How to change a tyre

Unfortunately, there’s no app you can use to change your flat tyre, so your smartphone won’t help you here – at least not directly. You could always YouTube how to change a flat, but it should never come to that when you’re faced with the reality in the moment. You should be prepared and learn how to get mobile again within minutes, right here, right now.

After all, there are many dangers to have to be vigilant of in the high-crime society we live in, a rather unfortunate reality which forms part of something that was once as simple as merely changing a flat tyre.

So if the uncovered Convenient Deal 4 U has you settling on a vehicle which doesn’t run on Runflat tyres (they don’t come cheap at all, neither do the cars which are typically fit with them), consider this the father-to-son lesson in changing a flat which was a strong tradition, once upon a time. Girl or boy, if your father hasn’t honoured that tradition then you can’t blame him, because life has become so busy these days that he probably wants as little to do with the very tool that gets him to and from work whenever he has some downtime!

Either way, as much as each car comes with its instruction manual covering the make-and-model-specific details of how to go about changing a flat tyre, here are some general car tyre changing basics, which incidentally, are the bread-and-butter of mechanics, roadside assistants and even those friendly petrol attendants whose great service we’re guilty of taking for granted, sometimes.

1. Find a safe place to park on the side of the road. If you can get to a nearby garage, police station, or any other place where you won’t essentially be isolated, all the better. Make sure your parking-brake (handbrake) is secured.
2. Locate your spare wheel and replacement tools, typically located together in the spare wheel dock that’s accessible by lifting the covering in your boot. At this point the only check you’d be conducting on your spare wheel is a final check to confirm that it’s properly inflated and safe to use, having done a prior check as part of that pre-trip inspection most of us only really do when we’re trying to pass our driver’s licence practical test.
3. Use the jack to raise the car’s body, paying special attention to the marked spot at which to fit the jack (you can’t just jack it along any point). Use the wrench to loosen the wheel nuts, which will probably be a bit of a challenge since the nuts are to be fastened securely. Some cars have electric wrenches.
4. Replace the tyre and ensure the wheel nuts are fasted securely again, before lowering the jack, putting the replaced wheel away, and heading off when safe to do so again.