What Spare Tire?

Last night I had not one but two flat tires on my car. At first I thought something was wrong with the power steering. After driving a mile from the office I was convinced something was not right and I had better look BEFORE I get on the Interstate. I discovered I had one completely flat tire and another 1/2 flat.

My first thought (before I noticed the 1/2 flat tire) was. "I can deal with this. I'm supposed to be prepared." So I open the trunk and then the problems begin:

1. How do I get the jack out? It was wedged into a storage slot.  I opened the car manual which I keep in the glove compartment and learned I had to turn a knob to loosen it.

2. The spare tire - it looked OK. I have not checked it in 10 years so I'm lucky it was not flat, that can happen. But there was also 10 years of rust on the wingnut holding it in place and the wingnut refused to budge. I had some pliers in a car-kit but no wrench and no WD40.

3. At this point a co-worker saw me and offered me his spare tire and a full size tire he just happened to have in his car. His car is a Honda Civic, mine a Honda Accord. The tires looked the same size but I noticed they had different part #'s

4. Given the problems mounting I called the Roadside Assistance program I'm a member of and someone arrived 40 minutes later. There was nothing to read in the car so I listened to my commuting lecture CD while waiting.

5. I had forgotten to recharge my cell phone (which I usually do on Mondays). Fortunately it still had 1/2 battery and lasted long enough.

6. The mechanic found a nail in the half-flat tire, pulled it, plugged the hole and reinflated the tire. He could not find a leak in the full flat until I suggested the valve stem.

7. He could not get my spare loose either and the temp spare from my coworker did not fit the bolts. However the full size tire my coworker had did fit and got me home.

8. The mechanic charged extra for patching the one tire and expected payment on the spot for that (all else was covered by the plan). I was short on cash but across the street from a bank with an ATM.

I was VERY lucky that things did not turn out worse:
* I had never checked the spare in 10 years
* I had no experience with replacing a tire on my current car with the jack provided
* My cell phone was undercharged
* I should have never left the office parking lot
* I was low on cash

Tire Pressure

"A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after."~Peter De Vries

Last night as I was driving home I thought, “I should really check my tire pressure.” My wife’s car is newer and the dashboard has a warning light for low tire pressure. My car is not so smart and it’s been awhile since the pressure was checked.

Next to the brakes, the tires are the most important safety devices on a car. Incorrect tire pressure will compromise cornering, braking and stability, and lead to tire failure (i.e. a blow-out). Incorrect tire pressure also will affect your comfort, fuel economy and tire life.

If tire pressure is too high, then less of the tire touches the ground and your car will have more road bounce, have less traction and a longer stopping distance. If tire pressure is too low, then too much of the tire touches the ground, which increases friction, lowers your gas mileage, wears tires prematurely, and overheats tires leading to tread separation.

Tire pressure should be checked at least monthly (some say weekly). It’s not unusual to lose 1 psi per month. Even if there is no leak, the pressure will change with air temperature. Tire pressure decreases by about 1 pound per square inch (psi) for every 10-degree drop in outside air temperature. If your tire was just right in July at 80 degrees outside, it could be dangerously 10 pounds under inflated in January at minus 20 degrees.

The psi number listed on the tire itself is the maximum allowable air pressure. Don’t use this! Instead look on the edge of the driver’s door for the recommended pressure for your car. If there’s no sticker on the door, you can usually find the specs in the owner’s manual. Most passenger cars will recommend 32 to 35 psi.

Bottom Line

Check your tire pressure monthly. Check all four tires and your spare while the tires are cool, that means after driving only a few miles to reach a gas station, not after hours of driving.

Web Resources

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=1
http://www.michelinman.com/tire-care/tire-saving-tips/air-pressure-tips/
http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/tirepressure.html

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.