Be Prepared
This isn’t exactly the most challenging thing in the survival world, but it is still a skill you should have. Yesterday my tire blew out on the highway. I hit a pothole and suddenly there was a huge bang, then my car was trying to pull to the left. I managed to wrestle it straight and kept going. There was a huge vibration and I managed to drive until I was able to pull off to the side. I hopped out, grabbed my tire jack and my doughnut (what we call the very small spare tires here in Canada) and swapped the tire. I think it took about five minutes. A pain in the ass and the new tire I had to buy was expensive, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Learn to change your tire for yourself
A lot of people use roadside assistance for flat tires. In fact, my mother had a flat the day before I did and called roadside assistance for it. Now, my mother knows how to change a tire. She has roadside assistance, why not use it?
While I agree with using roadside assistance, I believe everyone should know how to change a tire before they start calling someone to fix their problem. If you have done it at least once yourself you know the basics – and this isn’t really a how-to, more about the fact that you should know this skill.
Think about the consequences
Imagine a real emergency, you are forced to evacuate your town. On the way, your tire blows. Now, if you don’t know how to change it yourself you will be out of luck. Stuck on the side of the road hoping someone decides to risk their own safety to rescue you. If you do know how to change a tire yourself you spend five minutes, get a little dirty, then get right back on your way. Changing a tire is an underrated survival skill.
It’s a very small skill, and easy to learn. The basics are: you break the bolts on your tire. Put the tire wrench over the bolts and give it a hard jolt so the bolts start to come loose. Then you put the jack under the lift point on your car. Every car has them. Little raised ridges near each of the tires on the underside. You jack up the car, finish taking off the bolts, take off the tire. Put the new one in place, screw in the bolts in a star pattern (tighten the ones furthest from each other). Make sure it’s decently tight, lower the jack until the tire is on the ground. Put everything away and keep going.
Breaking the bolts while the tire is on the ground is a good idea because it prevents your car from falling off the jack and because the tire might move as you try to break the bolts, which can be dangerous and is definitely a pain to deal with.
Conclusion
So that’s it. That’s all there is to changing a tire. Unscrew some bolts, take it off, put the new one on, screw in some bolts. Not exactly rocket science, but potentially a lifesaver.