While many modern cars now include puncture repair kits, it is still well worth learning how to correctly change a tyre. If your car does have a spare tyre, we recommend that you practice at home on a sunny day, then you will feel more comfortable doing so in a real life situation when the conditions may not be as favourable.
10 Simple Steps
- Find a safe place to pull over – If you’re on the motorway, try to make it to the nearest exit rather than the hard shoulder, ideally you need to be as far away from traffic as possible. Also ensure that you park on as flat a surface as possible, as jacking up on a hill can be very problematic.
- Switch off your engine and turn on your hazard lights – Chances are you won’t be able to completely remove yourself from traffic, so make yourself as visible to others as possible.
- Use a wrench to loosen the nuts/bolts on the affected wheel – Don’t remove the nuts at this point, just loosen them (most turn anti-clockwise).
- Use the jack to the lift the vehicle off the ground – Your car manual will tell you where to specifically place your jack. Once the jack is fitted correctly, extend it until the tyre is lifted around six inches off the ground.
- Fully remove the nuts from the tyre and then remove the wheel itself – Pull the tyre away from your body using both hands, making sure your weight is evenly distributed with both feet on the ground. Make sure you don’t lose the nuts.
- Place the spare on the car – Place the spare next to the car, put all the nuts in the holes and then push the spare as firmly as you can onto the wheel base.
- Tighten the nuts – Don’t tighten them completely at this stage, just enough to keep the wheel in place. Tighten the top nut first, then do the rest in a diagonal sequence.
- Lower the car back onto the ground – Use the jack to carefully lower the car, when it is safely back on the ground, remove the jack from beneath your vehicle.
- Fully tighten the nuts – Again, do this in a diagonal sequence, so keep tightening opposite bolts until they are all equally secured.
- Safely secure your old tyre back in your car – Place the original tyre and your tools safely back in your vehicle. Visit a garage as soon as possible.
