A flat tyre never happens
when it’s convenient. Imagine you are all dressed up and about getting into your
car in the morning then you notice you have a flat tyre or you may already be
on the way to an important event when you ran over an errant nail leading to a
punctured tyre.
The best and easy way to
handle the situation where your tyre either gets punctured by nail or any sharp
object while on motion is to carefully pull off to the side of the road where
the surface is flat. Check to make sure no other motorists are going to run you
over, turn on the hazard light, get out of the car and inspect the tyre.
Then follow these quick, easy
and safe steps to take to get your tyre fixed;
- Place bracing material - like a piece of wood or brick - behind and in front of one of the tyres you’re not lifting, to prevent rolling and increase stability.
- Find the spare tyre and jack. If you don’t know where they are, check the boot of your car.
- Line the jack up properly to make sure it’s in the right place to avoid preventing damage to your car. Usually, the head of the jack goes to the ridge at the bottom of the car closest to the affected tyre.
- Begin to jack the car up while keeping pressure on the ground (without lifting the car up entirely).
- Remove hubcaps or centre covers so that you can access the lug nuts.
- Turn the lug nuts anticlockwise to loosen them using the lug wrench.
- Finish jacking the car up so that you can slip the tyre off easily. Make sure the jack is stable first.
- Put on the spare tyre and place the lug nuts in the correct positions.
- Tighten the lug nuts a little with your tyre wrench, this time turning clockwise. TIP: Make sure the lug nuts are tight, but don't use too much force. This may knock your car off of the jack.
- Lower the jack fully until the car is back on all four wheels.
- Properly tighten the lug nuts with the wrench before driving. Make sure they’re as tight as you can get them.
- Stop and check that the lug nuts are still tight after driving for a few miles.
You really don’t need to be worried because changing
your flat tyre can be done fast if you follow the above steps.
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