A shredded or punctured tire is not something you should ignore. If you procrastinate in repairing or replacing your tires, you may experience a huge tire bust right in the middle of the road. Such accidents can endanger the lives of your family and other drivers and passengers on the road.
Fortunately, changing a damaged tire can be quite easy. However, a lot of the time, we don’t have the necessary tools or the expertise to change our tires safely. Here are some vital dos and don’ts that you need to keep in mind when changing your tires.
Here are some of the things that you should do when replacing tires:
Changing Tires in an Open Space: A large open space allows you to move around and use your tools easily. If you have a large garage or driveway, you can change your tires in there. However, if you are short on space, it is best to take your car to an auto repair service that can do the job for you.
Automotive repair and service companies have large spaces which they use to change their customers’ tires easily and conveniently.
Placement of the Jack: Cars are made differently based on the manufacturer and model. Hence, it is extremely important that you know where the jack needs to be positioned. Before you start changing your car’s tires, take a look at its manual to see where the car jack needs to be placed. Make sure you place the jack properly so it doesn’t slip off.
Use an Appropriately Sized Jack: If you have small standard-sized cars, a one-and-a-half ton jack will probably do the trick. However, if your vehicle is mid- to large-sized, this jack will not cut it. Make sure you get a three-ton floor jack for larger cars.
A jack that has a smaller capacity may become busted under the weight of the car and you would rather not have that happen.
Get Two Pairs of Jack Stands: Jacks can collapse under the weight of your car and can lose height significantly in a single hour.
Although a single jack may be enough to change a tire, it is better to be on the safe side. Also, it is not a great idea to flex the frame of a car for a long time, so two jacks can enable you to properly lift the side of the vehicle you are working on.
Apply Brakes: Make sure you do not forget to apply the brakes on your vehicle, or it may move while you a replacing your tires. This can lead to severe injuries.
Use Wheel Chocks: Gravity can make your vehicle move forward, especially on an incline, even if you have applied the brakes. To make sure your vehicle remains stationary, apply 8-inch-long rubber or wooden wheel chocks.
Wear Protective Gloves: Tires are covered in dirt and muck. Get yourself a pair of leather gloves, or even latex gloves, when handling your tires. There is no reason why you should have grime beneath your nails when you are changing tires.
Here are some of the things you need to avoid when changing your car’s tires:
Don’t Loosen the Nuts After Jacking Your Car:
When you jack up your car and then try to loosen the nuts, your tire will simply spin in the air and the nuts won’t come loose.
This is also quite dangerous as you can hurt yourself. Instead, the common-sense method is to loosen the nuts while the tires are on the ground to get the needed friction.
Don’t Tip your Car to One Side: One of the most dangerous things you can do is to tip your car on the side and balance it with a couple of jacks. Tipping your cars at dangerous angles just to replace a tire is a definite no-no. It’s not worth risking your life. If you are unsure how to change your car tires, get them changed at an auto service.
Don’t Rely On Your Jack: Do not rely on the jack when working under a vehicle. There have been a lot of injuries and death related to ill-manufactured jack stands that collapsed during inopportune moments.
Don’t Forget to Get the New Tire Out First:
Before you start jacking your car, don’t forget to take out the spare tire from out the trunk. If you do this later, you may expose yourself to risk because of the greater height and tilted angle of the car.
Don’t Install Dry Nuts: Make sure your wheel nuts are properly greased before you tighten them in place. Water and differing temperature can cause the nuts to rust or gall. A small amount of anti-seize or penetrating lubricant on each nut can prevent problems in the future.
Tire repairs and replacement are very common, and the tools required to perform them are readily available. However, there is a specific way in which you should and shouldn’t use them. If you are not sure of your ability to skillfully change tires while not putting yourself in danger, call PA Auto Inspection and book a tire replacing appointment with us.
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By Steven John
An unavoidable part of owning a car involves running into trouble like getting a flat tire.
