How to change a flat tyre: interactive 3D guide

All 13 steps

1. 1Pull over somewhere safe

   Slow down gently and pull off the road onto level, firm ground, as far from the traffic as you can: a lay-by, or a quiet side road. Stop with the flat tyre away from the traffic if you can, and switch on the hazard lights.

2. 2Warn the traffic

   Set up the warning triangle on the same side of the road at least 45 metres (147 feet) behind the car, where drivers see it in time. Never put one out on a motorway.

3. 3Handbrake on, chock a wheel

   Put the handbrake on and leave the car in gear (or in Park). Then wedge a chock against the wheel diagonally opposite the flat, here the rear right, so the car cannot roll while it is up on the jack.

4. 4Get out the spare and the tools

   Lift the boot floor and take out the spare wheel, the jack and the wheel brace. Lay the spare flat on the ground by the flat tyre, with the tools beside it.

5. 5Loosen the nuts on the ground common mistake

   With the wheel still on the ground, fit the brace on each nut and push its handle down to turn the nut a quarter turn anticlockwise. Only loosen them: they stay on. A firmly tightened nut takes about as much force to break loose as it took to tighten, around 110 Nm, which on a 35 cm brace is a push of about 32 kg. Common mistake: With the car already up, nothing holds the wheel, which is a front one the handbrake does not hold: pushing on the brace only turns the whole wheel, and pushing harder rocks the car on its narrow jack, which can slip. Loosen the nuts while the tyre is still on the ground.

6. 6Put the jack under the jacking point common mistake

   Find the jacking point behind the flat wheel: a strengthened strip of the sill between two small notches, as the handbook shows. Set the jack on firm ground under it, its head lined up with the strip, and wind it up until the head just meets it. Common mistake: The floor of the car is thin sheet steel. A jack set under it, instead of under the strengthened jacking point on the sill, pushes a dent into it and can go through, while the car hardly lifts and may slip off. Only lift at the jacking points the handbook shows.

7. 7Raise the car

   Turn the jack’s handle to raise the car slowly. First the body rises while the tyre stays on the ground; keep going until the flat tyre is clear of the ground by about 3 cm, a little more than seems needed, because the spare, fully pumped up, is taller than the flat.

8. 8Take off the nuts and the wheel

   Unscrew the loosened nuts by hand and keep them together where they cannot roll away. Then pull the wheel straight towards you off the studs, and lay it flat under the sill beside the jack, where it would catch the car if the jack slipped.

9. 9Lift the spare onto the studs

   Lift the spare up to the hub and turn it until its holes line up with the five studs, then push it on, flat against the hub.

10. 10Run the nuts on by hand common mistake

    Screw each nut on by hand, clockwise, with its tapered end towards the wheel: the taper sits in the wheel’s tapered holes and centres the wheel on the studs. Run them all on until they touch, without tightening yet. Common mistake: A wheel nut has a tapered end that seats in the wheel’s tapered hole and holds the wheel centred. Turned round, its flat face meets only the edge of the hole: the wheel is not held true, the nut never tightens properly, and it can work loose as you drive. Tapered end towards the wheel.

11. 11Lower it, then tighten in a star common mistake

    Lower the jack until the tyre just rests on the ground, so the wheel cannot turn. Then tighten the nuts with the brace in a star, each to the one across from it rather than the next one round, so the wheel is pulled evenly against the hub. Tightened to about 110 Nm, the five nuts clamp the wheel to the hub with roughly 4 to 5 tonnes each. Common mistake: Tightened one after the next round the circle, the first nuts pull one side of the wheel in before the other side is held, so the wheel sits slightly crooked on the hub and the last nuts never clamp it properly. It can wobble and loosen as you drive. Go across, in a star.

12. 12Lower all the way, check again

    Lower the car all the way and take the jack away. With the car’s weight on the wheel, go round the nuts once more in the same star order to make sure each is fully tight.

13. 13Pack up and drive gently

    Put the flat wheel, the jack and the tools back in the car, and pick up the triangle and the chock. On a space-saver, keep to its speed limit, usually 50 mph (80 km/h), check the nuts again after about 50 km (30 miles), and have the flat repaired or replaced soon.

What you need

• Spare wheel · a space-saver here; check its pressure
• Jack and its handle · from the car’s kit
• Wheel brace · with a socket that fits the nuts
• Locking wheel nut key · if the car has locking nuts
• Warning triangle
• Wheel chock · or a brick
• Gloves and a torch · helpful
• The car’s handbook · for its jacking points and nut torque

Questions

Safety

Never get under a car held up only by a jack, and never change a wheel on a motorway or where the traffic passes close: call for help instead. Use the jacking points and the torque in your car’s handbook.

About this guide

This guide shows a typical small hatchback with a space-saver spare. The figures are general ones: 110 Nm is a common wheel-nut torque for a small car (most are somewhere around 100 to 140 Nm), and its wheels are held by five nuts on M12 × 1.5 studs. Your car’s handbook gives its own jacking points, torque and spare-wheel limits; where it differs from this guide, follow the handbook.

The 45 metres for the warning triangle are from the UK Highway Code (rule 274), which also says never to use one on a motorway. The push on the brace is worked out from the torque: 110 Nm on a 35 cm handle is 314 N, the weight of about 32 kg. The clamping force is an estimate for an M12 nut tightened to 110 Nm.

Sources: UK Highway Code, rules 274 to 287 (breakdowns).

The 3D models, drawings and text are our own.