I can change a tire, change oil, flush a radiator, change sparkplugs, and jumpstart a car.
However, last summer I had a blowout on a worktruck out on I-10 in New Mexico. Stupid GMC’s… instead of putting the lug wrench say, I dunno, next to the spare? It’s in some f-ed up place up under the back seat where you can’t even see it. I looked for ten minutes and was convinced it was missing. I guy from a welding place stopped, and he couldn’t find it, but only had a lug wrench for a big truck. He stopped the guy who was mowing the side of the road, who went back and got his work truck, which had a lug wrench AND an air compressor. I was not averse to standing back and letting them fix it while I looked on. I thanked them, then as I drove off sighed in relief that I’d been lucky enough to have NICE people stop and help. BTW, the lug wrench WAS in the truck, but just impossible to find, even with the stupid diagram on the built-in toolbox.
I can change a tire and do all the basic emergency stuff, although I must admit that I’m a little lost under the hood of our new car (“Whaddaya mean, there is no distributor cap?”). I force the people at any tire store to hand tighten the lug nuts because I’ve dealt with ones that were way too tight to be loosened by hand (and I’ve dealt with ones that had been stripped - thanks, Big-O!). If I have a jack, a tire iron, a screwdriver, and some Vise-Grips, I can do a lot on my own.
I’ve actually been in the awkward position of being by the side of the road fixing my own car when a man comes along to “help,” but knows less about it than I do. I’ve always been nice, though - I sure don’t want to do anything to discourage helpfulness in the modern world.
Can change a tire, and have done so once under my dad’s supervision, but in an actual real-world situation, I’ve never actually had to, for the reasons many of the other women have mentioned: any time I might have the opportunity, some helpful man (usually MrWhatsit, but on one occasion another guy who stopped and helped me when MrWhatsit was not present) stops and does it for me.
Those machine-tightened lug nuts are a bitch, I agree. I’ve seen my dad – a wiry Teamster – have to jump up and down on the tire iron to get those babies off. There is no way in hell I would be able to get them off all by myself.
When young I insisted on learning to change a tire myself, and assisted my dad in doing so on one occassion.
Since then, on the very rare occassions I have had flat tires, whenever I started in on the job some man would come up and rescue me over my protests that I could do it myself.
>sigh<
I didn’t mind the help, especially with the lug nuts, but what hurt was they didn’t believe me when I said I could do it myself.
Can’t say I’ve done all that other fancy stuff with cars - the only times I’ve changed oil or spark plugs has been while working on airplanes.
Just last week, I was thinking I need to teach my daughter how to change a tire on her car. She’s mastered changing out the headlights (thanks to some help from this board) and she now knows NOT to put gasoline in the diesel engine. (OK, that was just a goof on her part - she knows she’s supposed to fill it with diesel.) She knows how to fill the washer reservoir. I need to show her how to check her oil and coolant. I see a basic car maintenance day in her future.
And, yes, I’ve changed my own tires. At least 4 times I can specifically remember. Once I’m certain the guys in the carwash put a nail in my tire because it suddenly went flat after I got it washed and they conveniently pointed out the garage next to the car wash. I changed the tire myself and took it to my own garage to be fixed. Nails in a carwash - who’da thunk it?
I have fixed so many tire punctures I’ve lost count. My father insisted upon being able to service my own bycicle, and I can.
Changed a flat tire (car) once.
Wasn’t even my car.
I’ve changed tires on all of the vehicles I’ve owned.
The hardest one I had to change was the tire on the full-size Ford van that I was driving for work at the time. The spare was stored behind the passenger seat and that thing was heavy and hard to get out!
TIP: A reasonable length of pipe slipped over the wrench handle reduces (or removes) the need to jump on it to get it to move (longer handle, less effort required by you). Physics at work! (Thanks to epeepunk who keeps a length of pipe in his car for just this reason.)
I haven’t changed a tire. Mostly because I’ve never (knock on wood) had a flat. Really.
I’ve replaced an alternator at the side of the road, though. Does that count?
And just for yucks, I once worked at a company that was about 2/3 women (credit card agency, mostly accounting types). One of the guys came in sheepishly and asked if someone could help him jump start his car. He didn’t know how to do it. Every blessed woman in the room knew how, and not one of the other men. I remember one of the woman saying she’d help, but she drove diesel…
Tire-changin’ dude with non-tire-changin’ missus checking in here:
My wife seems to drive over a screw or nail about once a year. I get called. She now has AAA, so all should be good.
Now for a bit of advice from a fellow who has knelt down on more than one icky shoulder: Throw a flattened cardboard box in the trunk (or at least a piece of one). This can keep you from getting too dirty. Another option is to keep one of those spongy rubber knee mats that gardeners use. My knees feel so much better on a nice pad like that instead of asphalt.
men have tended to stop and take over changing tires when i’ve been stranded on a roadside. however, when you drive a SUV and horse trailer, flats can come up in inconvenient spots, like the middle of a grass field.
