Changing a flat tire might look difficult, but it’s easy to do when you know how. it’s also an essential skill that every driver should know. As your Mazda dealership, we’d like to tell you the easy steps to change a flat so you are prepared just in case one of your tires fails.
Advice From Your Mazda Dealership: Easy Steps To Change a Flat Tire
Find Somewhere Safe
If you’re driving and your tire goes flat, you’ll feel it almost instantly. It’s important not to panic, as your tire won’t fail immediately. Switch on your warning lights and scan the area ahead for a place to pull over. Once you find a relatively flat area, slowly pull over and out of the way of other vehicles.
Warn Other Vehicles
If you have to pull over on the highway, make sure you’re parked as far from other moving vehicles as possible. Keep your warning lights on, and if you have warning triangles or road flares, position them behind your car for added visibility.
Pull Up the Handbrake
Make sure your handbrake is engaged, your transmission is set to park, and your engine is switched off. If you can find stones or other heavy objects, place them behind the wheels as added security to prevent the wheels from moving.
Gather the Tools
You need three items to change a tire: a spare, a lug wrench, and a jack. All of these items are usually kept in your trunk. Once you’ve got them together, it’s time to change the tire.
Loosen the Nuts
Use the lug wrench to loosen each of the nuts on the flat. They’re fastened securely, so you’ll have to use force to make them turn. Loosen them just enough so they will turn by hand.
Lift Your Car
Position the jack underneath a flat section of your car’s frame, then use it to lift your car a few inches off the ground.
Remove the Tire
Undo the lug nuts and put them to one side, then lift the flat off the wheel hub.
Replace the Tire
Carefully lift the spare onto the wheel hub and rotate it until the holes line up with the holes in the hub. Once the tire is in place, screw each lug nut back in place and turn them as tightly as possible by hand.
Lower Your Car
Lower your car to the ground, then remove the jack. Use the lug wrench for the last time to tighten each nut as securely as possible. Your tire has been replaced, and all that’s left to do is to put the flat, jack, and lug wrench back in their places and drive away.
Now you know how to change a flat with ease. Head over to us at Mazda City of Orange Park in Jacksonville, FL, and we’ll replace your spare tire.
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