Safety is the first rule in replacing a flat tire

You’re driving down the road listening to the radio and thinking about what you need to buy at the store when, suddenly, you hear a thump, thump, thump sound and the steering wheel starts jerking in your hands. For a split second, you think to yourself, “What the heck is that?” Then it dawns on you, “For crying out loud, I have a flat tire.”

Of course, this scenario assumes you haven’t had a complete blowout and aren’t fighting to maintain control of the vehicle. In either case, you need to grab the wheel firmly and, first of all, ensure that you have control of the car. At the same time, assuming it’s safe to do so, you’ll want to let off the gas. Don’t slam on the brakes unless, once again, you absolutely have to. But take control of the car while remaining calm.

At the first reasonable opportunity, you want to start pulling off of the road into a safe and level area. It’s possible you’ve had your flat where there is nowhere to pull over. In that, case, you’ll have to thumpety thump your way along at a low rate of speed until you come to a spot where you can pull out of traffic. If you go too fast or too far, a tire that is flat and repairable can become a tire that is shredded and replaceable.

Once you’re off the road a good distance, you’ll want to replace the flat tire with your spare tire. You have checked the spare recently to make sure it’s holding air, right? That’s a good thing to do before you actually need it. It’s a major inconvenience when your tire is flat and you don’t have a spare to replace it. However, more important than convenience is safety.

There are two major concerns in terms of safely replacing a flat tire with the spare on the side of the road. The safest way to deal with something like that is to call your motor vehicle club and have a professional come out. One major safety concern still applies in this case, though; even if you’re pulled off the road there is a risk that someone could hit your car from behind.

Before you get out of the car, put the flashers on to let people know you’re pulled over. This is particularly crucial at night and/or during bad weather. However, it’s still important on a sunny day. You’ll also want to set the emergency brake.

Now, checking that it’s safe before exiting the car on the passenger side away from the road, you need to pop the trunk or otherwise access the spare, the jack and the lug wrench.  You need to apply additional caution if the flat tire is on the driver’s side of the car as you may be working close to the road as other cars go by. This is an excellent time for a police officer to stop by and put his lights on behind you.

Inside the trunk lid you’ll most likely find directions for using the jack. This is crucial. You don’t want the car to fall off the jack, particularly while you have the wheel off. Cars generally weigh around two tons and are very dangerous if they fall on you.

A car can roll back off of the jack. You should have a block of wood or something to jam behind a good tire opposite from the end of the car you’re lifting. If not, look for a large rock or something else that you can jam behind the tire.

Before you raise the car so the tire is off the ground, you’ll want to break the lug nuts loose. Don’t take them all the way off yet but loosen them enough that, when the tire is free from the ground it won’t spin when you try to loosen the lugs.

When you’re ready to jack the car up, be sure to raise it high enough for the spare. Even if your spare is a smaller tire or what is commonly called a donut, it may be wider than a flat tire.

Once you have the car in the air, remove the lug nuts completely, putting them in a place where you won’t lose them and they can’t become fouled with dirt or mud. A coat pocket works well if you don’t mind traces of rust the lugs may leave behind.

Once you’ve removed the lugs, remove the flat tire, set it aside and immediately put the spare tire onto the car fitting the bolts through the holes in the wheel. Then spin the lugs on just snuggly while the car is still in the air. At this point you’ll want to lower the car carefully until the spare tire has solid contact with the ground.

Now It’s time to tighten the lug nuts. Don’t tighten them one after the other in a circle. Rather, tighten in a crossing pattern. Most cars have four, five or six lug nuts holding the wheel in place.  Also, don’t tighten the first lug as far as you can. Instead, work all the lugs in a bit moving from one to another until they are good and tight.

Now, you can lower the car and put the flat, jack and lug wrench back in the trunk.

If your spare is a smaller donut, keep in mind this is a tire that is not rated for the speeds of the other tires on your car or for driving the same distances. Consider the 50 rule – you shouldn’t drive over 50 mph and you should replace the spare with an actual tire within 50 miles. Actually, those are the outer limits of safety. Your best bet is to drive well below 50 and change the spare as soon as possible.

For help or additional information, visit Performance Unlimited’s Web site at www.4performanceunlimited.comor call 815-728-0343.