Men who cannot change a tire

[fastfredracing]

Im just gonna leave this here, and not say anything, in good fun.
Happy Friday boys. !

[PetrolBlueSC]

I get my son and daughter involved when I change tires. We get lots of practice changing out studs for summer tires and vice versa every fall and spring.

[rattlsnak]

I had a good friend of mine lose his arm from a split ring truck tire.. It popped and completely shattered it... No way to save it.. horrible..

[Bob Kontak]

I can change a tire but my man card is fading.

Went to change a tire for a good customer late one night two weeks ago. Hot tenderoni (54) so I said ok.

2005 Lexus RX330. Hole in sidewall at a gas station.

So I can't find how to let the spare down and her daughter looks it up on google and advises. Spinny thing was covered by an Arby's bag.

Spare tire out. Find the jack but then two dudes from Canton towing come over with one of those aluminum racing jacks and say "You need some help". Yep, I say, but let me bust these lug nuts first. The handle on the factory wrench is so short this old man ain't got the stones to turn it.

I find a big four lug wrench in the back of my Tayota. I am bustin' them loose like a boss. Car goes in air in a couple of seconds with the fancy floor jack.

While I am spinning lug nuts off the younger guys are chatting up the the babes in the car.

I can't pull the wheel off just like any of them Jap cars and one of the young dudes just kicks it and it it comes loose.

I finish the job and put everything away and the girls take the younger guy's phone numbers.

Ain't no country for old men.

[Jolly Amaranto]

A few weeks ago I had a flat on a muddy back road in the rain. Off the grid...no mobile phone coverage. The factory 'Fold Up' lug wrench kept slipping of the nuts that had worn/rounded edges on the hex flats. (thank you tire shops with the impact drivers) The leak was slow enough that I was able to pump the tire up enough with a hand pump to get back to my folk old ranch property where I had a proper 4 lug X wrench.

[wdfifteen]

I usually just take the wheel someplace to have them change the tire. My “bead breaker” is a piece of 2x6 that I lay on the tire and run my truck over. The whole process is just a pain in the ass.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I usually just take the wheel someplace to have them change the tire. My “bead breaker” is a piece of 2x6 that I lay on the tire and run my truck over. The whole process is just a pain in the ass.

You are talking removing rubber from the wheel? No way would I think of doing that.

[ed317]

My friends son, Jesse......and his friends were driving home from Vegas and got a flat. None of them knew how to change it. Then they found no cell service.......serves them right, Someone stopped to help them. What is really surprising is that Jesse told me about it!

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

You are talking removing rubber from the wheel? No way would I think of doing that.

That's changing a tire.

[porsche930dude]

I use this to break the beads works great can get nice and close to the rim. The fat tahoe bent the ramp but it still works fine

[porsche930dude]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

You have nice feet Mr Dudly

My gradmother broke her toe like that on a chair leg. I was a few hours till she looked down and saw that it was not in its rightful place

[fastfredracing]

You guys are hardcore, changing tires like that at home !!! In my whole life, I have only done , maybe one or 2 passenger car tires like that . How do you seat the beads once you get the new tire on?
that is a lot of work to save $20.00

[porsche930dude]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

You guys are hardcore, changing tires like that at home !!! In my whole life, I have only done , maybe one or 2 passenger car tires like that . How do you seat the beads once you get the new tire on?
that is a lot of work to save $20.00

Thats funny because my brother is a mechanic and he can do them for free right down the street but I still do them at home. the hard part is breaking the beads the rest is pretty easy. to seat the beads just pump it up. If you have a tire thats too skinny for the wheel there are a number of tricks. The pros use a bead blaster which is just a big shot of air that works like the starting fluid and lighter trick. The newer machines have the bead blaster built into the tire machine. But I usually soap up one side and hammer it on from the other side with the tire iron. then i can pull up on it to seat the top bead while putting air to it. sometimes a ratchet strap works but usually not. Another thing i do alot is just spread the beads out with some wood and let it sit for a few days but i often dont have the time for that. One time I absolutely couldnt get them seated so i put a tube in and let it sit a while. Then it took the shape long enough that I was able to pull the tube out and pump it up normally. The scarriest ones are the low pressure atv tires that have a big bead lock. It sucks having to pump them wayy past their intended pressure but they always pop on eventually. Ricers with the stretched tires actually put a tube on the outside of the tire to fill the gap then pump up the tire and the tube pops off. I tried that once without success but I could see it working in some cases

[Jeff Hail]

I've never had anyone change a tire for me on the side of the road. I will change a tire like a pit crew. Get out, get it done, go. It can be precarious in traffic. I would rather scrape up a wheel and drive a short distance than change a flat on some of LAs traffic corridors. Get it done. Carry some road flares, people will move over for fire.

Those short single shaft lug wenches on modern automobiles are short for a reason. They were designed to break lug nuts and studs free with foot pressure. Most people do not know this. Snug by hand, tighten with foot pressure. A proper spinner is designed for two hands and comes in 16 and 20 inches. Like a cheap force multiplier pull with one hand push with the other.

