Soldato
Actually the opposite, the question says tyre when quite obviously the pertinent subject is a spare wheel... Don't think anyone carries a spare tyre do they?
Poll: Can you change a flat tyre on your car?
- Thread starter kindai
- Start date
Ha. Got a screw in one of the tyres on the Q7. Thankfully I have breakdown/recovery in my insurance policy, so they came out this morning to plug it for free.
Thankfully in the middle of the tyre so nice and easy.
Got me thinking now though, as you really need breakdown recovery these days as nothing comes with a spare any more!
Thankfully in the middle of the tyre so nice and easy.
Got me thinking now though, as you really need breakdown recovery these days as nothing comes with a spare any more!
Soldato
Neither car has a spare, so I'd call recovery; but I'm more than capable of removing the wheels if needed. Though saying that..
previous car had full sized spare, the second puncture on that car was when I tore the sidewall off a 2 week old tyre on a rock that jammed against a kerb parking up outside my in-laws. It was cold, and wet - and the garage had installed too many ugaduggas and after 5 minutes of trying I couldn't crack the wheel nuts - so I went back inside and called the RAC
previous car had full sized spare, the second puncture on that car was when I tore the sidewall off a 2 week old tyre on a rock that jammed against a kerb parking up outside my in-laws. It was cold, and wet - and the garage had installed too many ugaduggas and after 5 minutes of trying I couldn't crack the wheel nuts - so I went back inside and called the RAC
Soldato
My car has an OEM wheel brace and scissor jack, but no spare, just a pot of goo! No room for a spare either!
Associate
Lol at option 4 in the poll
Soldato
Always call the breakdown company, I'm not doing that filthy job, anyway haven't got a spare.
Soldato
Anybody who's car has a spare should really consider getting one of these or similiar https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/sakura-extendable-wheel-wrench-4-sizes-553991550 (just make sure the sockets the correct size), they are brilliant. I put them in all the vans at work, my car, the wife's and the daughters. I was on the way to work one day, when I saw a guy struggling to undo his wheel bolts with the perfectic manufacture supplied wheel brace, I stopped, and used my wheel brace, it was super easy.
Car tyres yes, some truck/trailer tyres you can change without taking the wheel off - seen many a tyre fitter do that over the years.
PS. Yes I can change my own tyres, and yes I can fit a spare wheel with tyre - I change truck tyres at work, even repair punctures
Last edited:
Soldato
Used to, even swapped all four over summer to winter and back again - but cannae do it nowadays due to arthritic shoulder, don't have the strength any more
Man of Honour
Lol no, that's what I have breakdown for.
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2009
- Posts
- 7,961
The car doesn't even come with a spare so after the last flat left me high and dry with only a bottle of goo that sat in the wheelwell that did absolutely nothing and basically had to drive to a tyre place on the rim - I bought one of those get-you-home spare wheels and a jack and wheel spanner or whatever its called. I think I'd call recovery though I don't think I'd trust myself to not put the jack through the floor pan I just can't find the jacking point anywhere underneath -
Was driving a hire car once and it suffered a flat on a motorway, it was covered by the AA so called them out as it turned out the wheel was completely rusted on he resorted to using a lump hammer out of his toolbox to try and get it off bashing it repeatedly alternately top and bottom - bang, bang, bang, bang! Hitting it as hard as he could until it finally loosened up. Some things are just best left to the professionals I feel
In the real world neither of my current cars have a spare tyre in them so pancake?
Last time I actually had a flat I had a spare and all the other goodies so happy to do it myself until I bent the wheel brace trying to undo the ridiculously overtorqued wheel nuts... So pancake again. (or call the recovery service, wait 3 hours for them to spend 10s with a breaker bar...)
In the hypothetical situation though happy to do it myself.
Was driving a hire car once and it suffered a flat on a motorway, it was covered by the AA so called them out as it turned out the wheel was completely rusted on he resorted to using a lump hammer out of his toolbox to try and get it off bashing it repeatedly alternately top and bottom - bang, bang, bang, bang! Hitting it as hard as he could until it finally loosened up. Some things are just best left to the professionals I feel
Last edited:
I've swapped my own wheels over several times (bought some lighter wheels and had fresh rubber put on them). I'm glad I had a second set of wheels because one afternoon I came back to the car to find a screw jauntily stuck out of a sidewall at a diagonal. Must have obtained it the night before and not noticed, the street I parked on was having some building work done. Was unrepairable too, grumble. So, after carefully driving home, off with that wheel and over to the garage! Torque wrench is a must for anyone who's suitably equipped to remove wheels at home. My Draper is more than adequate for home use and wasn't expensive.
The poll question is "can you change a flat tyre" - perhaps should be "can you swap a wheel" and the answer to that is yes. I'd be interested to see how many could break a bead without wrecking their nice alloys never mind fit and balance a tyre at home. Or am I the only person who doesn't have a Hofmann tyre machine in their shed?
The poll question is "can you change a flat tyre" - perhaps should be "can you swap a wheel" and the answer to that is yes. I'd be interested to see how many could break a bead without wrecking their nice alloys never mind fit and balance a tyre at home. Or am I the only person who doesn't have a Hofmann tyre machine in their shed?
I answered "change the tyre myself" as I have done so in the past and it really is just basic stuff. But I've just remembered my Mini doesn't have a spare so in reality I would probably need to be recovered.
That said, even if it did, tyre shops usually put wheel bolts on so hard it's nearly impossible to get them off at the roadside unless you keep a breaker bar in the boot.
That said, even if it did, tyre shops usually put wheel bolts on so hard it's nearly impossible to get them off at the roadside unless you keep a breaker bar in the boot.
Last edited:
Soldato
Change myself, my car is old school enough to have a spare.
Man of Honour
I change the wheel. I can't do F1 speeds, but I'd be alright in a Le Mans 24 Hours scenario.
My fastest wheel change was on an MG Maestro in 1998 I think, from stopping to dropping off the jacks we were well under 3 minutes, possibly just under 2. I peaked to soon and never recaptured that early form.