How to Use a Jack to Change a Tire

You hear a pop while driving through traffic and suddenly you car's driving funny. You've got a flat, and you need to take care of it now. Changing a tire is not only a good skill to have, it's a necessity for driver safety. You can get a flat tire at any time, so make sure your car's spare tire is in good shape. Jacking up a car and changing the tire takes a half hour or longer, depending on your comfort and familiarity with the process.

• 1

  Place an automatic in park and a manual in first gear. Deploy the emergency brake. Edmunds recommends placing a brick behind the opposite diagonal tire. For example, place a brick behind the front right tire if you need to change the left rear tire.

• 2

  Gather your tire-changing tools: the spare tire, the jack and the tire iron. These may be located in the trunk (for most cars) or on the back of the tailgate (for SUVs and trucks).

• 3

  Place the tire iron over one lug nut on your tire. Turn the tire iron counterclockwise to loosen the lug nut. Don't remove it all the way. Repeat this for the other lug nuts. This takes a lot of muscle.

• 4

  Check your owner's manual to find the jacking points on your vehicle. Every car has different jacking points that allows the jack to rest on a firm surface under the car so the jack can be used as securely as possible. Turn the knob at the end of the jack to raise the vehicle. Raise the jack until it hits the frame and begins raising the car. Keep going until the tire is off the ground.

• 5

  Pull off the wheel lugs by hand or use your tire iron if you need to loosen them more. Remove the tire.

• 6

  Line up the holes in the spare wheel with the wheel stud. Push the spare onto the studs.

• 7

  Screw the lug nuts back in with your fingers to hold the tire. Tighten them fully with the tire iron.

• 8

  Lower the vehicle by turning the jack handle. Wind the jack down all the way until the vehicle is back on the ground. Pull the jack out from under the vehicle when you're finished.

• 9

  Use the tire iron to tighter the lug nuts as much as you can at this point. According to Edmunds, you finish tightening the lug nuts when the car is on the ground so the tire won't move around.