- First, slow the vehicle down pull of the road to a safe spot. Don’t try to change your tire next to a busy street. No tire is worth your life.
- Avoid stopping on a curve on the road or a steep incline. Both of these situations can be dangerous. Passing cars may not see you on a curve or coming over a hill. Also, you should never jack up your car on a incline.
- Once you have selected a good, safe spot, turn on your hazards.
- Now its time to try and find all those tools that car manufacturers hide all over your car. I would suggest grabbing the owner’s manual before you start your search. Generally, most tire changing tools are stored in several different places and can be difficult to find without good instructions.
- Locate the spare tire and remove it from the trunk or lower it from the under the car. Do not do this after the car has been jacked up.
- Now you want to loosen the lug nuts on the flat tire. Remove the hubcap and grab the lug wrench that came with your car. Generally, these are not that great for breaking a frozen lug nut. If you need more leverage, you may look for a pipe to slip over the end and give you some more leverage or you can even purchase a cordless impact wrench and it won’t be a problem.
- First just loosen the lug nuts one at a time. DO NOT take them off, you want to loosen them with the weight of the car holding the tire in place. It is a lot harder to do this with the car in the air and the tire free spinning.
- Now you can jack up the vehicle with the jack provided. Slide the jack under the car until it comes in contact with the frame or axle. You should consult your owners for exact place to put the jack. There are several different ways and the owners will tell you exactly.
- Raise the car until the flat tire is at least 6 inches off of the ground. You will need this much clearance when you try to put the fully inflated spare tire back on.
- Now you can remove the lug nuts and put them in a safe location. Make sure that no part of your body is under the car. Grab the wheel at the 9 and 3 o’clock positions and pull it straight toward you off the car.
- Grab your spare tire and roll it over to the car. If you are strong enough, lift the tire up and line it up with lug nuts. Then push it firmly into place. If you are not strong enough, try leaning the tire against the lug nuts and raise or lower the jack until the tire is in the proper height.
- Tighten all the lug nuts with your fingers. You will use the lug wrench or cordless impact later.
- Lower the car down and remove the jack.
