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Changing a flat tire is not considered  to be a very enjoyable experience for most people.  Flat tires always seem  to occur at the most inopportune time for example, on your way to a first date, when you are wearing your best clothes or when you are already late for an appointment.

Some of you, might be lucky enough, or wealthy enough to own a car with run flat tires. If that is the case, you might be able to avoid the experience of changing your own flat tires completely.  If you are like a large majority of the population, budget doesn't allow you to spend  about one third more for run flats tires. Therefore, you need to have some basic knowledge of how to change a tire.  Knowledge is power. If you are unsure how to change a tire properly, and more people than you may think are unsure, then you may want to read on.

OK, so you're headed to your wedding and suddenly you hear a loud pop and an annoying thumping sound coming from under your car. You should take your foot off the gas and slow down.  Don't jump on the brakes. Just slow down and as quickly and safely as possible, pull off the road to level  shoulder or a parking lot or any other safe, flat area.  Preferably a spot where you won't be killed by oncoming traffic while changing your tire.  You get out of the car and sure enough you have a flat tire. You are going to be late so just relax and accept it. Being frustrated just makes the process slower and more aggravating.

Jack Up The vehicle

First, locate the car's spare tire, jack and tire iron/lug wrench (the L shaped bar with the socket on one end and the big screwdriver on the other ). The spare tire is usually located in the trunk underneath  some sort of spare tire cover or floor mat. If you drive a vehicle that doesn't  have a trunk, an SUV, truck, minivan or jeep,  your spare tire may be located  on a spare tire mount on the tailgate or underneath the vehicle. In this case, this is going to be a dirtier job.

Remove the Spare tire from the vehicle. Check the air pressure of the spare tire with the tire gauge that you probably don't have in your glove box. Note to self: Get and keep a tire gauge in the car at all times.
If your spare tire is flat, now you can get frustrated.  Let's just assume that you have been checking your spare every time you rotate your other tires and it is full of air.

Next, be sure your car is in park and the parking brake is set. There is nothing more embarrassing than being run over by your own driver-less car.  As we mentioned above, you should be parked on a flat surface and preferably on pavement, not on dirt.  If you are parked on dirt and it has rained recently, all you will accomplish is burying your jack.  It is also a good idea to block the tire opposite the flat tire but if you didn't have a tire pressure gauge, chances are slim you are going to have a tire block. Find some large heavy object and place it behind the tire on the same axle opposite the tire you are changing.  Setting the parking brake and blocking the tire makes it less likely to move while you are installing the spare.

Use the flat end of the tire iron to remove the hubcap (if you have hub caps). Then, use the other end of the tire iron to loosen (do not remove) the lug nuts.  The lug nuts will almost always be very tight so hopefully you have been eating right and exercising now and then.  Remember, you loosen the lug nuts by turning them counterclockwise.  Trying to turn them clockwise will likely result in a hernia and more frustration, doctor bills, etc.

Once you have all the lug nuts loosened, it's time to place the jack underneath the vehicle.  Each vehicle has PROPER jacking points.  If you don't know where the proper jacking points are on your vehicle, look them up in your owner's manual. Your owner's manual is typically located in the glove box right next to your tire pressure gauge. 

Once the lug nuts are all loose, it is now time to position the jack beneath the jacking point closest the flat tire and get to jacking. Most of the jacks that come with cars now are screw-type scissor jacks.  This jack will likely have a separate steel bar with a handle that you stick into the knob on the end of the jack and simply start cranking it to raise the jack.  Raise the jack till it comes in good contact with the vehicle and then if everything looks stable, raise the vehicle just high enough to install the spare tire.

Remove the Flat Tire and Install the Spare Tire

Once  you have raised the flat off the ground, remove the lug nuts completely.  You might be able to remove the lug nuts by hand but if not, grab the tire iron.  Keep track of the lug nuts as you remove them. You're going to need them again in a minute and they have a tendency to get legs or roll away if you aren't careful.

Grab your spare tire and position the holes in the wheel over the wheel studs sticking out of the brake hub.  This can be the most challenging part of the tire changing process depending on whether you drive a truck or a Volkswagen.  If necessary, balance the tire on your foot and move it into position but you aren't going to like what it does to those expensive, shiny, new shoes.

Once you have the spare tire hanging on the wheel studs,  screw the lug nuts back on (by hand) and be careful not to cross thread them. It is very difficult to cross thread a wheel stud by hand, so in order to avoid cross threading, screw the lug nuts on as far as possible without the lug wrench/tire iron.  Once you have tightened the lug nuts as far as possible by hand, use the tire iron/lug wrench to snug them up against the wheel tightening them down in a crisscross pattern to be sure the wheel is fitting flush against the brake hub.  

Now that you have the spare mounted on the vehicle, you can lower the jack.  Remove the jack from underneath the vehicle and now you are ready to do the final tightening of the lug nuts. The vehicle and all four tires are firmly on the ground at this point. The tire will not spin as you do your final tightening as it might have when it was suspended in the air. Tighten the lugs (in a crisscross pattern) again as much as is humanly possible.

Put Everything Back in Its Place

Put the flat tire back where the spare tire was if possible.  Many  vehicles now have compact spare tires so your full size tire may not fit in the spare tire space.  Put the jack, jack handle  and tire iron back in the vehicle where they were.  You will likely need these again someday and you want to know that every necessary tool is right where it is supposed to be next time.

Wheel lugs have a specific torque rating that they are intended to be tightened down to, but there is absolutely no way you can determine that amount of torque using a simple tire iron.  Another thing to remember is that  compact spare tires (or spare tire donuts) have a limited top speed which will be written on the sidewall. If you have a full size spare, you don't have to be concerned about top speed so you can be quickly on your way to the church. If you don't have a full size spare, hopefully you will be stopping by Texas Tire Sales on your way to the wedding so we can quickly and properly fix or replace your flat tire and get you back on your way.

Nobody wants to start their new future with all those people watching  as you drive (slowly) away from the church with "Just Married" written on your windows, tin cans dragging behind you and that that tiny, goofy-looking  temporary spare on your car. You will never live that down.