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Flat tire, stuck at a pizza joint parking lot

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Triumph said:
The only thing worse than a licensed driver who doesn't know how to change a tire, is one that complains on an internet forum about having to wait for someone to come change it for them. Why do people enjoy NOT being self sufficient?
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Eh, if you already pay for AAA you might as well use it. If he was paying a tow truck without AAA then I'd agree with you.
 
Carry fix-a-flat and a decent compressor. Tire place guys hate fix-a-flat but that isn't your problem.

Carry a spare and check the pressure in it at least once a decade.

Just don't touch the jack.
 
I cannot believe there are guys who just don't want to know how to change a tire on their car. Women, understandable, but guys? Geez.
 
Why shouldn't women be expected to know how to change a tire? It's a basic skill necessary to operate a motor vehicle.
 
IronWing said:
Why shouldn't women be expected to know how to change a tire? It's a basic skill necessary to operate a motor vehicle.
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I agree. There's no reason for anyone to be helpless. Common breakables should have spares in the car, and the operator should know how to deal with them. Spare headlight, tire, belts, fuses, gallon of water. All are approachable for an unknowledgeable amateur, and can get you out of a bad spot.
 
I have known several people that have removed their spare tire to make room for a subwoofer or things like that. lol
I think it's a worthy investment to always carry certain things in a car like warm gloves, flashlight, basic tools, jumpstart kit, butane torch..etc.
Triple A for some people is also worth having.
 
BoomerD said:
Really...who the hell waits around for any length of time for a tow truck to change a flat tire...besides a woman?
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Sorta this... I mean, changing a tire is a pain in the ass but it's like the second or third prerequisite for your guy card 🙂.

But I guess if it were cold and I had a warm place to hang I might let AAA come out and do it.
 
I take it many of you have never tried using the crappy tire changing tools that come with most cars nowadays. The included breaker bar is not real steel but some kind of alloy and you can sheer off the inside or sometimes the lug corners pretty easily.

Considering how cheap the scissor jacks that come with them are and considering how short and weak the included breaker bar for the lugs are, I mean you can't get enough torque on those short things to break lugs if they are old or very tight. I'm certain there are many guys out there that had no choice but to seek other means of assistance.

Best thing I ever purchased for changing tires was an actual Crossbar and hydraulic jack but I don't carry that jack in my car. Need to find a real scissor jack to replace the crap that's in there now. First time I ever used the one for my wifes car, the jack literally bent to one side while it was up.
 
people call a tow truck if they have a flat?

Isn't that why every car has a jack and a spare? They even give you the right size lug wrench!
 
I haven't seen a design yet that beats the elegance of air cooled VWs. You could make most repairs on the car with the jack, lug wrench, and reversible screwdriver. Everything was multipurpose, and easily accessible.
 
HeXen said:
I take it many of you have never tried using the crappy tire changing tools that come with most cars nowadays. The included breaker bar is not real steel but some kind of alloy and you can sheer off the inside or sometimes the lug corners pretty easily.
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No question that those angled lug wrenches that double as the jack crank are hard to use right, and if the lug nuts were cranked on with an air wrench they can be a real pain in the ass. But you can still get it done.
 
HeXen said:
I take it many of you have never tried using the crappy tire changing tools that come with most cars nowadays. The included breaker bar is not real steel but some kind of alloy and you can sheer off the inside or sometimes the lug corners pretty easily.

Considering how cheap the scissor jacks that come with them are and considering how short and weak the included breaker bar for the lugs are, I mean you can't get enough torque on those short things to break lugs if they are old or very tight. I'm certain there are many guys out there that had no choice but to seek other means of assistance.

Best thing I ever purchased for changing tires was an actual Crossbar and hydraulic jack but I don't carry that jack in my car. Need to find a real scissor jack to replace the crap that's in there now. First time I ever used the one for my wifes car, the jack literally bent to one side while it was up.
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GM felt it important to put a half decent bottle jack and tire iron in my Trailblazer, which was nice. And since I don't let shops use impacts to overtighten my lugs (if a place does that I never go there again) I have no problem removing them. I carry a pump with me also.

I have AAA in case something worse happens, but unless I'm all dressed up for something I'm changing my own tire. I've only had to do that once so far when I ran over a bolt.
 
I have AAA but to change a tire that will take me less then twenties minutes, I'll do it myself.

HeXen said:
I take it many of you have never tried using the crappy tire changing tools that come with most cars nowadays. The included breaker bar is not real steel but some kind of alloy and you can sheer off the inside or sometimes the lug corners pretty easily.
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I had to do it this summer and again, it took me less than twenty minutes.
 
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HeXen said:
I take it many of you have never tried using the crappy tire changing tools that come with most cars nowadays. The included breaker bar is not real steel but some kind of alloy and you can sheer off the inside or sometimes the lug corners pretty easily.
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Yes, modern scissors jacks suck. So what? Even with a crappy jack and small lug wrench changing a tire is a simple task that can be done almost as quickly as digging your AAA card out of your wallet. OP just doesn't know how to do it and rather than taking the 2 minutes necessary to learn he's whining about wanting to get his money's worth out of his AAA membership. Every man should know how to change a tire, there's no excuse for not acquiring such a simple skill.
 
Red Squirrel said:
That sucks.

Had a flat once, got lucky enough that it was morning on my way to work and a coworker happened to be right behind me. I pulled the car over the side of the road and got in with him and called for a tow truck to get the car and get it to the garage. It was the original tires and they were old so at that point I just got 4 new tires to be on the safe side. Naysayers will always say "change it yourself" but no thanks, I'm not dealing with anything like that when it's -40C. Rather pay somebody to pick it up and they'll do it in a garage. Heck, even if it's only like -10C, that's still cold enough to be handling anything made of metal.
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That's fair enough, there's no fucking way I'd be changing a tire at -40 either if I could get someone else to do it.

TBH I'd ring AAA (AA in the UK) and ask how long they'd be, if it was longer than 30 mins I'd do it myself. Unless it was -40 or I was on a busy motorway.
 
HeXen said:
Best thing I ever purchased for changing tires was an actual Crossbar and hydraulic jack but I don't carry that jack in my car. Need to find a real scissor jack to replace the crap that's in there now. First time I ever used the one for my wifes car, the jack literally bent to one side while it was up.
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Yes scissor jacks such but.... bent it while using it? You clearly did not position it correctly...

I drive a large vehicle... Suburban... I do keep a crossbar lug-wrench in there and its AWESOME and barely adds any weight to the vehicle and stows away well.... but the scissor jack is good enough, never been a problem.
 
There's really nothing to "know" how to do- it's a very simple process and if any q's where to put the jack etc it's in the manual...I don't even really consider it a skill to know or not know...the first one I replaced I didn't "know" how to do it but still had no problem...

That said- if it was cold and I could sit in a bar/restaurant and wait for AAA to do it I'd probably do that if I had no where else to be.
 
I swear if people keep on celebrating not caring, not knowing, or generally not being self sufficient, we are bound to really shitty futures.

Jack that thing up and replace the tire. It should take no more than 20 minutes. You keep finding new ways of disappointing me OP.

The time it took to post that, you could have loosened the lugs already...
 
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Markbnj said:
No question that those angled lug wrenches that double as the jack crank are hard to use right, and if the lug nuts were cranked on with an air wrench they can be a real pain in the ass. But you can still get it done.
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I had a real struggle changing the tire on a girlfriend's car a few year ago. The tire wouldn't budge after taking off the lug nuts. I called a mechanic friend and he told me to kick the tires a few times which worked. I could see a lot of people getting stuck in that scenario.
 
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