Flat Tire

“I may be a living legend, but that sure don't help when I've got to change a flat tire.”- Roy Orbison

According to eHow.com it is possible to fix a flat car tire in 15 minutes, far faster than it takes for a tow truck to arrive. Here are the steps:

1. Turn on your flashers and safely pull off the road. You want a shoulder that is not “soft” (the car jack will need a hard surface so it won’t sink or become unstable). You also want a spot where other cars can see you from a long distance away (i.e. don’t park on a the back side of a curve).
2. Apply the hand brake and turn off the car (transmission in Park) so the car won’t roll. Also prevent car rolling by chocking the tires with large rock or logs (same idea as door stopper wedges).
All family members should get out of the car now and stay away from the edge of the road. You don’t want kids inside rocking the car when it’s jacked up!
3. If you have flares or triangles, place these at 10-foot intervals behind your car to warn other motorists.
4. Open you trunk and hopefully you’ll find your spare tire, jack, and lug-nut wrench. Do you have a flashlight in your trunk for tire changes at night?
5. Remove the hubcap (if necessary) to access the lug-nuts.
6. Loosen the lug-nuts but don’t remove them yet. Turn them counterclockwise (lefty-loosy, righty-tighty). Some cars have locking lug-nuts to prevent tire theft and require a special key to remove (check your glove compartment).
7. Once the nuts are loose, jack up the car. Check diagrams in your owner’s manual for safe places under your car that can bear the weight for the jack. Make sure the jack is perfectly vertical and on a stable surface. Jack the car up a little more than is needed to remove the flat because the spare (filled with air) is likely to be slightly larger.
8. Now remove the loosened lug-nuts with your hand and put them in a pocket so they don’t become lost.
9. Remove the flat tire
10. Put on the spare. The air-value always faces out.
11. Turn the lug-nuts clockwise (right) to tighten. Tighten them in a crisscross pattern to prevent the tire from going on cockeyed. They don’t have to be super tight at this stage.
12. Lower the car and remove the jack.
13. Tighten the lug-nuts again – as tight as you can now.
14. Put the hubcap back on.
15. Put the flat tire, jack, safety triangles and all other equipment back in the trunk.
16. Remove the chocks from the tires and drive slowly to a tire store or mechanic.

Bottom Line

To become familiar with the process, practice changing a tire in your driveway.

Spares can go flat in your trunk so check the air pressure of the spare every few months.

Some spares are “temporary” tires and not designed for high speeds. Which kind do you have?

Autorepair.about.com has a favorable review for “Fix-a-Flat”. You spray the can contents into the tire (via the air valve) and it plugs small holes and restores some air pressure. The fix is temporary so get to a mechanic for a permanent fix. Be sure to tell the mechanic that you used “Fix-a-Flat”. Some places will refuse to repair a tire filled with “Fix-a-Flat” and you’ll have to buy a new tire.