What Every Women Should Know: How To Change A Flat Tyre

A survey conducted by spice4life.co.za has revealed that nearly 65% of South African women are less than confident when it comes to changing their vehicle’s tyres. The survey also found that 70% of SA women claim they won’t be able to jumpstart their car if necessary.

According to Robyn Farrell, managing director of 1st for Women Insurance Brokers, “Our Guardian Angel breakdown assistance initiative confirms these findings as 402 women in Johannesburg, 180 women in Cape Town and 83 women in Durban have called our pink BMW’s to assist them with a flat tyre over the past six months.”

Farrell says that these findings are understandable as in South Africa, pulling over to the side of the road to change a flat tyre can be dangerous. That said, there’s no excuse not knowing how to change a tyre if you are in a safe and secure spot!

The modern-day woman can successfully handle most tasks in the blink of a perfectly mascaraed eye and changing a tyre should be no exception. Here’s how:

Before you begin, make sure you have the following tools in your vehicle:

• A portable jack to lift your car.
• An inflated spare tyre.
• A wheel spanner to remove and fix back the wheel

In the event of a blow out or a flat tyre, try to park on level ground. If you can’t find level ground, turn your wheels toward the pavement and park as close to it as possible to avoid rolling; pull the handbrake up and put the car in gear. If you need to change a back wheel, you’ll have to take the handbrake off. This will ensure that the back wheels are loose and are safe to be removed.

Once your car is parked securely and there’s no chance of it rolling, you’ll need to loosen the hubcaps (unless your car has mag wheels) and wheel nuts before you jack up the car. Most wheel nuts loosen anti-clockwise, unless they have an ‘L’ written on them, in which case they loosen clockwise. Do not remove the wheel nuts completely.

Once the wheel nuts are loose, jack your car up, but not too high – the further you lift the car, the further you’ll have to lift the new wheel off the ground.

Now take the wheel nuts out and take the wheel off, making sure that you keep the wheel nuts in a safe place.

Place the new wheel on and loosely tighten the wheel nuts. Only tighten them completely once you have lowered your car back onto the ground. Tighten the nuts as firmly as possible, stand on the wrench if you need to, and don’t forget to put the hubcap back onto your wheel once you’ve finished.

Lastly, don’t forget to get your punctured or flat tyre fixed or replaced as soon as possible.

“It really isn’t rocket science, and provided you keep some wet wipes handy, you won’t have to worry about getting grime all over yourself. It’s really a no mess, no fuss procedure!” concludes Farrell.