Now, you can always pay someone else to fix it, but knowing how to change a tire is a lifesaving skill if you get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. So, if you’re casually wondering about how to change a tire and hoping for a long-winded, loquacious, even redundant introduction that winds about lazily in lyrical circles before getting to the point, then you’re going to need to look elsewhere.
Contents
First, we’ll do a quick rundown of the basic steps to changing a tire. Then we’ll cover the finer points. If you have time, read this whole article before getting to work. If not, let’s get to work!
Now get on your way! I mean first put the flat, jack, and tools back in the trunk, but then off you go.
With a few good tools, changing a car tire need not be all that much of a chore. Any new car should have all the stuff you need included, but to make things easy on yourself, consider getting these three items, just in case:
For nuts that are stubbornly stuck in place, you can try loosening them with something like WD-40, but if you don’t have a can of that on hand, you can also loosen nuts by heating them up. A jet flame lighter (or small blowtorch…) works best, but even a regular lighter can help.
And if you want to plan ahead, keep an in your car at all times. It will make tire changing after dark so much easier than using a flashlight or your phone’s light.
Never ever change a tire on a hill. Or on loose ground. Or on the road itself.
Never loosen nuts or bolts on a car that’s already jacked up; it will very likely fall.
Never change a tire when the car is not in park and with the parking brake engaged, and always get all passengers out, too. (This reduces weight and also keeps them safer.)
Don’t force a nut or bolt, you will get it stuck even worse and may end up needing to call help anyway.
Fully remove a bolt that’s sticking and then try putting it back on afresh. If it’s sticking, back off before it gets stuck.
LADA
UAZ
KIA
Hyundai
Renault
Toyota
Volkswagen
GAZ
NSAN
-Benz
Mitsubishi
Mazda
Ford
All brands
Most often, we ourselves are to blame for the fact that tires become unusable.
But this can be avoided.
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In the process of using a tire, a variety of damages can occur, most of which are the fault of the driver. As a result, rubber is wasted, and since the law prohibits the use of different tire models on the same axle, you have to spend money on replacing the second tire.
The most common damage is puncture . This is the most harmless type of damage, but only if you notice it in time and repair it right away. It is absolutely impossible to drive on a flat tire, even a couple of meters! The damage caused by running on a flat tire or with low pressure is catastrophic. This causes the sidewalls to deform more than they should, which causes the tire to overheat, delaminate, and the carcass becomes unusable due to broken cords. As a result, the tire will have to be thrown away. In addition, the edge of the rim can also be damaged.
Punctures are of two types: with and without cord damage. To determine this, it is necessary to remove what pierced it. If the edges of the puncture tightly converge, then the cord is not damaged and it will be possible to repair the tire without removing it from the disk. Otherwise, if the edges do not converge, you will have to disassemble the wheel and make repairs with strengthening the frame from the inside. Alternatively, in the field and in the absence of a spare wheel, such a puncture can be repaired without removing the tire from the rim, after which you can carefully drive to a tire fitting or garage and make a full repair.
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When repairing, the puncture site should be cleaned and marked. Further, it all depends on what kind of repair kit you have - as a rule, instructions are attached to them. There are sealants that are poured into the tire through the nipple, after which the wheel turns with the puncture down and the substance seals the hole.
Repair using a tourniquet or insert is somewhat more complicated, but also more durable: the edges of the hole are polished with a special tool, after which the tourniquet treated with a special compound must be inserted into the tire through a puncture with a special awl, pulled out (not completely) out and cut flush with the surface.
In case of damage to the cord due to a puncture, the tire must be removed from the rim in order to install a reinforced patch with an additional cord on its inner surface. One of the sides of such patches has an adhesive layer that promotes cold vulcanization. After such a repair, wheel balancing will be required. To seal punctures from the inside, patches in the form of a mushroom are also used, with a leg that goes into the puncture. Such patches are also covered with a special adhesive for cold vulcanization.
