This reminds me…
Didn’t the Porsche 914 have some sort of bizarre arrangement with the spare tire that would allow water to get into it?
January, although I just got a flat last month. It was close enough to my tire shop that I just slowly rolled it in. Between my wife and I, we average about one to one point five flats a year on our cars, so we’re well practiced in changing tires.
Last week. Sister-in-law’s truck, an older Dodge Durango. It was difficult. No stock jack, so a hi-lift under the rear bumper. A hi-lift is an incredibly useful tool but treacherous and I’m always edgy working around one. Custom wheels with capped nuts which did not match, the 5 of them took three different ends of the star bar. Nuts were locked on. I got two of them loose by straining mightily at the bar, the next two required SIL to jump on the bar while I braced it, and the fifth defeated our best efforts until I fetched a 3-foot pipe wrench and placed it on the cross-piece of the bar. The damned nut finally broke loose, but it’s surprising I didn’t twist off the bar or the stud itself. And of course the whole thing was dry-welded to the hub - I had to use a 10-lb sledge, lying half under the truck, which was swaying and rocking on the bloody undependable hi-lift jack…
In retrospect I kind of wish someone had recorded the whole misadventure. It afforded several examples of innovative swearing and a case study of ways to place a body at risk by adaptive use of hand tools.
SS
I’ve had to change two in the last few years.
Once was a rear tire in my F-350. That was a pain in the ass! It’s a huge, heavy truck, and a huge, heavy tire, and I didn’t want to get filthy changing it, so I had to lift the tire onto the hub with just my hands. The spare on that truck is stored underneath, so just getting it off the truck is an ordeal.
The next time was my wife’s Santa Fe. She had a flat on the freeway, and called me. I changed the tire in around 15 minutes.
Second the praise for WSP- SIL and I were dealing with a blown tire on stock trailer full of very nervous steers 3 years ago just south of the I-5 Mt Rainier exit. He had a bigger jack, blocked traffic for us, helped us get out in to traffic after SIL got the tire changed- I was never so glad to see law enforcement in my life.
I like the store in Anacortes that sells all the used marine treasures.
I have one of these. If you ever walk out to a flat in the morning, because you have a slow leak, this will usually inflate the tire and allow you to drive to the tire store before it deflates, so you don’t have to change the tire. Actually, there was even one time when I had a slow leak that I plugged, and the tire still kept losing air, and needed to be re-inflated about every other day, but I had to do it for a week until I got a paycheck, and a new tire (actually, two new tires). It also saves you if you haven’t checked the spare in a year, and the spare is flat. Or if there’s nothing wrong with the tire, but someone just let the air out, or your tires got low in a sudden cold snap.
You just can’t beat the price, and any discount store will carry them.
About a year ago. I work very near a metal recycling facility and flats are close to an annual occurrence. It makes me cranky :mad:.
Yes, these things are great. A warning however. GM tied the engine management computer on my Saturn to the same circuit as the power outlet. Blow the fuse and the engine dies. An easy fix if you know what to look for but a major clusterF!$K if you don’t. I keep an extension in the Saturn to clip directly to the battery.
They had the same washer pump arrangement as the VW Beetle where the air pressure in the tire is what squirted the fluid out. There was a check valve that was supposed to prevent the system from working once the tire pressure dropped below 20 psi or so, but I suppose if that failed and the spare were completely flat the washer fluid could just run into the tire the next time you hit the switch.
Probably about 2005. Had a belt break in a front tire of my '97 Grand Marquis. Put the previously unused full-size Michelin spare on and finished my 800 mile journey. Got new tires at my destination.
Anyway, I used my 12-volt impact wrench that I keep in my trunk. I’ve had it about 15 years now and use it every time I can, not just when changing tires. It saves a lot of exertion. I got it at a truck stop. When I thought it quit working, I replaced it with one from Harbor Freight, which quit working after three lug bolts on a 300D. I took a closer look at the old one and found it just needed an adjustment to its switch, and now it works fine again.
I think I have only had one flat in my life - and that was in a parking lot next to a gas station that repaired the tire…
So, I have never had to change a tire for breakdown reasons. However, since I have started my second MGA restoration, I have had wheels on and off dozens of times.
Just a couple of months ago. I was driving up a steep, rocky dirt road to a hiking trail head near my house and got too cocky. I was relieved that my tire tools were adequate for the job (I’ve been in situations where they weren’t) seeing as how I had to change my tire at the trail head–at least two miles from the paved road. It ended up being an impact puncture so it couldn’t be patched; I had to replace the tire. Now I take it a lot slower and am much more careful about avoiding sharp rocks.
I completed a five whee/tire rotation yesterday, along with an oil change, and rad and wiper fluid top-up. Time for the winter snow. (That is unless the wheels fall off and the motor seizes up tomorrow.)
Never changed one. Never will.
I have been driving for 35 years and I’ve only had one flat tire. Fortunately, it went flat in my driveway. I don’t remember who changed it but it sure as heck wasn’t me.
Never changed a tire on my own, although I did learn to change tires by watching Dad when I wasn’t much older than a toddler. When I was about 4, I went for a ride with my eldest sister in a car she had recently purchased. The car got a flat and I found the jack points for her.
I’ve never changed a tyre.
I changed tires just yesterday, to put on winter tires to my mother’s car. I will continue with two other family cars during the following weekend.
As for an actual flat tire: I had a flat on a rented truck (7.5 tons, equivalent US-rating would be a class 5 truck) this summer that I could only change with the help of a professional tires service due to lack of adequate tools ( = impact wrench).
Before that I had a flat on a car in 1999 - on a rented car. I never had a flat on a car I owned. On my bicycles I regularly get flats.
I changed 2 or 3 bike flats this year, which is typical for me. The last flat I had in a car was in my Jeep in 2001. I took the tires off of my RZR yesterday and changed the brake pads though.
It’s been awhile - I honestly can’t remember how long ago - since I needed to change a tire.
I was thinking about that a few months ago, with the same general thoughts: flat tires used to be a periodic fact of life, but they’ve all but stopped happening to me. I guess they must be making tires that are more resistant to punctures. It’s not that I’m driving less.
Last month. Somehow I managed to pick up a 3/8" bolt (with nut!) in the tire, which I had installed new last year, and it punched through. Patching it was out of the question, and when I went to replace it, found out it was discontinued! Fortunately, I found one from an online dealer (they had one in stock) and got it swapped. Last set of Michelins I think I’ll buy.
I do swap between all seasons and winters on both of our cars twice a year, though. Much easier now that I have air tools.