What to know before changing a tire in the winter

"JeffFurbs" (jefffurbs) 03/19/2014 at 07:58 • Filed to: None

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As someone who is not mechanically inclined, I am going to help those like me with 1 simple tip to make changing a tire in the winter more bearable. Make sure you have some gloves in your car! I was a liberal arts major in college (yes that psych degree makes a darn good blanket in the cold), and even though science was not my forte, I did re-learn the properties of metal in cold weather this morning at 6 a.m., in the dark, in 10 degrees. So this funny thing happens with metal when it's cold out. It gets cold too! Imagine that...because SCIENCE! So it stands to reason that your tire iron will be cold too. And your tire, and your spare. Oh and guess what else happens. If you guessed that your hands will become numb rather quickly, you deserve a cookie.

So this brings me back to my original tip. Have some gloves with you. Take it from me when this is the second time I have had a flat this winter in close to single digit temperatures. You'd think I would have learned this first time.

Oh and then I was on the highway and the car started to shake and the gear box felt pretty shitty, but I limped to work and brought it to our Autotech program and they are going to check that out. Some of the perks to doing IT for a public school is the wealth of vocational type programs. We come running when they have a computer problem, they take our car quicker when we have a problem.

Have a day people

Nerd-Vol > JeffFurbs 03/19/2014 at 08:03

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Damn. That sounds like a bitch for the aaa man.

thebigbossyboss > JeffFurbs 03/19/2014 at 08:07

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Oh yesss. I always leave a spare pair of gloves in the car, along with other crap for winter emergencies.

JeffFurbs > Nerd-Vol 03/19/2014 at 08:08

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If by aaa man you are talking about the good ole triple A man, I heavily contemplated it but decided waiting the 40 minutes for them to show up I could've been doing it myself haha. I am a tad impatient

JeffFurbs > thebigbossyboss 03/19/2014 at 08:16

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I need to add said things for sure. This was a good wake up call. It was dark this morning and I was changing the tire facing the road on a fast right hander that people fly down during commuting hours. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of people out there this morning and I would move over every time I saw headlights. Some sort of flare or light would've been safer

thebigbossyboss > JeffFurbs 03/19/2014 at 08:49

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Once I was laying down in the driveway looking underneath my car, and someone pulled into my driveway. A lot of people pull into my driveway to turn around and I don't care all that much, but I do care when I am under the car. I almost shit myself and of course having wedged myself under the lowrider, I couldn't get out very fast.

Oye. P.S. If your tire has even a little but of air pressure or thereabouts you should usually limp it to a safe location to change the tire. I will never ever change a tire on a narrow shoulder highway, even if the tire is completely flat. No rim is worth your life!

JeffFurbs > thebigbossyboss 03/19/2014 at 08:59

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Holy crap yea i wouldve shit myself as well!

Unfortunately it came off the rim a bit. I didn't want to ruin the rim by moving it anymore. I noticed it was low this morning and was going to go get air in it when it happened.

jariten1781 > JeffFurbs 03/19/2014 at 09:31

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In my spare tire well I have a multibit screw driver, adjustable wrench, cheapo tire gauge, zip ties, and a cheapo OBD II reader all stuffed in a pair of gloves. Saved me annoyance a number of times.