Nothing can ruin a night on the town quicker than a flat tire. And if you don’t know the first thing about changing a flat, your entire evening could be a complete bummer. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you know what you’re doing, changing a flat could be far less frustrating. Here are some steps to follow to avoid missing a night of fun because of a simple problem.

1. Keep a good car jack and four-way lug wrench in your trunk. I know this doesn’t help if you already have the flat tire and haven’t prepared yourself for it. But take care of this now so it won’t be an issue. Invest in a jack that is simple to use rather than depending on the one that came with the car. If you’re like me, those types of jacks are more trouble than they’re worth.

2. At the first sign of a flat tire, pull off to the side of the road to avoid the traffic. For your own safety, get over as far as possible without getting too close to an edge or drop-off.

3. Apply the parking brake. If you’re driving a stick, place it in first gear. This helps to prevent the car from rolling when you’re working on it.

4. Look for the spare tire and make sure it’s inflated. If you don’t have a spare tire, there’s no sense in taking the flat tire off because there’s nothing to replace it with. Spares are typically located in a “secret” compartment underneath the floorboard of the trunk or mounted underneath the vehicle.

5. If you have a usable spare, then loosen the lug nuts on the flattened tire before jacking it up. Loosen them just enough to make it simple to turn them later.

6. Place the jack under the chassis of the car. Make sure it lifts the car by the sturdy steel frame rather than the actual body of the car (I learned that one the hard way.)

7. Lift the car several inches from the ground with the jack.

8. Loosen the lug nuts the rest of the way and remove the tire. Replace it with the spare and replace the lug nuts.

9. Make the lug nuts fairly tight, but don’t put too much pressure on them as you could jar the car loose from the jack.

10. Let the car down slowly and tighten the lug nuts the rest of the way. Then go to the nearest garage and have your tire fixed.

If you invest in a certified Ford, you won’t have to worry about this. The warranty offers a 24/7 Roadside Assistance program that will take care of all of this for you. You simply can’t put a price on peace of mind like that.

[tags]certified ford, ford, vehicles, autos, trucks, change flat tire, roadside assistance, spare tire, certified, pre owned, used cars, cpo program, car jack[/tags]