# Do you change your own tyre when you get a flat?



## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)




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## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

The Gift of Fish said:


> View attachment 624410


I dont really see much of a choice
I suppose you could wait for someone 
to come and do it for you
That would take more time than 
doing it yourself and probably getting it 
fixed and/or repaired though


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## TomTheAnt (Jan 1, 2019)

I let other people touch my vehicles as little as possible, so if I get a flat, I will be the one changing it. If my wife has the same happen, it's usually me who will do it for her, too. If I'm too far or can't get to her, it will have to be AAA.


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## Soldiering (Jan 21, 2019)

Over a 20k plus RS career, I've changed the tire Nascar style with the pax buns in the seat at least a half dozen times. They all were very cool with it.


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

That's what AAA is for.
Usually within 15 minutes.


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## losiglow (Dec 4, 2018)

I'm with TomTheAnt_._ I don't like other people messing with my car. I didn't even take the offer from the dealership for 2 free oil changes after I bought the car.


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## Fromstartofinish (Oct 2, 2021)

The Gift of Fish said:


> View attachment 624410


Yes , well unless the flat is in sidewall , I have a $10 kit in each car I own , I plug it on spot , then fill it with mini compressor I have in each car , if unrepairable on spot , I use the spare , and yes , anyone can use a jack that comes with each car , I have a 4 way lug wrench ithat I have in each car Easier to use then factory one , I am prepared for the worst and I hope for the best , similar to life in general , being prepared will cause you less stress in life when you encounter problems as put forward by this thread .

Anyone can do this , it is just a matter of wether you WANT to do it . People in general are hesitant to do things that most are capable of doing themselves


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

I worried in 2015 when I bought my Cruze, because it doesn't come with a spare tire, just a compressor and fix a flat. Then, I remembered I never had a flat on the vehicle I traded for the Cruze. So, it's been over twenty years since I've changed a tire on my car. Earlier this year, I was at Ontario airport in SoCal picking up my friend and a young woman, holding her baby was standing next to her car with a flat tire . I went over and she was FaceTiming with her husband, trying her best. So, I changed it for her. I'll change a tire for a woman, but if you're a man, you have to be older and more decrepit than I before you get any free help.


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## njn (Jan 23, 2016)

I can't believe you all have access to a tire machine. Getting the tire mounted on the rim and balanced is not easy.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

No, I pay another RS driver to come and change it for me, can't be bothered to get my hands dirty

One of my fav RS exp., 1 am, get a ride request from a parking lot, I call to confirm the location, young lady says yes, I arrive. Two couples, obviously out for a night on the town, both young ladies in heels and party dresses, two 'fru fru" guys, standing beside a BMW with a flat. One young lady is waving as I pull up, the other is berating the one guy, as the one opens the back door, I hear "HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO CHANGE A FLAT TIRE, WHAT KIND OF MAN ARE YOU?". I laugh hard. Young lady gets in, after a few minutes she sighs, gets out an drags her friend in, as the other gets in, she asks me "Do you know how to change a flat?" I replied, "Who doesn't?" She puts the window down, scream "EVEN MY ****ING LYFT DRIVER CAN CHANGE A FLAT, MAYBE I SHOULD SEND HIM BACK TO TEACH YOU, JERK". The entire 20 minute drive she's going off on him, I'm chuckling. On drop-off, as a joke I ask if she wants me to go back and teach him to change a flat, her response "F him, I'm so done with him". 2 hours later I drove by the same lot, BMW still there, no one around, tire still flat.

Heck, if I have time, I might even break it down and repair it.


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

njn said:


> I can't believe you all have access to a tire machine. Getting the tire mounted on the rim and balanced is not easy.


Most sane human beings consider removing the wheel and flat tire from the car and replacing them with a spare to be changing a tire.


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## Fromstartofinish (Oct 2, 2021)

njn said:


> I can't believe you all have access to a tire machine. Getting the tire mounted on the rim and balanced is not easy.


Well if you read the OP’s question , instead of just typing a response , you would comprehend the question , and your response would line up with said question asked . Another minute of my life gone , typing this🤷‍♂️


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## TCar (Aug 4, 2019)

Too much action on the roads. I got premium AAA and will use them when that happens.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

I change my own tires when I get a flat.

If it is a front tire I fill it with air from my compressor and look for a hole to plug with my plug kit. Front tires you can turn the wheel and have easy access. If it is a rear wheel i take it off and look for an easily fixable hole, fix it and put it back on. If it can't be fixed I put the spare on. I have a full size spare in my shed that I will put on when I get home. Wish the full size spare would fit underneath however the trailer hitch I added won't allow a full size spare.