On the bad side of tire changing I watched a friend of mine changing a flat on a soft dirt road when we were teens. We were about 100 yards from asphalt on dirt Mulholland. Proudly he cracked the lugs loose with the car down like you should, jacked up the car, removed the wheel and tire...I told him to grab a big rock to chock the front tire and asked if he set the parking brake? He opened the drivers door reached in, pulled up on the brake lever and WHAM. Car inched forward, jack folded underneath the car and the drip rail came down on his head. Knocked him clean out cold. I actually though he was dead for a second.

When he came to he was so pissed off he picked up the back by the bumper just high enough and yelled at me to "put the frickn spare on now". (he was a big boy back then) So I did and off we went. Now he drives a Mini and I know why. He frequents this board too and knows who he is. He is a real life rocket scientist.

Jacks are another story. Those wind up thin sheet metal jack screws with the dongle that slips into a rocker panel slot. Like the ones that come with fine German, Italian and Asian cars are sketchy. They always have been. Never trust them. They are best served as elevators for a Barbie Doll. Carry a decent small floor jack or even a bottle jack.

I watched a guy once jack up a BMW in Big Bear in the snow to install chains using "as equipped Barbie elevator ". I watched him cry when the car was one leg down on its belly after the Barbie Jack tipped on him. The humiliation really set in when he went to use his cell phone and had no reception. He would not ask for help. My friends and I were yards away in multiple vehicles so we offered him some assistance and got him on his way. We even straightened out the bent backing plate so it would not rub the rotor.

Run flats. This is a great invention. Its as simple as those solid tires on Radio Flyer wagons and skateboards. Would someone please tell people when a run flat goes flat you are supposed to change the tire really soon like a regular pneumatic tire. Ok you made it home great. Run flats do not mean you get to drive to work and back for six months after you got the flat. (Quote: "Those run flats are really cool, get ya home. How much was the replacement? Responds with serious face " they are run flats". Ok pal!

I have had so many females ask to teach them how to change a spare just in case. In my mind I think after they have driven so far on a flat the carcass flies off the rim and becomes a road alligator , "just in case" they succumb to the pressure, noise, smells and stop the car and address the issue by finally getting the AAA card out forgetting any skill they previously learned.

If a chick can change a spare out men should be able to do it without hesitation. Its not a difficult task. Personally changing a water heater out is easier then changing a flat. Its two less fasteners.

How about a $60,000 tire change? One of those tires is yes $60k.

[Racerbvd]

[RSBob]

My wife has changed a tire, so now I don’t have to except when I change out the snow tires.

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

I can change a tire but my man card is fading.

Went to change a tire for a good customer late one night two weeks ago. Hot tenderoni (54) so I said ok.

2005 Lexus RX330. Hole in sidewall at a gas station.

So I can't find how to let the spare down and her daughter looks it up on google and advises. Spinny thing was covered by an Arby's bag.

Spare tire out. Find the jack but then two dudes from Canton towing come over with one of those aluminum racing jacks and say "You need some help". Yep, I say, but let me bust these lug nuts first. The handle on the factory wrench is so short this old man ain't got the stones to turn it.

I find a big four lug wrench in the back of my Tayota. I am bustin' them loose like a boss. Car goes in air in a couple of seconds with the fancy floor jack.

While I am spinning lug nuts off the younger guys are chatting up the the babes in the car.

I can't pull the wheel off just like any of them Jap cars and one of the young dudes just kicks it and it it comes loose.

I finish the job and put everything away and the girls take the younger guy's phone numbers.

Ain't no country for old men.

Pure Gold, Bob! ^^ The whole event is a corollary to the concept that "old men" are invisible to young women.

[VincentVega]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

Pure Gold, Bob! ^^ The whole event is a corollary to the concept that "old men" are invisible to young women.

funny, but so true. I like to think I'm pretty good at many things most people have little interest in.

[GH85Carrera]

Back 40 years ago when my brother was first married. He insisted she know how to change a flat. So he showed her, then had her do it, and was happy. A few months later she called him crying. That makes any husbands heart race when a wife calls crying. She had a flat, and was so proud that she knew how to change the tire. She jacked it up, removed the old tire, put the new one on, and lowered the jack, and put the spare away. She drove about a foot and the tire fell off. She had not put one lug nut back on. She had to walk a half a mile to a gas station to call him. After that, he just told her to call him if she has a flat and they got one of the old bag phones when they first came out in the late 1980s.

My father in law taught my wife to change a tire and drive a stick shift car before she was allowed to get a driver's license. She knows the theory of how to do it, and she has helped a lady friend of hers do it once. She would never try now days.

I have been super lucky in the last few flats I have had. I go ot to my garage and the tire is flat. It is handy to have the impact wrench and air compressor and all my tools right there. The last flat was a screw right at the sidewall tread area. I just aired it up, and drove to a tire store. As expected, I had to buy a new tire. First tire ruined in over 40 years for me.

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

I had a good friend of mine lose his arm from a split ring truck tire.. It popped and completely shattered it... No way to save it.. horrible..

I dismounted, and mounted about 20 of these last summer. Scared the bejesus out o me .