Cuts or holes , unlike punctures, are not repairable, as they violate the integrity of the frame, which can no longer be strengthened.
In addition, breakdowns are always sudden and occur on the go: the tire abruptly loses pressure and before the car comes to a complete stop it has time to make several revolutions “on the rims”, which breaks the cord and destroys the layers. It is not recommended to use such a weakened tire, even if it was possible to repair and strengthen the place of the rupture or cut, in the future.
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Incorrect storage of tires can cause cracks . The danger of such damage is that moisture enters the cord through cracks, which renders the frame unusable. In addition, air can escape through cracks. Unfortunately, cracks are not repairable, and tires with them will not last long: sooner or later they will deform, become covered with swellings due to rusted and torn cord or because of driving with pressure below the recommended one.
Blisters or bulges can appear on a tire for a variety of reasons - it always happens due to a broken cord or delamination in the carcass.
In the first case, an obstacle was hit and the impact broke the cord or the cord was cut through with a sharp object. In the second case, there is no damage on or near the hernia, which means that it appeared either due to a factory defect, or due to frequent driving with pressure below the recommended one. The danger of hernias is that they can explode at any moment and provoke a skid, which will lead to an accident. If there is nothing to replace a tire with a hernia, then it is better to rearrange it to the rear axle and drive very carefully. Like cracks, a hernia cannot be repaired. Sometimes small blisters resulting from impacts or cuts are reinforced with reinforced patches, but there is no guarantee that the tire will not explode. Therefore, tires with hernias are recommended to be replaced immediately.
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Tire sidewalls can be damaged by rubbing against curbs or the asphalt edge when pulling over.
If you are prone to such a driving style, then it is recommended to inspect the inner and outer sidewalls from time to time and, if abrasion is found, swap the wheels in order to prevent the cord from being exposed - the rubber thickness on the sidewalls is small (1.5–3 mm), and it can be rubbed to the frame very quickly.
Often the cause of tire damage can be poor-quality tire fitting , during which the bead ring was damaged. In this case, the tire loses its geometry and “sits” crookedly on the disk - it writes out “eights” during rotation, and lateral vibration appears during the ride. It is impossible to repair such a tire - you need to replace it with a serviceable one as soon as possible before it damages the suspension: rods, hubs and bearings.
You can find out whether you are using tires correctly and what invisible damage they have received by the characteristic wear of the tread, the varieties of which are collected in the table for convenience:
Double side shoulder wear
Driving with lower than recommended tire pressure.
Inflate the tires to the pressure recommended by the automaker (a plate with recommendations is attached in the driver's door opening) and find the cause of the fall: puncture, cracks, hernia, nipple, rust on the disc rim in the place where the tire fits, etc.
Center wear
Tire pressure too high.
Reduce the pressure to the recommended (indicated on the tablet in the driver's doorway)
In the form of rings and furrows
can be found on trailers or rear wheels of picaps and vans due to vibrations and vibrations and vibrations due bouncing at high speeds.
Changing wheels on a loaded axle to equalize wear, driving with a heavier load.
Chipped wear with cuts
Frequent wheel spin on rocky surfaces.
Move the wheels to a non-driving axle, use the gas pedal more carefully when starting to move.
Photo: Petr Urbanek / Unsplash
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Nail, rebar or sharp stone - sometimes you can damage a tire almost from scratch. First of all, the scale of damage is important, and often rubber can still be repaired. Most often, motorists turn to tire shops for repairs in the middle of autumn or spring - just in the season of replacing summer tires with winter tires and vice versa.
In order not to stand in lines, it is worth knowing exactly when to go to the tire shop and when to go to the store.
The most common "injury" to rubber is a puncture and is most often repairable. Professionals in the nearest service will do it much faster, and your hands will remain clean. But if the puncture caught you in a deserted place, and there is a pump and a tire repair kit with harnesses in the trunk, you can patch up the tire yourself. Most often, when repairing the front tires, the wheel can not even be removed, it is enough to turn the steering wheel in the right direction and find the puncture site.
