Changing a Tyre

No one wants to be stuck in the middle of the city or worse yet, out in the middle of the rural countryside with a flat tyre. If you do not have the proper equipment in your auto to change the tyre, you could be late for your job, or even just spend hours on the side of the road waiting for assistance from one of your mates or a random passerby. You can easily be put in danger in situations like this as well, as you are stuck with nowhere to go and could fall victim to muggers or other people who might try to take advantage of your situation. You can avoid this if you are prepared to quickly change your tyre and get back on the road, so make sure that you have the equipment you need and the knowledge of how to properly change a tyre.

What You Need

There are a few simple tools that you can keep in the boot of your auto to ensure that you will be prepared to change a flat tyre. Fortunately, checking vehicle oil levels is must easier than tyre maintenance. Of course, you will need to have a spare tyre or a temporary spare. Besides that obvious necessity, you will need a jack and a wrench that fits the wheel nuts. It is also helpful to keep two wooden blocks with you to help add safety to the situation by placing them on either side of one of the tyres you are not changing. This, in combination with your parking brake and having your auto set in park will help to keep the car from any sudden collapse once you have jacked it up to the proper height. Also, consider that you may not be very visible to other drivers, especially if you are in a busy traffic area, so you should keep a reflective jacket with you in order to provide maximum visibility to other motorists.

Change the Flat Tyre

Once you have put your auto in park, engaged the parking brake, turned your auto off, and put on your reflective jacket, take the wrench and turn the wheel nuts about a quarter turn each to the left in order to loosen them. Do this before you have raised the auto with your jack for added stability and leverage. You will then want to take your two blocks and place them on either side of a different tyre for stability, after which you will need to find the jacking point under the carriage of the car. Your jack should fit this point, so if you are unable to find it at first, consult your owner's manual to find out exactly where the correct point is to place the jack for proper stability.

Raise the car by cranking your jack until the tyre is elevated, and once the tyre is just off of the ground, continue to loosen the wheel nuts. Remove the old tyre and replace it with the new one, loosely screw the wheel nuts back on and lower the car so that the tyre is just touching the ground. Tighten each wheel nut in a rotating manner; if you have four wheel nuts, start with one and give it several turns. Then, turn the wheel nut opposite the one you just tightened. Tighten the other nuts in the same way, continuing this pattern until the wheel is secure. Lower your auto slowly and put all of your tools back into your car, and you are ready to get on your way. Make sure to visit a garage after changing a tyre to be sure that the change was performed properly for added safety.

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