix a flat tire on the side of a roadway, use an emergency flare to warn drivers that you are on the side of the road. Use the flare during the day, not just at night.

2. Find your spare tire, jack and lug wrench. Most cars keep them in the trunk of the car. Read the directions on the jack or in your car's user's manual, and find the notch underneath your car that is closest to the flat tire and place the jack under the notch. Raise the jack until it makes contact with the car and starts to lift the car. At this point, stop lifting the car before the wheel lifts off the ground.

3. If you have hubcaps on a steel wheel, you need to remove the hubcap to access the lug nut. Your lug wrench that came with the car should have a flat end to pry off the hubcap. With your lug wrench, loosen each lug nut. Do not remove the lug nuts, just loosen them.

4. With all lug nuts loosened, continue raising the car until the wheel is off the ground. Remove all of the lug nuts.

5. To remove the tire from the car, you need to lift the tire and pull the tire off the wheel bolts. This may require some effort. If necessary, sit on the ground to give yourself leverage and protect your back from injury. Once the flat tire is removed, place the spare tire on the car.

6. Your spare tire will either be a regular air filled tire, like the other four tires on your car, or it will be a smaller solid rubber tire that is used strictly as a spare tire so you can get your damaged tire fixed or replaced. If you have the solid rubber tire, do not drive faster than 50 mph.

7. Once the spare tire is on the car, replace the lug nuts and hand tighten each. Make sure that the tire is pushed all the way on the bolts. After all of the nuts are hand tightened, use the lug wrench to give all the nuts a medium tight fit. Once all are medium tight, lower the car and give each nut a full tight turn. You want to evenly secure the nuts, so you need to gradually tighten all of the lug nuts.

8. Once the spare tire is securely installed, place the flat tire, jack and lug wrench in your trunk and go see a mechanic as soon as possible to either repair your tire or replace it, depending on the nature of the damage.