If your tire is flat, just call for roadside assistance.
Sounds simple until you?re caught in a rural area with no cell phone service.
Consider these ideas from Jeffrey Boone, Ed Kriston and Troy Green, all of the Towson office of AAA Mid-Atlantic, headquartered in Wilmington, Del.
» Move the car off the road. This sounds basic, but it?s one of the mistakes drivers often make. Pull to the shoulder and pop the trunk to ensure other drivers can see your car. Of course, set up flares if they are available.
» Turn the car off. Never change a tire while thecar’s motor is running.
» Read your owner?s manual. Ideally you should do this before you have a flat. It?s actually quite difficult in some vehicles to find the storage spots for the spare and jack.
» Know the location of the key for the wheel locks. The glove box, trunk, and console are the usual places dealers store the keys for models that include wheel locks. If you can?t find it, a dealer likely has a universal set.
» Carry a breaker bar with correct size socket. Although most lug nuts are hand-torqued, they may still be difficult to remove. Carefully stand on the breaker bar to loosen the lug nut so that it can be removed.
» Loosen the lug nuts slightly before you jack up the car. Do not remove them at that point.
» Set up the jack. Closely follow the owners? manual instruction. Placing a jack in the wrong spot can damage the car and create safety hazards.
» Place a block of wood or another heavy object against the tire diagonally opposite of the flat. That will keep the car from rolling.
» Look at the lug nut before you remove it. When you replace it, you?ll want to remember that the acorn shape goes toward the wheel.
» Don?t drive far on a “donut.” The undersized tires included with some vehicles have a 50-mph and 50-mile limit. If you ignore it, you risk a blow out.
For more information on this and other car safety and maintenance issues, go to www.aaamidatlantic.com
