Motoring corner : “The Drivers’ Nightmare”

In everyday life, we enjoy all the pleasures that come with driving.  Have you ever wondered what would happen or how you would react if for any unplanned reason, you are not able to get to your destination for the simple reason that you had had a flat tyre? Every driver’s nightmare is being stranded with a flat tire.

Saturday, February 19, 2011
When it goes flat

In everyday life, we enjoy all the pleasures that come with driving.  Have you ever wondered what would happen or how you would react if for any unplanned reason, you are not able to get to your destination for the simple reason that you had had a flat tyre? Every driver’s nightmare is being stranded with a flat tire.

The reason is because not many people know how to change a flat tyre. So if you are out site from a repair shop or no one is nice enough to stop and help, then you may be stranded for a while. Well don’t put yourself in that position and quickly learn how to change that flat tyre.

Imagine that you are driving down the road and you hear the flapping of a flat and your car starts shaking. You pull over and step out and only to realise that, you have just had flat tyre, and there is nothing around you. Luckily, you now know how to change the tyre. The first thing you do is find the jack in your car. Place the jack close to the area of the spare tyre on a secure part of your car.

Begin to raise the jack so that it raises your car allowing you to remove the spare. For some models, the spare may be easily tucked inside the vehicle’s boot!
 
Once the jack has raised the car high enough to remove the spare, you will need to remove the lug nuts. There should be a wheel spanner in your car and you will need to use it to remove them. Once the lug nuts are removed, do not misplace them because doing so could mean disaster; you can take the flat tyre off and replace it. By the way, do you often make sure that you have a functional spare tyre? When was the last time you checked the pressure in your spare tyre?
 
Put the flat tyre in the same place as you spare and place your spare on the axle bolts. Begin to put the lug nuts back on the bolts and, using the same spanner you used to remove the lug nuts, secure tightly. Be sure the tyre is securely put on and will not wiggle with any pressure or else you could be set for yet another nightmare! Make sure that, you get the bad tyre repaired as soon as possible as you could need a spare sooner that you had thought!
 
It really isn’t difficult at all to change out that flat tyre, but many people are not prepared for the worse. Don’t put yourself in that position and go over a few of these steps.

Do a little practice at your house so that you know where everything is located and you know what you are doing. This should make it pretty simple the next time you are unfortunate enough to get a flat.  Too many female or young drivers, there is the problem of ignorance of the basic safety features of the vehicle; they are mainly obsessed with driving and that is all!  Make sure that, you are always prepared for any break down of any sort.

motoringcorner@live.co.uk