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

njn said:


> I can't believe you all have access to a tire machine. Getting the tire mounted on the rim and balanced is not easy.


I had one in my toybox and plan to get one in my new warehouse early next year.

This thread however is about taking off a flat tyre and putting the spare tyre on the car. something I do.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

forqalso said:


> I worried in 2015 when I bought my Cruze, because it doesn't come with a spare tire, just a compressor and fix a flat.


This kind of thing brings cheapness by manufacturers to a whole new level.

If I ever buy a car that they've done this to then I would get a used full size rim from a car dismantler, put a tyre on it and put in in the trunk.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

njn said:


> I can't believe you all have access to a tire machine. Getting the tire mounted on the rim and balanced is not easy.


No, lol. You actually change the wheel as well when you change a flat tyre. The tyre is attached to the wheel and they come off the car as one unit.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Frontier Guy said:


> One young lady is waving as I pull up, the other is berating the one guy, as the one opens the back door, I hear "HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO CHANGE A FLAT TIRE, WHAT KIND OF MAN ARE YOU?"


No, no, no, no.... Women are equal to men and vice-versa. Calling out someone who doesn't know something just because of their gender is the same unequal treatment that women have (rightly) been complaining of all these years. If I was dating a woman and she started showing that behaviour then it's almost certain we'd be done right there.

Anyway, when my daughters are old enough to drive then they will be taught how to change a tyre, and they'll do it in front of me before they're let loose on their own in a car.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

TCar said:


> Too much action on the roads. I got premium AAA and will use them when that happens.


I hear you. The last flat I got was on an interstate, and it was on the left side of the car. Changing the tyre took 2-3 times as long as normal: with traffic passing 4 feet away from my car at 80mph I had to keep returning to the grass at the edge of the freeway every time vehicles approached and then going back to the tyre changing when they had passed.


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

The Gift of Fish said:


> This kind of thing brings cheapness by manufacturers to a whole new level.
> 
> If I ever buy a car that they've done this to then I would get a used full size rim from a car dismantler, put a tyre on it and put in in the trunk.


My car is diesel, the DEF tank is where the spare would be if it had one.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

forqalso said:


> My car is diesel, the DEF tank is where the spare would be if it had one.


Sounds like poor design to me. Other manufacturers have been making diesel cars that have spare wheels for decades.


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## Fromstartofinish (Oct 2, 2021)

The Gift of Fish said:


> No, no, no, no.... Women are equal to men and vice-versa. Calling out someone who doesn't know something just because of their gender is the same unequal treatment that women have (rightly) been complaining of all these years. If I was dating a woman and she started showing that behaviour then it's almost certain we'd be done right there.
> 
> Anyway, when my daughters are old enough to drive then they will be taught how to change a tyre, and they'll do it in front of me before they're let loose on their own in a car.


Good luck with that , my son can change a tire and fix a car , he’s 26 , my daughter I tried that with and she wasn’t havin it , she’s a girly girl , I do it for her , cause she my baby (22)


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Sounds like poor design to me. Other manufacturers have been making diesel cars that have spare wheels for decades.


They sure have. Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) only became a requirement for diesel cars in 2010, though. Chevy put the Cruze’s DEF tank in the same location as Mercedes did on on the E250 BlueTec.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Sounds like poor design to me. Other manufacturers have been making diesel cars that have spare wheels for decades.


Probably not a bad design, just taking advantage of found space. Seems like for a short period of time many car makers went through a no spare tire spree trying to save a little in costs. I think it flopped on them. I know awhile back I went to buy a car, as the paper work was being finalized I went on my vehicle check to see where everything was and how things worked. Learned there was no spare and asked them to throw in a spare. They said they can't there is no place to put one. I cancelled the deal and walked out. Learned that was a trending thing at that time.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

FLKeys said:


> Probably not a bad design, just taking advantage of found space.


I'd still go with bad design. The EPA told manufacturers in 2001 that models from 2010 onwards would need DEF tanks, so they had plenty of time to incorporate the requirement into new designs like the Cruze.


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## forqalso (Jun 1, 2015)

The Gift of Fish said:


> I'd still go with bad design. The EPA told manufacturers in 2001 that models from 2010 onwards would need DEF tanks, so they had plenty of time to incorporate the requirement into new designs like the Cruze.


