tyre change 02

woman doing tyre change Have you ever had a flat tyre? Yes, is the only answer most people can give to this question. What do you do when you have a flat tire? If you answered “Call a tow service” then you need to change your attitude.

Waiting for a tow service to arrive will take time, and you will have to wait on the side of the road for hours. What is you are in a remote area? How long will you have to wait? What if you are going somewhere important? You can’t afford to waste time waiting. The best thing is to learn how to change your flat tyre.

Shockingly, some motorists do not even know whether they have a spare wheel! If you do it is typically kept in the boot, however in some vehicles that could be in the front of the vehicle. It is natural nowadays to have a space saver spare rather than a woman tiredfull sized one. The idea of this is that it can (slowly) get you to where you need to be in an emergency, but for the 99 % of the time when you don’t need it, you have more storage space. Wherever it is, you should learn to use it and know how to access it yourself. Next you will need some tools. There is no point keeping tyre changing tools in the house. They need to be kept with the spare itself, and you should learn how to use them. Not sure? Check out the handbook!

Some vehicle manufacturers do not provide any extra tyre, however just a puncture repair service kit. This is not ideal as there will be lots of punctures that cannot be easily repaired in this way. However, if it is what you have, you must still know the way to use it, and have a plan of what you will do if you find yourself with a puncture you can’t repair, or more than one tyre punctured!

Whatever equipment you have in your vehicle to handle punctured car tyres, you need to ensure that you understand how to use it. If you aren’t sure, and reading your vehicle handbook does not help, why not ask the tyre fitter next time you are having tyres replaced? They will be familiar with the tools you require (and need to have!) in your car, ways to use them and can offer you step by step guidelines for changing the wheel with the puncture for the spare wheel. Having the confidence to know what to do in an emergency situation is the initial step – panic will not help anybody! Ideally, you won’t need to change a tyre but it’s always better to be prepared.…