Automotive Smart - Changing A Flat Tire
Experiencing a flat tire while you are on the road can really be frightening, especially if you are a woman driving alone, on a long stretch of dark road. What are you doing driving this late anyway? Whatever the reason is, whether you are traveling to another state or driving home from work, and even if you are a man whose biceps are ripped, you will need to try and get to a safe place.
Flat tires can happen at anytime. Day or night, you should make sure that you are not in harm’s way. Go to the shoulder of a highway, or maybe a parking lot of an establishment or even a house. Especially at night, you will need to be at a well lit place, and there should be people around.
When you feel that you’re tire has been punctured, try to stay very calm and to not do anything irrational like stepping on the brakes immediately. Try to stabilize your steering and slowly take your foot off the gas pedal. Lead your car to the side of the road or to a safer place. Turn on your hazard lights so other drivers behind you will know you are in trouble and will lessen the chances of other vehicles hitting you - or honking their horns at you which puts more pressure on you to get off the road.
Try to park on as level a spot as you can find, and do not forget to put on your handbrake. You can also put the transmission in first gear if you are driving a manual car. Turn off your engine. Hopefully, you have your spare tire inflated to the proper pressure, and that you have a jack and a wheel wrench in the trunk of your vehicle.
Your compartment typically would have instructions printed on how to change a flat tire as that will guide you in the task you have ahead of you. Loosen the wheel’s nuts even before you jack up your vehicle. Having the wheels off the ground will make it hard for you to apply force on the nuts when unscrewing them. Do not lose the nuts, keep them in your jacket pocket, or better yet, a container of candies you might have in your car. Again, it is important to be on a level surface, especially for the jack. You would not want the jack to slip from under your car while you are working on the tire.
Get the punctured tire out after you have jacked up the car and removed the nuts completely. Set it the side where it would not be bothersome to your movements. Place in your spare tire and screw on the wheel nuts loosely. Then you can let the car down off the jack. Get your wheel wrench and start tightening the wheel nuts. You will want to make sure that these nuts are on really tight because you do not want to lose the tire on the road later on.
Afterwards, you can drive off but do not go beyond 50 mph and your next stop should be the nearest service station.
See: Gas cards
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