MOTORING 101: How to change a flat tyre
It will probably tickle you to say I’ve been in tyre changing situations that vary anywhere from comical to downright dangerous. Many people think they can change the tyre until they realise that they really can’t, and don’t know the first thing about changing a flat.
So, it’s not really far-fetched to put down a step-by-step guide. This is of course under the assumption that you do have a spare tyre and that it is still properly inflated – which you ought to always do, and it ought to always be.
Stop on a flat surface
This will prevent the vehicle from rolling away once jacked up, and possibly causing an accident. Ensure your hazard signs are placed visibly.
The last thing you want is someone ploughing through you as you change a tyre.
Place a brick or other large, heavy object behind the tyre opposite the flat. Blocking like this makes the car less likely to move when you are raising it.
Loosen the wheel nuts
Use the wheel spanner, the L-shaped bar, to loosen each nut. They are almost always very tight. You’ll have to use brute force to turn them anticlockwise.
Just loosen and don’t remove the nuts, you’ll want the tyre secured as you jack up the vehicle.
Jack up the car
Manoeuvre the jack underneath the jack point, which you will find in the owner’s manual, and start to raise the jack. Most car jacks these days are a 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. Continue expanding the jack. Raise the car with the jack until the flat tyre is completely raised off the ground.
Remove and replace
Remove the wheel nuts completely. Depending on how tight the nuts are, you might be able to remove them by hand.
Remove one opposite nut at a time and set them aside in a secure location where they can’t roll away.
Remove the flat tyre and replace it with the spare, replacing one opposite nut at a time.
Lower and tighten
Lower and move the jack away from the vehicle. The final step is to tighten down the nuts completely.
When suspended in the air, it’s impossible to tighten the nuts properly and could easily result in the wheel coming off. On the ground, it won’t rotate around as it would if it were still hanging in the air.
Replace all your tools and be on your merry way. Remember to fix the flat tyre immediately, lest another puncture finds you unprepared.
