Video: How to Change a Tire

The three essential things you'll need are a jack, a lug wrench, and of course, a spare tire. You're also gonna wanna pull out your owner's manual. We're gonna show you our best practices, but there's no substitute for your automaker's recommendations. Once you detect the flat, turn on your emergency flashers, slow down and find a safe, level place to stop. Put your parking brake on to prevent a roll away, and have passengers exit. Now remove your hubcaps if you have them, using a flat-headed tool. This may require a special tool, so consult your owner's manual to be sure. Loosen the lug nuts or bolts before jacking up the car. Give it all you've got to break the lugs loose, but don't loosen them much, just enough so you can take it easy once your car is on the jack. There are different kinds of jacks stored in different places in different kinds of cars. So again, familiarize yourself with your manual in advance. Place the jack on your manual's recommended jack point, often marked. The jack point will be a flat, metal area of the car's frame near the flat tire, not the body, which won't likely support the car's weight. Jack up the car just enough to let you ultimately slide the tire off and keep all body parts out from underneath the car while it's jacked up. Finish loosening the lugs and keep them in a safe place. Pull the flat tire off and replace it with your spare. Likely it will be a smaller, temporary tire or a donut. Hand tighten the lugs, then give them a quarter turn with the wrench while the car's still jacked. Now, lower the car slowly until the jack slides easily out, and finish tightening the lugs in a star pattern. Don't try to be Thor here, just tighten the lugs so that they feel equally snug and require some elbow grease to break loose again. And boom, you're back on your way. One more important thing to bear in mind, a temporary spare is just that, temporary. Most donuts aren't meant to be driven more than around 50 miles per hour or 100 miles in distance. So donut procrastinate, get it patched or replaced ASAP. (upbeat music)