(helpful hint: car or trailer, keep a long flat piece of wood in the trunk. you get much better lift from the jack when it’s not sinking into the soft ground or shoulder while you’re trying to crank up your vehicle. about a 2-foot length of 1"x6" or 1"x8" underneath the jack spreads out the weight over the whole surface of the board, so unless you’re in a real mud pit, you’ll actually be able to raise the vehicle.)
can and do change tires on my own. (probably better at it than hubby.) think i shamed a service station operator into working on my horse trailer right then, because in trying to remove the flat tire i was putting so much torque on the lug wrench (to get off the compressor-tightened lugs) that the whole trailer was rocking … while it was still connected to the Tahoe!
i’ve even taken off the tires in order to grease the wheel bearings on the old trailer we used to have. new model needs some sort of special seals, though, which i better get around to ordering i guess. also change headlights, check fluids, even replaced a distributor head on my long-gone Pinto. (and found out you really shouldn’t wear rings while working on car engines.)
I technically know how, but never had to. The one time I had a flat I had no sooner gotten out of the car and the spare out when an off-duty officer stopped to help me. He had to jump to get the lug nuts off, too, so it’s a good thing he stopped because I’m not sure I could have gotten them off myself.
On the other side of mechanics using tools and making the lug nuts too tight - once we had the car worked on only to drive away and quickly discover they hadn’t been tightened at all. :eek:
When I was 16 and got my drivers license, before I was allowed to drive anywhere alone, my Dad taught me to change a tire and what to do if the car over heated etc…then before I coudl actually go anywhere, he made me prove it. I had to get the spare out, jack the car up, loosen the lug nuts and change that puppy.
I am now a single parent and to this day, when I get a new car, I get the jack out and make sure I know how it works. I have road side assistnacce now but in Texas , ya’ never know when the cell is going to be out of range. My Dad was pretty smart and it never hurts to be confident. I’ll do the same with my kids.
I had to change a flat while I was at work once. One of the supervisors came out and TOOK MY PICTURE because he said he’d never seen a woman change a tire before. I was embarassed at this, he made it seem I was not like all the other women. I didn’t tell him that I can change my own spark plugs, oil, transmission fluid, and I find it pretty easy.
My dad made sure I knew how to do this before I was allowed to drive when I was 16. He was a smart man.
I guess only the young, good-looking women don’t need to know how to change a tire. Us fat frumps have to know how, because no man ever stops and offers us help.
Can’t ever recall a time that I didn’t change my own tire.
Have I ever changed a tire? Man! Just how many squillions I don’t know. When I had a Beetle in college, I used to buy those $10 re-tread tires. I remember changing 8 tires in one week !
I’m fairly mechanically minded, and changing a tire is no big deal for me. I keep a “cheater” pipe in my car (as previously mentioned) to break the lug nuts loose.
I do most of the mechanic work on my car (and my daughter’s car) because I’m too po’ to take them to the shop. I can do a lot of things, from small stuff like changing the oil or battery to big stuff like putting in a new radiator, clutch, alternator, etc. or dropping an engine (with a friend’s help).
One of my favorite things to do with my Sweety is mechanic work. My hands are smaller and fit down into places where his big mitts can’t; he supplies the “heavy-duty” muscle when it’s necessary. As a matter of fact we are going to put a clutch assembly in my Civic sometime in the next couple of weeks.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who has trouble with the jacks! I’ve changed many flat tires, and I thought I was well-prepared when I bought a nice x-shaped tire iron when I got my new car (I can’t stand those toothpick-sized irons).
Ha ha! My first flat with the new car and I couldn’t figure out the darn jack. I spent at least an hour and a half reading the manual, trying to do what it said, and never ending up with a functioning jack. I finally gave up on the thing and called AAA.
Yeah, me too. My Pa made me learn how change a tire and do a jump start and all that.
I had it easy, though. A friend of mine, her Pa made her rebuild an engine before he would let her drive! Now she’s an electrical engineer–automotive specialist.
I often think that a lot of the reason that women feel that they are “weak” or incapable is that they are not taught the tricks and techniques for getting stuff done. The standing on the lug wrench thing is one that I have taught girlfriends. Using the right tool and using it correctly goes a long way in being “strong.” Heck, my Pa taught me one of the most useful car-fixing techniques in the world–look in the owners manual! Handy dandy directions to almost all your everyday needs.
Anyway–if you really want to freak some guy out, stop and offer to help him change his tire.
I don’t mind changing a tire for a female with a flat. It’s not that big of a deal for me. I don’t mind digging through whatever stuff is in the trunk to get at the spare, jack and lug wrench.
What I do mind is the female insisting I accept money for doing a good deed. To my mind, accepting money negates the goodness of the deed and just makes it a job.
I can do a lot of things, from small stuff like changing the oil or battery to big stuff like putting in a new radiator, clutch, alternator, etc. or dropping an engine (with a friend’s help).
