Thrifty Thursday: Car Maintenance: Tires, Part 2

Do you know how to change a tire on your vehicle?

No? Well guess what, you will in about 5 minutes, depending on how fast you read.

First, why do you need to know this, 1: so you don't do what my idiot neighbor did, and piss me off, and 2: because one day you will thank yourself for reading this when you get a flat out on the free way or in the middle of no where. Trust me!

I learned how to change a tire before I was 12. I grew up working on cars with my dad. I thought mechanics couldn't be trusted. (Well, they can't really, but that's another story, and why we are learning some basic car maintenance.)

Although, I learned how to change a tire I never had to change a tire until I was 17, and just got my drivers license, and was driving around down town, when I told my parents I was up town...

So be sure to practice, so when you are in the actually situation you don't panic.

Lesson One: This is what a tire looks like:

A car tire.

This is what a donut looks like:

Donut or a spare tire

Not this:

This is a doughnut.

Lesson Two: I know some of you think, I don't need to know this, I have my son or husband or boyfriend to help me. Well, when you get a flat and are out on a road with no cellphone reception, and it is rainy/snowing, and you are in the middle of NOWHERE, you are going to wish to learned how to do this.

Lesson Three: Getting a flat is going to happen at the must inopportune time. It will be raining, you will be late for curfew, you will get dirty.

Lesson Four: Go right now to your car and get the Owner's Manual. If you have never opened this, I cry at night for people like you. (Just joking, but seriously, you should have read this skimmed this after you got your car  before you purchased your car.)

In your owners manual you will learn the location of your spare tire (the donut). Some cars it is in the engine compartment, in pick-up trucks, it is under the bed of the truck, in most cars, it will be in the trunk under the liner.

Now you are ready to change your own tire!!

Step One: Locate the spare tire, scissor jack, and the cross lug wrench. And get it all out.

Step Two: If you haven't already, set the parking break. If you are on a hill (actually do this anyway!) Find some large to put behind on of your rear tires. This is purely fro preventive measures. You don't want your car rolling away!

This rock is too small to do any good.

It needs to be BIG!

Step Three: Loosen the the lug nuts on the tire to be changed. DO NOT remove the lug nuts!

Wait, what are lug nuts? They are the bolts that hold your tires on.

Ok, so how do I loosen them? Easy. Body weight.

If you have had the tire put on by any professional place, I bet they torqued them to spec. (Oh, that means nothing to you, that is ok!) So for any one who is not the Hulk, loosening those bad boys is going to be HARD.

So place one hand on the car for balance and one foot on the cross wrench. Now push, keeping your other foot on the ground. (I DO NOT recommend jumping, it can cause damage to the and more importantly to you!)

Using your body weight to loosen lug nuts.

Which way to loosen? Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey. The lug nuts will all loosen the same direction. Keep trying until you find which way they go.

Step Four: Now the the lug nuts are finger tight, get the scissor jack and jack up the car. This is really easy, and might be the easiest part of changing a tire. Jack the car up until you can move the tire. (If you are changing a rear tire and set the parking break like you should have, the tire will not move. Jack the car up until you can slide your hand under the tire.)

scissor jack

This lip is where you place the jack...

like so.

Using the Jack to lift the car.

The tire moves.

Step Five: Remove the lug nuts and the tire.

Lug nuts removed

Hand on top...

Hand on Bottom to remove tire.

Step Six: Put on the spare, followed by the lug nuts. Tighten the lug nuts to finger tight.

It is easiest to put a tire on the same why you took it off.

Step Seven: Lower the car. Turn the handle on the scissor jack the opposite direction until you can remove the jack.

Step Eight: With the cross wrench tighten the lug nuts in a STAR pattern.

The star pattern

This is VERY IMPORTANT. I can get into the physics of why this is important, but this post is already long. So, basically, if you don't tighten the lug nuts in a star pattern you risk the tire not being on the car properly causing all kinds of hazards and problems.

Step Nine: Place the flat tire in the trunk, where you got the spare from and take care of your tools.

Step Ten: Drive carefully and slowly to the nearest repair shop or tire place. (**Most spares have a speed limit on them. Do not drive faster than it, not 5 miles over with a spare!**)

I hope that helped some of you out! Is there anything you do when changing a tire I left out?