A Short Guide on Changing A Flat Tire

We use car everyday but most of us don't know what to do when we have to change a flat tire.

Imgur user TinyOctopus kindly prepared and posted a short guide on this topic. After reading this, you won't be afraid of nails in the road anymore.

Tiny Octopus' ex-wife called him to say she had a flat tire. After rejecting his initial impulse to tell her to go for a long walk off of a short pier, he headed over to change it. She has the kids this weekend, so... And yep. That was a flat tire. He got to thinking that changing a flat should be something everyone should know how to do. So, after a moment's thought, he figured he'd teach some of you how to do it as well.

Lug Nuts and Preparation

Tool List: Tire Iron Lug Nut Key (If your tire has lock nuts) Jack (not the Daniels, but the kind for lifting the car) Spare Tire (Tiny Octopus really recommends keeping a full sized spare, but not everyone has room/finances to do so, so a donut will do in a pinch) Also, apply your emergency brake.

Removing the Lugs

Before you put the jack under the car and start cranking away, you need to loosen the lug nuts. This is because any pressure you put on them will make the tire want to spin. If the tire has been jacked up in the air, it's going to be an exercise in frustration. Loosen (don't remove) the lug nuts in the order shown until you can spin them with your finger. This order is important. And you do it this way to prevent damage to the bolts and your wheel.

Locate The Jack Point

Roughly six to eight inches to the front (of the rear tires) or to the rear (of the front tires), there is a jack point that looks like this. This is where you place your jack for lifting. This is the ONLY place you should put your jack unless you have an industrial lift, in which case this tutorial is not for you.

Inspect your equipment

This is the jack that I pulled out of her trunk. Hopefully yours looks a little better. Brush the area where the jack is going to go clear of major debris. You want/need/strongly desire the jack to be stable.

Positioning

Place the head of the jack under the jack point and start lifting. Most jacks are screw type jacks, so you're going to use a little sliding bar to spin a screw to lift the jack. Reposition your jack as needed until you've made secure contact.

How High?

Only lift the car as high as necessary to get the old tire off and put your new one on. Higher is not better in this case.

Off wit' the Old

Finish removing your lugnuts and put them someplace safe. Don't lose them or you will regret it. Take off the old tire and place it somewhere out of the way.

On with the new.

Put on your donut or spare and put the lugnuts back on in the same order you took them off. See image #3. Tighten them with your fingers until you can't tighten them any more. Then take your tire iron and in the order shown tighten them once. ONCE. At this point, lower your car until enough weight is on the spare so that it doesn't spin when you tighten the lugs. Tighten in order ONCE. Lower your car all the way now and set the jack out of the way. Tighten the lug nuts in order and then do it one more time. "But Tiny Octopus," you ask. "What about torque?" Tiny Octopus says that if you have a torque wrench and know the torque of your lug nuts, you probably know how to change a tire. Over tightening is bad. Bad Bad Bad. So tighten twice and you're fine for the short trip to the shop.

Off to the Shop wit' Ye.

Congratulations. You've changed your flat tire. Now, don't go anywhere but to a tire shop. And don't exceed 60 mph. Donuts are made for short term driving only. Take your flat with you because it may be repairable. That's up to your shop to determine. Tiny Octopus hopes this helps. If one person avoids calling AAA and does this on their own, then the fifteen minutes it took him to type this up will have been time well spent

Thank you TinyOctopus, You Rock