The Most Fun You'll Have Reading About Changing a Flat Tire

By Kathryn Simmons on June 10, 2013

Ever had a flat tire while you were on vacation? I have, and it’s not so fun. I spent some time with my family and a friend up in North Carolina recently for the week of Memorial Day. We wanted to go to the beach and explore Atlantic City, Morehead, and  Beaufort. (We found out that the locals pronounce that last one Bo-fort–not the way us South Carolinians like to say it.) We were all having a great time, my family shopping in Morehead and my friend and I coming back from the aquarium, when my friend’s car suddenly starting making some weird noises and movements. And well, wouldn’t you know, we had a flat tire.

It was completely shredded too.

This experience, of course, made me flashback to the first time I ever had a flat tire. It was one of the most frustrating and upsetting experiences I had at that point in my life. It was during my sophomore year of college, and I had already had a plethora of problems with my 2001 Chevy Malibu at that point, from spark plugs to head gaskets. I did not want a similar experience for my friend in the slightest, especially since we were on vacation. Also, to keep you from going through that as well, I’ve compiled a list of steps for you to complete if this inconvenient pain decides to bite you in the posterior. Better yet, changing a tire can be done in less than 15 minutes, and definitely quicker than a tow-truck can get to you.

Don’t Panic. This is the first thing people tend to say in stressful situations, and well…it’s true. Don’t panic. Pull over to the side of the road where you are out of the way of traffic. Or, even better, pull into the parking lot of a business if at all possible. If the latter, you may even be able to run inside a local business and get someone to help you! We were too stubborn to go in and ask someone, and we wanted to prove on some level that we could do it by ourselves. but a UPS guy making a delivery made sure we were all right. He couldn’t stop and truly help us because he was on a strict schedule, but he gave us some tips and was encouraging. That was good enough for the both of us, I think.

Put the parking break on. This is self-explanatory.

Make sure you actually have a spare. If you don’t have a spare, either full-sized or a donut, then stop reading right now and go call someone to come get you. That actually may work in your favor because you can go ahead and get another full-sized tire and automatically put it on your car without messing with a spare. (See? There’s no reason to panic.) If, however, you do have a spare, then you may proceed.

Get the jack. If you don’t have a jack, then refer to number 3 above and call someone to come get you; or if you’re fortunate enough to have been able to pull into a parking lot, you may get lucky enough to find someone who carries a jack and will be willing to let you use it. They may even help you put on the spare. If you do have a jack, however, refer to the nifty instructions that come with it and/or the knowledge you’ve acquired from that person you are now currently thanking in your head. I don’t think mine came with instructions, but my friend’s does. When I saw the step-by-step, I just thought it was the coolest thing ever! For the moment, at least.

Take off the flat tire. In a nutshell: (1) Loosen each of the lug nuts–those silver screw-looking things on the rim–on the tire you wish to replace without removing them, (2) put the lug nuts in a safe place, such as your pockets, (3) place the jack underneath your car’s bracket right beside the flat, (4) use the jack to lift the car up, either by turning the lever or pumping it, depending on your particular jack, and once it is high enough off the ground, (5) take the flat tire off car.

Put on the spare. Do pretty much the same thing, only in reverse. After placing your flat tire in the trunk, put the spare on the car, tighten up the lug nuts, and then use the jack to lower the car back to its original position. Note that once the spare is on, it is highly advised that you drive no more than 50 mph nor for 50 miles on your spare, if it is a donut. (I was told 60 for both, respectively; however my friend was told 50, which is actually a safer bet.) If it’s a full-sized tire, you’re fine to drive as normal.

Buy yourself another tire. I went to Walmart when I had my first flat, and they proved to be decently priced. And since Walmart is known for their low, low prices, it seems natural for us to instantly think of them, right? Well, for whatever reason–different state, inflation, different tire and/or sized needed–they wanted to charge an insane price for the tire and to put it on the car and to balance and align it, so…we went somewhere else for less than half Walmart’s quoted price.

Make sure to get the tires balanced and the car aligned. This last part is very important since getting your tires balanced and the car aligned will provide you with a much smoother ride and increase the life of your tires.

I hope you found this article helpful and that it made having a flat tire a bit easier than you expected. In eight major steps, you will be back on the road again and ready to witness your (again) newfound freedom. So just sit back, relax, and start putting the pedal to the metal.

* The last two photos in this article are courtesy of eHow and 123RF, with some editing done by me.

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