How many people know how to change a tire?

[rennigade]

How many of you can/know how to change a tire? Or would you rely on AAA to do it for you.

My wife was driving home the other night (she was 100 miles from where we live in DC.) It was dusk...around 8pm...and she got a flat tire. She called me up and I walked her through it. She has seen me change/rotate tires before and she did participate a little at one time when I was showing her the jist of it.

It took her about 30 minutes (10 minutes of which was just jacking the car up.) We have one of those cheap jacks that came with the car...you have to twist it to raise it up..its pretty difficult to use. If it wasnt for that she would have been done in less than 20 min. I just ordered a small car jack from amazon...the nicer/easier ones you simply crank up and down. Its small enough to sit in the trunk of the car and not take up that much space.

I did plug the tire but unfortunately it had a puncture in the side wall which I didnt see until I started putting air in. Had to get a new tire. It was $130 which wasnt too out of line considering the tire costs $90 from the major online tire retailers to get it delivered...thats not even including installation cost.

I rank changing a tire up there with something everyone should know. Reason being it happens unexpectedly. You cant predict it. Ive known people that had to wait 2 hours for AAA to show up and change it for them. Assuming you're in a safe spot that you're not going to get hit by a car its probably a good idea to know how to do it yourself.

[creditcardfree]

I think you are right we should know. I have seen it done and understand how to do it, but I have never changed a tire. I guess something to put on my list of things to try!

Kudos to your wife for getting it done!!

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I know how to do it, but I cannot do it. Our tires have always been put on with pneumatic tools that tighten the lugs beyond my ability to loosen them. I've only had a flat tire once and then I was able to just glide right into a service station where they were able to immediately repair the tire and I was on my way.
Kind of like the time as a teenager when I stupidly ran out of gas and was miraculously able to roll the the car into a gas station that was closing but kindly stayed open long enough to sell me a tankful.

I've always depended on the kindness of strangers --eh, I mean-- gas service stations.

[corn18]

I've changed hundreds of tires. Taught both my daughter's how to do it, but they have never had to do it for real. Wife is the same. They all have AAA, so I don't make a big point of pushing further training on them.

Tom

[rennigade]

I know Our tires have always been put on with pneumatic tools that tighten the lugs beyond my ability to loosen them.

Pneumatic tools tighten them but not to the point where you cant get them off. I use a breaker bar: http://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-15356-2...ds=breaker+bar I actually picked my breaker bar up from harbor freight for around $10. Stays in the trunk and it allowed her to easily remove/tighten the bolts.

It gives you a lot of leverage...takes very little effort to tighten/loosen. Actually you can over tighten it with this tool and snap the bolts off if you're not careful. Pneumatic is used almost solely for the fact that its much much quicker to loosen/tighten.

[disneysteve]

I haven't done it for a long time but I have done it. I'm sure I could figure it out in an emergency, but I have AAA for a reason. And I would not want my wife or daughter to be standing out on some road trying to change their own tire. Get somewhere safe, call AAA, and wait for them to come. That's the advice I give them.

[rennigade]

Get somewhere safe, call AAA, and wait for them to come. That's the advice I give them.

How? Drive on a rim? That will only get you a few miles before your wheel bends/breaks. Where my wife was there was no gas stations or turn offs. She was on i95. We briefly discussed calling 911 and having an officer show up before she started changing out the tire but god knows how long that would take. AAA takes a long time to show.

It was on the passengers side so passing cars could not see her luckily...and she was away from the highway. I was more concerned about a shady character stopping. I knew she was more than capable of changing out the tire.

Neither of us could think of a quicker/better alternative other than changing the tire out herself and getting out of dodge.

[johnjacobs]

Depends what kind of vehicle

I can change tires for sure, As long as I have a set of tires that will work on rims, then it is a simple jack it up, take the nuts out, and put the new tires on.

Without the tires on rims I have to go to the tire shop, which is probably better because they will give it all a good balancing, and If my car wasnt so dirty they would likely freshen it up a bit inside!

Maybe I should learn, always good to know new things!

[Lion_9998]

I've never changed a tire myself either)

[sv2007]

I know how (it's pretty easy; even if you don't know how, just browse it on your phone), and have done it many times although we've got AAA. The trouble with AAA is that they take forever to come and it takes me maybe 10 min to change it. Wife, who doesn't know must use AAA when I'm not there, no big deal.

AAA is pretty useful beside changing flats. One of its most useful services in the past was free maps which I used a lot. Now, I hardly use them, but still have it for peace of mind.

The last time I used them was for a jump on a friend's car. I carry one of those new Li-ion jump starts (which I've used on stranger cars 3x already). I did run out of gas once in 2005, but strangers pushed my car into a gas station. come to think of it, I've not used AAA personally since 2002. But like, insurance, its price is so low, that it's good to have and never need it.

[bjl584]

I've done it hundreds of times. I rotate my tires every 5000 miles when I change oil.

[creditcardfree]

She was on i95.

This always makes me super nervous for people doing repairs on the side of the road. One wrong move by another car going 75MPH and you could be a dead or severely injured. I'm glad your wife made it out of there safe!

[feh]

Of course I know how to change a tire. The number of people that don't shocks me. You don't want to have to rely on somebody else to get you out of such a situation.

Oddly enough, I can't change a flat on the most recent car we purchased, because it doesn't have a spare.

[disneysteve]

Oddly enough, I can't change a flat on the most recent car we purchases, because it doesn't have a spare.

Does it have "run flat" tires?

My father refused to drive a car without a full size spare. If the car only came with one of those donut spares, he replaced it with a regular tire.

[feh]

Does it have "run flat" tires?

I don't believe so. Instead of a spare, you get a can of "fix-a-flat", which may or may not suffice to get you back on the road.

There's no spare for weight savings. I have to admit, flat tires seem to be pretty rare. I've been driving for over 30 years and I've never had one.