The spare wasn’t removed to make room for the DEF tank, it was removed for weight savings, a pretty common action across the automotive industry, 28% of new cars in 2017 had no spare. The DEF tank was put in this newly available “found space” as FLKeys said. 
I‘m going on seven years in this car without needing a spare, over twenty years total. I love the mileage, though. San Francisco to Portland on one tank. Denver to SF, just stopping once.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

Depends, if I get a flat on the pickup or car, yes. If I get a flat on the semi, I call road service, crawl in the sleeper and take a nap till they arrive.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

forqalso said:


> The spare wasn’t removed to make room for the DEF tank, it was removed for weight savings ... The DEF tank was put in this newly available “found space” as FLKeys said.


I see. When you said


> the DEF tank is where the spare would be if it had one.


I assumed you meant that the DEF was where where the spare would be.


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

Frontier Guy said:


> No, I pay another RS driver to come and change it for me, can't be bothered to get my hands dirty
> 
> One of my fav RS exp., 1 am, get a ride request from a parking lot, I call to confirm the location, young lady says yes, I arrive. Two couples, obviously out for a night on the town, both young ladies in heels and party dresses, two 'fru fru" guys, standing beside a BMW with a flat. One young lady is waving as I pull up, the other is berating the one guy, as the one opens the back door, I hear "HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO CHANGE A FLAT TIRE, WHAT KIND OF MAN ARE YOU?". I laugh hard. Young lady gets in, after a few minutes she sighs, gets out an drags her friend in, as the other gets in, she asks me "Do you know how to change a flat?" I replied, "Who doesn't?" She puts the window down, scream "EVEN MY ****ING LYFT DRIVER CAN CHANGE A FLAT, MAYBE I SHOULD SEND HIM BACK TO TEACH YOU, JERK". The entire 20 minute drive she's going off on him, I'm chuckling. On drop-off, as a joke I ask if she wants me to go back and teach him to change a flat, her response "F him, I'm so done with him". 2 hours later I drove by the same lot, BMW still there, no one around, tire still flat.
> 
> Heck, if I have time, I might even break it down and repair it.


Whatta ya say to a woman with two black eyes?
Nothing. She's already been told ... twice.

She'd be walking if she was mine.


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## Fromstartofinish (Oct 2, 2021)

UberBastid said:


> Whatta ya say to a woman with two black eyes?
> Nothing. She's already been told ... twice.
> 
> She'd be walking if she was mine.
> ...


Dang it , I screwed the pooch on posting this , sue me , I’m 51 and have yet to master this forum shit


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## oldfart (Dec 22, 2017)

I have an electric jack and air compressor on board as well as a plug kit, also a jump starter and inverter and flood light. so yea I can replace the flat with my donut spare...Im glad its a donut , the 20" tires and wheels are getting to be too heavy for an old fart like me


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

oldfart said:


> I have an electric jack and air compressor on board as well as a plug kit, also a jump starter and inverter and flood light. so yea I can replace the flat with my donut spare...Im glad its a donut , the 20" tires and wheels are getting to be too heavy for an old fart like me


The nice thing about the electric jack is you roll the wheel up to the car about 3 inches away, line up the hole with one of the lugs. Lower the jack and tilt the top of the wheel in. Slowly raise the jack until the wheel catches on the lug and lifts its self into position.


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

FLKeys said:


> The nice thing about the electric jack is you roll the wheel up to the car about 3 inches away, line up the hule with one of the lugs. Lower the jack and tilt the top of the wheel in. Slowly raise the jack until the wheel catches on the lug and lifts its self into position.


That sounds really cool.

MY method is more like ... 
find a safe place to park. Get offa my wallet so I can fish out the AAA card. Call the number and give some info. 
Play on the phone (watch short-story adult videos) for fifteen minutes or so.
Sign a slip of paper and the man changes my tire, I listen to the radio.
I tip the guy at least a $10 bill, and back on the journey.

To each his/her own.

.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

UberBastid said:


> That sounds really cool.
> 
> MY method is more like ...
> find a safe place to park. Get offa my wallet so I can fish out the AAA card. Call the number and give some info.
> ...


In my area AAA is at minimum 1.5 hours away. Usually 3-5 hours. Part of living in a more rural area.20+ miles from the city life.


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

I used to drive a tow truck. I've literally changed hundreds of tires, just not my own.

I can't remember the last time I got a flat. Not even sure if some of my cars have spares.

I'm with @UberBastid that's what AAA is for, if I ever need it.


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

forqalso said:


> I worried in 2015 when I bought my Cruze, because it doesn't come with a spare tire, just a compressor and fix a flat. Then, I remembered I never had a flat on the vehicle I traded for the Cruze. So, it's been over twenty years since I've changed a tire on my car. Earlier this year, I was at Ontario airport in SoCal picking up my friend and a young woman, holding her baby was standing next to her car with a flat tire . I went over and she was FaceTiming with her husband, trying her best. So, I changed it for her. I'll change a tire for a woman, but if you're a man, you have to be older and more decrepit than I before you get any free help.