First, the hole is cleaned with a helical awl, the repair harness is smeared with glue and tucked into the eye of the awl, after which it is inserted into the tire hole. With a sharp movement, the tool is removed, and the tourniquet remains inside and securely clogs the hole. The tails are cut with a knife, but it is recommended to leave about 20 mm. After that, the tire can be inflated and the pressure checked.
Repair with harnesses is not considered long-term, because after some time they dry out and begin to let air through. A more advanced puncture repair method is vulcanization. The hole is sealed with an elastic patch, and the funnel at the puncture site is filled with a special compound. A vulcanizer is put on top, which heats the patch and solders the excess.
Under service conditions, the puncture is also repaired with cord fungi. The puncture site is processed and drilled to roughen. Everything is smeared with glue, after which a fungus is introduced from the inside of the tire, its cap is rolled, and the excess legs are cut off from the outside.
Photo: PA Images / TASS
A puncture can also be repaired with sealant. Many car manufacturers with run flat tubeless tires put compressor repair kits in the car instead of a spare tire - a bottle of pressurized sealant. The car is raised on a jack, after which the sealant is pumped into the damaged wheel through the nipple.
Next, you need to spin the wheel and pump it up. After repair, the car should be driven a couple of hundred meters to check the tightness of the tire. If it has not recovered, the procedure is repeated.
It happens that a self-tapping screw or a nail closes the hole in the tire, remaining inside. Do not rush to pull it out - until the pressure drops, you can safely get to the service for vulcanization. Sometimes the wheel begins to blow off a few weeks after the self-tapping screw got into it. Therefore, it is better to check tire pressure periodically, and if the pressure sensor lights up, you should at least visually inspect the tire for a nail head.
A bump or bulge most often occurs on the side of a tire after hitting an obstacle or hitting a hole at speed. From the impact, the sidewall carcass threads are damaged, the tire ceases to hold the load and pressure, swelling appears. Any small bump eventually turns into a larger one, and with such a defect, the wheel can burst at any time.
This is a direct safety hazard because a sudden flat tire can cause loss of control and a road accident.
Some bulges can be repaired, but no patch will ever restore a tire to factory stiffness. The ideal option in this case is to replace the tire. If a hernia has appeared on the tread, then you can extend the life of the tire with the help of cord patches - ready-to-use patches with an adhesive layer. But if swelling is found on the sidewall, the likelihood of repair is minimal, the wheel is easier to change. Blisters on low profile tires are generally not repairable.
Only car service professionals can repair a side cut. Cord patches will be needed to repair the damage, but after some time the wheel will still have to be changed. This method will work only if the gap is not in the shoulder area of the tire, then no one will repair it.
In general, cuts or punctures, unlike punctures, are considered non-repairable, since the integrity of the frame is violated.
And breakdowns do occur on the go, when the tire abruptly loses pressure and has time to make only a few turns “on the rims” before it comes to a complete stop. In this situation, the cord breaks and the layers of the tire are destroyed. Even if it is possible to close the hole, it is not recommended to use such a weakened tire.
Photo: Mikhail Pletsky / Russian Look
Cracks, sidewall abrasions and unprofessional tire fitting can also lead to tire problems. Cracks can occur as a result of improper storage of tires. Their danger is that moisture begins to flow to the cord, and this already renders the frame unusable. Air can also escape through cracks. Cracks cannot be repaired and tires will not last long. A tire with cracks is deformed, blistered, and may even break while driving.
Rubbing against curbs or driving on uneven roadsides can damage the tire sidewall. When driving like this, it is worth inspecting the tires for damage regularly. If a slight wear is found, the wheels can be swapped, which will slightly extend their service life and allow you to delay the purchase of new ones.
