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DIY automotive repair: How to change a flat tire

First things first, when you have a blow out , gently guide your vehicle to the side of the road - don't make any sudden moves, as you could lose control of your car.

The first thing your want to do is firmly set the emergency brake. You should do this any time that you are going to jack your car up. If you can find something to put behind one of the tires to keep it from rolling, such as a big rock, that would be good.

Now, get your lug wrench, and your jack.

Remove your hubcaps or anything else that might keep you from getting to the lugs. A lot of times, your lug wrench will have a tapered end for doing this.

At this point, you should loosen the lugnuts- but only one turn- Do Not Completely Remove The Lugnuts ! This is very important.

Now that your lugnuts are a little loose, you will need to jack up the car. you want to raise it enough to accommodate the replacement tire.

Once the car is raised sufficiently, you can now completely remove the lugnuts. Try to put them somewhere easy to remember, but out of the way enough so that they don't get kicked.

Now, you are going to pull off the flat tire. you're halfway done !

Go ahead and put your replacement tire on the bolts, and start to put the lugs on by hand, at least for a few turns. After that, you can use your lug wrench to get them the rest of the way on... you shouldn't tighten them fully just yet- they should just be a little tight.(you don't want to rock your car when it is in the air! )

At this point, we're ready to lower the car. After the car is completely lowered, you can now wrestle with those lugnuts until they are really tight.

Put all of your stuff away , and move the rock that you put behind the tire, if you did that.

Congratulations, you're done !

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