Learn to Change a Tire (16 of 40)

Just after midnight a little over a year ago, I was driving home from Ventura after a shift at the hospital. The dashboard was illuminated with an extra yellow glow - a warning light that my tire pressure was low. It had clicked on during my drive in some eleven hours before but in my haste to make it to work on time, I relegated it to the moderate priority mental list and figured I’d deal with it tomorrow.

The tire, however, had other plans.

I heard a loud bang followed quickly by the fluhfluhfluhfhluflup of rubber rapidly beating against the asphalt. The steering wheel jerked a bit under my white knuckles, as I tried to maintain control of the vehicle. Somewhere in the back of my brain, a long-stored memory sped to the forefront: DO NOT HIT THE BRAKES! In that moment I wasn’t sure if the warning was meant in case of blowout or hydroplane but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. (FYI, it’s both…your future brain may one day appreciate this.) Thankfully the 101 on this particular early AM was not overly occupied so I was able to pull to the shoulder and let the car slow on its own with relative ease.

I frantically searched for my hazard lights, cursing my laziness at not familiarizing myself with them when I had bought the car six months earlier. The warning light now taunted me: Tire Pressure Low. Add Air.

Exiting the vehicle, I cautiously walked around to the passenger side rear tire and thought, “Ummm…inaccurate.” Car programmers should really consider adding the prompt: Tire Pressure Non-Existant. Add Rubber to Giant Gaping Hole.

As I sat back inside the vehicle and pondered what to do, my singleness suddenly felt less safe and more lonely. When I was married, there was always someone to call; an assuredness of someone else’s investment in getting me home safe; someone to share the burden of the big, little and unexpected questions of what to do next. Things I can now admit I took for granted.

I never learned how to change a tire, although let’s be honest, changing one by yourself in the dark of night on the side of the freeway is probably not wise either. Thankfully, I found a service willing to come out in the drizzly wet weather (because what great blow out story is complete without rain?!) and fix it for me. I spent the hour or so awaiting their arrival alternately hawk-eyed for would-be murderers and documenting my plight on social media. All in all, I was home by 3am and no real worse for the wear. It was at that time that Learn to Change a Tire made it on the 40 by Forty.

Last weekend I got to visit family in Arizona and I asked my dad to help me. Although I’m arguably more teachable this side of 18, there seem to be fewer and fewer opportunities to really learn a skill from my parent anymore. I am so thankful for the chance to build another new memory with him in this way.

In case you too are in need of a lesson in basic car repair, I’ve listed the dad-approved step-by-step guide below. And you can trust my dad. He’s a professor. But also, his first words of advice were: “Consult the car manual.” Wisdom, and maybe a touch of liability insurance.

1. First, the obvious: Make sure the car is parked in a safe location, engine turned off, parking brake on, and all passengers outside of the vehicle. My manual suggested placing blocks on the front and back of the two wheels diagonally across from the flat tire, but I didn’t have any so I’m already failing you as a leader.

2. Locate the spare tire and the tools. Most new cars come with a jack and tool kit that includes a car iron and nut wrench. Mine was a handy-dandy combo tool, which was actually kind of annoying when it came to raising up the jack, but it got the job done eventually.

3. Loosen the lug nuts. Doing this while the tire is still on the ground is important because it keeps the tire stable and helps give counterpressure when attempting to hand loosen something that was likely tightened pneumatically. Make sure to only turn them once or twice though. Once the tire is elevated, you can loosen them the rest of the way.

4. Align the jack. The jack needs to be placed under the frame of the car to make sure it is stable when lifted. My car had a couple of notches in the frame (a little ways behind the front wheel and again a little ways in front of the back wheel) with which to align the jack. I hand-cranked the jack until the groove fit between the notches.

5. Jack up the car. I’m not sure why I thought this, but I assumed that jacking up the car was going to involve a pumping action. I pictured myself pushing on the tire iron and watching in self-satisfied glee as the car lifted with each downward thrust. I was ready to give these bulging biceps a workout but alas, my jack was less push and more twist. I was mildly disappointed.  

6. Remove the lug nuts. The car is up! You’ve shown remarkable restraint in not over-loosening them at the beginning and your patience is rewarded by…getting to do it now. You are however glad that you loosened those bad boys when you did because, holy cow, you never would’ve been able to do it in this position.

7. Out with the old and in with the new. Now, I must confess. I did not actually put the spare tire on. It didn’t really make sense since this was just a drill and it would be an extra several steps to put it on, take it off and then put back on the real tire. I did, however, remove the spare from its home and discovered some old candy and Ava’s long forgotten fuzzy purple pen. Imma call that a win.

8. Secure the spare tire. I’m sure you are as worried about the bicep disappointment as I was, but I’m happy to report that they got a workout from lifting that big, heavy tire into place and bracing it while I replaced the lug nuts. Dad tip! When securing the tire, tighten the lug nuts in an alternating pattern so that the nut opposite rather than beside the one you just secured is next in line. This relieves the pressure of having to hold the tire in place and helps provide a more even set against the wheel frame.

9. Lower the car. Using my two-fer tool, I back-spun the jack until the wheel touched the ground and then hand-cranked it the rest of the way out. Now that the tire is firmly on the ground, give those lug nuts a final what-for. I’m talking full body weight here people. You do NOT want that wheel spinning off into the great unknown without the rest of the car attached.

10. Replace and secure the tools. An important step for next time…and so you don’t hear them rattling around in the back somewhere until then.

Here’s hoping you or I never need to use the skills we’ve just acquired but good for us for being prepared anyway!

Epilogue: I was feeling super good about my tire-changing skills. So good in fact that I piled my two loves into the car and headed back across the desert for our 435 mile drive home. Imagine my dismay when about 200 miles in, the Tire Maintenance light came on! I silently chastised myself until I was able to confirm with the car manual that this was in fact a (very poorly timed!) scheduled tire rotation warning. I took it to the professionals anyway…just in case!