HOW TO CHANGE A TIRE WITHOUT BREAKING A SWEAT OR A NAIL!

Don’t get stranded on the side of the road like a damsel in distress! Change your own tire without breaking a sweat or a nail! The first of many occasions this happened to me, I thought to myself, “I’m a liberated woman. I can handle this.” It ended with my hands covered in tire scum, embarassing calls to male relatives and the horrible feeling of total helplessness. Never again! Armed with the mantra “Rightie Tightie, Lefty Loosey”, a car jack and a tire iron, you’ll be a Nascar pit crew contender! Or at the very least, you’ll be able to change a tire without breaking a sweat or a nail.

Things You’ll Need:

• Car manual
• Spare tire
• Jack
• Tire tool
• 2-3 foot pipe
• Gloves

Step 1:
Before you ever have a flat, it is crucial to familiarize yourself with your car. Dig the car manual out from under the stash of Kleenex packets, napkins, and tampons in the glove compartment and read the instructions to change a tire. Locate your spare, jack, and tire tool and make sure access is not blocked. Keep that trunk cleaned out so you can get to these items quickly and easily. Work the jack and find the correct placement according to your manual. If you don’t have the manual, place the jack on the reinforced ridge under the vehicle. I also recommend adding to the trunk work gloves, a pair of wheel chocks, and a 2 or 3-foot metal pipe that will fit snugly over the end of your tire tool. By the way, if you’re concerned about protecting your clothes from the filthy, dirty tire, you can add disposable paper coveralls found at a paint store. Step 2:
At the point you think you might have a flat, drive to where the ground is level and you can pull several feet off the side of the road. Put your car into park, engage the parking break, and put on your hazard lights. Step 3:
Get out your equipment: spare, jack, tire tool, pipe, wheel chocks, and gloves. Put on coveralls and gloves if you have them. Place the wheel chocks on both sides of the tire diagonally opposite from the flat. For example, if your rear driver-side tire is flat, secure the front passenger-side tire, and vice versa. Step 4:
I learned through trial and error … take off the hubcap and loosen lug nuts before jacking up the car, duh! If your car is raised, the tire will spin when you try to loosen the nuts. Shops use pneumatic tools that tighten nuts and make them difficult to remove by hand, but by adding a pipe over the end of the tire tool for leverage, any lady can get those nuts off. Remember the handy phrase: Rightie tightie, lefty loosey. Loosen the nuts, skipping every other one until you’ve worked your way around the wheel. Step 5:
Now it is time to jack up the car. Your car manual shows the proper positioning of the jack. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to lift the car… jacks employ either a screw or a lever mechanism that makes the job almost effortless for even the wimpiest girls. Raise the car enough to get the flat off and accommodate the spare tire. Step 6:
Completely remove the lug nuts and store in a safe place, then remove the flat. Step 7:
Put the spare tire on with the air valve facing out and screw on the lug nuts, again alternating until you’ve finished the wheel. Step 8:
Lower the car and re-tighten the lug nuts using your pipe for leverage. Step 9:
Put your tools, hubcap and the flat in your trunk. If the flat is too heavy to get in your trunk, you may have to drag it further off the road and come back for it later with help. You will need the rim, so don’t forget where you leave the tire! Good luck ladies and remember, “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle”!