If you own a car and you take care of its maintenance regularly, you realize how big of a hassle it is to change a tire of the car. Whether you are changing at home or outside, it’s a problem everywhere.
If you have ever been stuck on the side of the road because of a flat tire, you should immediately learn how to change a tire of your car with any delay, so you don’t have to rely on the help of others when you are out or wait for some mechanic to change it for you.
There are a few simple steps which will guide you on how to change the tire of your car:
1. Find a flat, stable and safe place to change your tire
When changing the tire, no matter where you are, you need to find a flat and solid level surface, which will restrict the car from rolling in any direction.
If you have a flat tire on your journey, you should park your car as far from traffic as possible and should always use emergency flasher, also known as hazard lights. Also, you need to avoid soft grounds and hills.
2. Apply the parking brake and put the car into “Park” position.
You should always put the car in the parking position and apply the parking brakes this is for automatic cars, if you have a manual car you should either put the car on 1st gear or reverse gear.
3. Place a heavy object
Find a heavy object like a rock or a concrete block and place it in front of both back and front tires.
4. Take out the spare tire and the jack.
Find the jack in the back of your trunk and place it under the frame of the tire, which you are supposed to change, making sure that the jack is in touch with the metal portion of the frame.
The cars that are being manufactured nowadays have molded plastic along the bottom, and if you are unable to pace the jack in the right place, the plastic will start to crack when you start to lift the car.
If you are unsure about how to place the jack, do read the user manual before taking any further action.
For most modern cars, there is a small mark or notch right behind the front wheel wells or in front of the back wheels where the jack is supposed to be placed.
Most old frame cars and trucks that have frames, you should be able to locate the beam to place the jack on. It should be right behind the front wheels and in front of the rear tires.
5. Raise the jack until it is supporting
You should raise the jack to check and see until it is supporting the car, not actually raising it. You should place the jack firmly underneath the vehicle, and check to make sure that the jack is perpendicular to the ground and place right where it’s supposed to be.
6. Remove the hub cap and loosen the nuts.
After placing the jack in its place and making sure it is supporting the car, you should remove the hub cap from the tire and try to loosen the nuts but turning anti-clockwise.
You are not supposed to take them all the way off; you have to break the resistance. When keeping the wheel on the ground when you loosen the nuts, this will make sure that you are turning the nuts instead of the whole wheel.
First, find the wrench that came with the car and should be in the back of the trunk or use a standard cross wrench. The wrench will have different sizes of openings on all ends; the correct size will fit easily on the nut.
For any unforeseen incidents that may occur during the tire change, try to keep the exact socket size of your lug nuts in spare and also a breaker bar handy in the trunk.
It requires a lot of force to remove the lug nuts free successfully, and if you are unable to do it, try using your body weight from your feet on the wrench (keeping in mind that you’re turning it in the right direction which is anti-clockwise).
This measure comes with a risk of stripping the lug nuts as it is difficult to maintain full contact while stomping on the wrench.
7. Pump or crank the jack to lift the tire.
Crank or pump the jack in order to lift the tire from the ground; you have to lift it high enough so that you can remove the flat tire and install the spare one.
As you are lifting the car, you need to make sure that the car is stable, and if you encounter and instability, lower the car quickly as possible and fix the problem before trying to lift it up again.
If you notice that the jack is lifting the car at an angle or its leaning, you need to lower it and reposition the jack so that it can lift the car straight.
It is always in your best interest to keep a small spare jack in the trunk, in case the normal jack stops working during the tire change you should be able to use both the small and normal jack for the tire change and will ensure safety as well.
8. Remove the nuts all the way.
After lifting the car up straight, you should get back to removing the lug nuts which you loosened before lifting the car. It is very rare, but some vehicles have reverse threaded lug nuts; they are usually found in old cars of Chrysler or GM.
9. Remove the tire
You need to remove the flat tire and place it under the vehicle in case the jack fails or breaks down the car will land on the tire and not on the ground.
If the jack is placed on a solid and flat surface, you won’t have any problems.
One thing to note here is that the tire might stick due to rust, you could try to hit the inside of the tire with a rubber mallet to loosen it up or use the spare one to hit the outside.
10. Placing the spare tire on the hub.
After removing the flat tire, you should place the spare tire on the hub and take care of aligning the rim with the wheel bolts and then place the lug nuts.
Make sure you install the spare tire in the correct manner and not backwards; the valve stem of the doughnut tire should always face outwards.
If your vehicle uses acorn style lug nuts, it is easier to put them on in any direction, but you need to be sure that the tapered part of the lug nut faces the tire when you are tightening it up.
11. Tightening the lug nuts by your hands.
After placing the tire and putting the lug nuts, you need to tighten them with your hands as they will be easy to turn at first, and when they turn snug, use the wrench and tighten them down in a star pattern.
But you don’t have to completely tighten them and avoid exerting too much force on them as well as its risks the jack being unbalanced. You will have to tighten them again when the car is down, and there is no risk of it falling.
12. Lower the car without applying the full weight
After tightening the nuts as much as possible with your hands, you should lower the car and not apply any weight on the tire and lower it to the ground fully and use the wrench to tighten the lug nuts as much as possible.
After you are done with the nuts, replace the hubcap and remove the jack from underneath the car.
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13. Finishing up the process.
After you are done with the replacement of the tire, put all the tools, including the flat tire in the trunk and take this to a mechanic. A small puncture usually costs around $5-$ ten depending on the damage.
If your tire is beyond repairing the will dispose of the tire and will sell you a replacement.
Make sure to consult your user manual and survey their particular strides on the best way to replace a flat tire for your vehicle.
This guide is as simple as anything out there, and when you learn to change a tire once, you never forget it your whole life. Make sure you take all the safety precautions while changing the tire, and you are good to go.
Final Thoughts
This guide is as simple as anything out there, and when you learn to change a tire once, you never forget it your whole life. Make sure you take all the safety precautions while changing the tire, and you are good to go.