LISA CUMBIE
Living Editor
Pepperdine students who have cars have undoubtedly found themselves driving through the winding canyon roads leading from Malibu to the rest of civilization. If you’re lucky, you may be able to complete all of your journeys before night falls and make it safely to your destination. But inevitably, there will be at least one night that will leave you squinting in the lights of the car who forgot to turn off their high beams.
And to make matters worse, there are those key spots that are oh-so-predictable for unreceptive holes for all cellular networks. So what is one to do in the unwelcome event of car trouble in a dark canyon road somewhere in the Santa Monica Mountains? Your first instinct would be to call AAA and use their handy on-call service to help you on your merry way. But the sad reality is that many drivers find themselves stranded and unprepared to help themselves. As a veteran unlucky driver who has changed many tires, here is a quick guide to changing a tire without the help of AAA.
Step One: Pull into a safe place
As soon as you realize that you have a flat tire (your car may ride very rough or lop-sided), pull as far to the side of the road as possible, allowing yourself enough space to walk around the car safely. Use caution when getting out of your car to see which tire is flat and to make sure there is no other damage to your car.
Step Two: Locate spare tire and tools
After you find the culprit, it’s time to unload your spare tire and any tools that you have to help you (hopefully, you have a jack and a cross wrench). If you drive a car, everything you need should be in your trunk, neatly tucked away under your storage space. With trucks and SUVs, your spare tire is probably underneath your car. Remove them from the vehicle and place them near the damaged tire so you can easily locate them.
Step Three: Loosen lug nuts on a bad tire
Using a wrench, slightly loosen the lug nuts on the flat tire. To do this, you want to rotate the wrench counter-clockwise and loosen the lug nuts that are opposite to each other first, then the ones in between. Do not take them off all the way – you are simply making it easier to remove them once the car is jacked up. They should be very tight, so you may have to apply pressure on the wrench using the heel of your foot to get them loose.
Step Four: Jack up the car
After making sure your emergency brake is on, you are ready to jack up the car to remove the wheel. Place the jack about 6 inches from the tire toward the center of your car (if it’s a front tire, place it 6 inches behind; if it’s a rear tire, place it 6 inches in front). Slowly and carefully begin to crank the jack to lift the car. As the car is lifting, use caution to make sure the jack is on stable ground and placed appropriately under the car. Continue to crank it up until the flat tire is a couple of inches off the ground. Remember, the new tire you will be putting on is going to take more space than the flat one.
Step Five: Out with the old
Once you have the lug nuts loosened and the vehicle jacked up, you can carefully unscrew the lug nuts the rest of the way and remove them. After the lug nuts are removed, the tire should easily slide off the car as you pull it towards you. Lift the spare tire up and onto the vehicle where the old tire was and slide it in place. Add each of the lug nuts back to the car to secure the tire, screwing them as tight as you can. Gently lower the jack until the tire reaches the ground.
Congratulations on your (possibly first) successful tire change. Now carefully drive to the nearest service station to repair or replace your damaged tire and have them change it back for you. After all, you did all of the work the first time.
09-20-2007