The last time I remember changing a flat was 12-15 years ago.

I was on my way to work after dropping off my kids at school. As I sat at a red light, I noticed an elderly couple in their 70s struggling to change their flat tire. I pulled over and changed it for them.


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## oldfart (Dec 22, 2017)

FLKeys said:


> The nice thing about the electric jack is you roll the wheel up to the car about 3 inches away, line up the hole with one of the lugs. Lower the jack and tilt the top of the wheel in. Slowly raise the jack until the wheel catches on the lug and lifts its self into position.


perfect, thanks


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

UberBastid said:


> Whatta ya say to a woman with two black eyes?
> Nothing. She's already been told ... twice.
> 
> She'd be walking if she was mine.


One of the customs brokers I deal with, she’s in her mid 30’s, in the summer, her DD is a ‘69 Charger she bought at 15 and helped her Dad restore, she can quote every spec of the car, and proudly displays the scars from the process. If it rains or in the winter, her DD, is her Dads ‘96 Tahoe with a built 454. Her father owned a shop and built hot rods till the day he died, She won’t date any guys who know less about cars than her. She recently ordered a ‘22 Hellcat Charger to be her new DD and track car.


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## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

The Gift of Fish said:


> View attachment 624410


No, but I do tire of Americans spelling tyre incorrectly.


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## TomTheAnt (Jan 1, 2019)

FLKeys said:


> In my area AAA is at minimum 1.5 hours away. Usually 3-5 hours. Part of living in a more rural area.20+ miles from the city life.


Kind of what my experience is the very few times when I’ve called for AAA. And all this within the DFW metroplex area. So yeah, I’m not counting on AAA to get me back on the road quickly.

Last time I needed them was a few yearsvago when I managed to lock the keys inside my old MB on my driveway. Luckily I wasn’t going anywhere but just working on the car since it took a out 1.5 hours for the guy to show up. I had actually almost manged to get it open on my own when he came. 🤦‍♂️


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

reg barclay said:


> No, but I do tire of Americans spelling tyre incorrectly.


Yes, they were given a _perfectly_ good language at the outset, but....

It's all like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa with a Sharpie marker, standing back and saying, "Yessirree Bob! That's better! I'm happier than a tick on a hawg. Yee-Haw!"

🤷‍♂️

On the plus side, though, the weather is much nicer here in The Colonies. There are other advantages too, I'm sure.


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## mellorock (Sep 16, 2018)

The Gift of Fish said:


> View attachment 624410


I change my own tire .Not my Tyre


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## Johnny Mnemonic (Sep 24, 2019)

I can do it myself in a pinch but I'd rather let a AAA guy do it for me. Even if I have to wait a half-hour.

They have the right tools and experience for the job.

They can park their truck slightly off to the side behind you to give themselves a safe space to work. And if the spare is deflated, they can pump that up as well.

They've also done it hundreds of times using the truck lift, so there's no chance of the jack slipping and damaging the car or falling on your foot.

It may seem like a simple job, but it's dangerous without professional grade equipment and experience doing it.


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

The Gift of Fish said:


> On the plus side, though, the weather is much nicer here in The Colonies. There are other advantages too, I'm sure.


Our wimmin is much pertier ... more teeth per person ratio too

.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

UberBastid said:


> Our wimmin is much pertier ... more teeth per person ratio too
> 
> .


Can't argue with the first one.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

But as I find on twitter porn, the wimmin of the Queen tend to be s l u ttier


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Frontier Guy said:


> But as I find on twitter porn, the wimmin of the Queen tend to be s l u ttier


 She's not our queen; they just couldn't find anyone British to take the throne. She's actually German, descended from the same Saxe Coburg Gotha family as Kaiser Wilhelm, the guy who started World War 1.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

The Gift of Fish said:


> She's not our queen; they just couldn't find anyone British to take the throne. She's actually German, descended from the same Saxe Coburg Gotha family as Kaiser Wilhelm, the guy who started World War 1.


Her father was also a cousin to the TSAR


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## DiffLock (Nov 21, 2021)

I didn't. But now I will. I will do almost everything myself. I don't trust the dealers as they don't care. I bought some tools and will buy a lift/jack next month. I will do everything myself in my driveway lol. My truck is simple and old school, I think I will be fine. Also I want to learn how to service my car, I want to learn.
Though I wouldn't mess around with a hybrid car or a car which is fancy. My car is not, it is a 25 year old technology.


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