Manly part two

16/365

Being a man: Pt. 2

How to change a tire!

First, you should always have a tire change kit in your trunk. This is perhaps the most common thing that could happen to your car, and if you know how to change your own tire, you can save those three free roadsides from triple a on something more exciting. This kit should include the spare tire, of course, a jack, one of those t bars (i figure describing what it looks like will help more of you lol) perhaps fix a flat (to be discussed), flares, and a first aid kit.

A tiny blurb here before we get started. It's better to have your tires under inflated than overinflated. Just from experience and without going into the mechanics- take my word for it. But of course, the proper inflation should be used.

Ok! Here we go.

Step one: This may throw you in for a loop. The first thing you are going to do is NOT jack up the car. Fooled you didn't I. Go ahead and loosen the bolts that hold the tire on first, before you use the jack to raise your car.

Step two: This is when you jack your car. You really only need to jack it high enough to get the tire on and off. Any more than that and you begin to risk your safety and vehicle damage.

Step three: Finish removing the bolts. Remove the tire. Replace the new spare (these three are like three steps but they are easy, so it's one).

Step four: Replace the bolts into the tire. Now, it's important when you tighten them that you work in a star pattern. Don't just go in a circle- this may result in an off balance tire, and that is just all bad. For example, if you have five bolts, start with the bottom left, then top middle, then bottom right, top left, top right. Don't tighten them all the way down yet either.

Step five: Lower the jack and finished tightening the bolts. You should tighten them to an easy hand tighten and then a quarter turn more for ensurance.

Don't drive more than thirty miles on a spare- they weren't made for distance. Just to get you from where you went down to where you can get back up.

Fix a flat 101. It works wonders. It's amazing. Forget changing the tire. Fill it up with that and you can drive to the auto body shop and have them replace your tire. However, a word to the wise (this happened to me): fix a flat can void most tire warrenties. So, if you have a warrenty, check it before you wreck it. I didn't have to pay full price for a new tire, but had to pay forty for one- when it would have been free had I not used the fix a flat.

Anyway, hope this helped. Just tuck it away into your knoweldge fountain and good luck!