Changing a tire

Scenario: Breakfast: check Kids at school: Check and check. You’re making good time having taken every taximan’s shortcut you know, and you’re feeling confident that you can make it to the office before the big meeting  with enough time for a cup of coffee when you notice strange men on the road gesturing toward you.

Just as you start fuming about how these men nowadays are so forward, the driver pulls beside you and winds down his window. You are gearing up to cuss him off for whatever he’s about to say when he yells “lady u back tire sawf sawf, look like u ‘av a flat.”

Four letter words wiz through your mind. You to try to think of the nearest gas station: too far. Has Richard reached his office yet? It will take forever for him to get here. Your stomach sinks - you reach for the phone to cancel the big meeting: STOP.

Time to grab your Boss Lady Toolkit. If you pull this off, you may have to skip the coffee, but you you’ll make your presentation on time.

You will need the following items:
Oversized shirt
Tarpaulin square
Car jack
Work gloves (optional)
Flashlight ( if dark)
Cross Wrench
Spare tire
Wet wipes/Hand sanitizer
Lotion

1. Safety First: Find a safe place to pull over, out of the way of traffic. Be sure to pull up the hand brake and turn on your hazard lights. A level area is preferable, but If you can only find a slope, carefully ‘kotch’ the tires with bricks or stones as an added precaution.
2. Wardrobe Alert: Pull your hair off of your face if necessary, as you will be bending over and it may get in the way. Take off your jacket and roll up your sleeves. This is a messy job. Grab your old smock shirt and throw it over your work clothes. If you are the manicure type you may opt for the gloves as well. Finally, place the tarpaulin on the ground beside the flat tire. If you are wearing a skirt or dress pants this will protect your knees.3
3. Down and Dirty: Take out the spare tire and the jack.   Look under the frame of the car near the flat tire. You are looking for where the frame is made of metal. Place the jack under the frame where it will meet the metal. 

A lot of cars have plastic molding along the bottom.  If your jack is not properly placed it will crack the plastic.
For more modern cars, there is sometimes a small notch or mark for the jack just behind the front wheel or in front of the back wheel.  
For trucks or SUVs place the jack on the beams of the frame:  behind the front tire, or in front of the back tire. 

4. Up and Away: Raise the jack until it is supporting, but not lifting the car. The jack should lift straight up and down and be firmly in place against the underside of the vehicle.
5. Loosen up: Time for your Cross Wrench. Keep the wheel on the ground so you can be sure you’re turning the nuts and not the wheel. Place the right sized opening over the lug nut. You know the correct size when it fits easily over the nut without rattling. To remove the hubcap, loosen the nuts by turning counterclockwise. Remember, as a rule of thumb ‘righty tight, lefty loosey.’ Don’t take them all the way off. Just break the resistance.

You should check your lugs once a month to make sure they haven’t become stuck. Otherwise, it may require a lot of force to loosen your lug nuts. ALWAYS check first that you are turning the nuts counter clockwise. Otherwise you can use your body weight i.e. lean on the cross wrench, or stamp down on it.

6. Rise up: Pump or crank the jack to lift the tire off the ground. Lift the car high enough to remove the flat tire and to put the spare on it. As you lift, make sure that the car is stable. If you notice any the jack sliding or lifting at an angle, lower the jack and reset it before fully lifting the car.
7. Nutcracker: One at a time, continue to loosen nuts until you remove them completely. Remove hubcap and place on the ground. You may place nuts in the hubcap or anywhere that they will not roll away or be hidden. The wheel or ‘hub’ is now exposed.
8. In With the New: Remove the flat tire and put it under the vehicle. It acts as an extra cushion in case the jack fails, though you should not have a problem if you are on a level surface. Place the spare tire on the hub. Make sure to align the rim of the spare tire with the wheel bolts then put on the lug nuts.
9. Tighten up: Begin to tighten the nuts by hand until they are all snug. Then, using the wrench, Going in a star shape, one nut across from another, give each one a full turn until they are equally tight. If you tighten the nuts one at a time the tire will not be balanced. Be careful not to use excessive force that will disturb the jack.
10. Going Down: Lower the car till almost touching the ground. Continue to tighten nuts as in step 9. Lower the car to the ground fully and remove the jack. Tighten the nuts again. Replace the hubcap.
11. Backup: Place the tools and flat tire in the trunk. You can take it to a tire shop later where it can be either repaired or replaced.
12. Cleanup: Ditch the smock, use the wipes to cleanup, and use the lotion to cover up any scratches or dryness on the knees or hands. Fix your hair and you’re on your way!