Changing a tyre for the first time doesn’t need to be stressful. This beginner-friendly guide walks you through exactly how to change a tyre safely in five easy steps — plus the tools you’ll need and what to do after fitting your spare. Perfect for drivers who want to feel confident on the road.
Car owners and drivers up and down the UK will have a go-to company or organisation that they can call on when something happens to their vehicle. From the AA to the RAC and smaller, local garages, having an expert that you can call on speed dial makes big breakdowns and blown tyres more manageable and far less overwhelming to deal with.
Having said that, knowing how to change a tyre yourself is a skill that drivers are advised to have – if for no other reason than to help themselves limp to a garage when their tyre blows in the middle of nowhere.
And it’s for this reason that we’ve created this article, designed to help you change your first tyre and get your vehicle home – where you can hop online and order a new tyre from Tyres.co.uk at a fraction of the price of a garage replacement.
What Do You Need to Change a Tyre?
If you blow a tyre on the side of the road, the first and most important thing you need is a safe place to pull over and stop. As you need to be able to get out of the car and deal with the tyre, this needs to be as far away from moving traffic as possible on the hard shoulder.
In order to change a tyre, you also need a spare tyre to fit onto the vehicle.
You will also need the wheel nut key for your vehicle (something that should always be kept inside your vehicle) and a car jack to life the pressure and weight of the vehicle off of the tyres.
Finally, you will need a wrench and ideally some wheel blocks to keep the vehicle in position and to remove any risk of it rolling.
The 5 Steps to Change a Tyre
1. Stabilise and Lift the Vehicle
Place the wheel blocks behind the wheels to prevent it from rolling. The best way to stabilise the vehicle is to lace the blocks behind and in front of the wheel that’s diagonally opposite the wheel you need to change.
Position the car jack on the edge of the vehicle close to the wheel that needs changing and extend the jack until the vehicle is slightly elevated.
2. Loosen each Wheel Nut
It’s important that you go around and loosen all of the wheel nuts on the damaged wheel before removing any of them, because removing one or two will put extra pressure on the others and make them more difficult to loosen.
To loosen the nuts, fix the wrench to the end of the wheel nut key and twist each nut until it’s loose.
You then need to lift the car up higher until the wheel is off the ground, using your jack.
3. Remove the Wheel
Once the car is lifted by the jack and the wheel nuts are all off, carefully remove the wheel by hand.
4. Fit the Spare Wheel
The spare wheel can often be found underneath the base of the boot of your vehicle. Some Landrover and other 4x4 vehicles will have a spare fitted to the back of the vehicle underneath a cover. Either way, now it’s time to fit the spare wheel.
Before you do so, make sure that it is in good condition (something that should be covered as part of any regular vehicle check and service).
To fit the spare wheel, hold it in place and reattach the wheel nuts that you took off of the original wheel. Make sure that all are in place before tightening them.
5. Lower the Car and Tighten the Wheel Nuts
Lower the car slightly until the wheel is just touching the ground, and then tighten the wheel nuts using the key and your wrench.
Finally, lower the car all the way back down until it is sat on the road surface and visibly check the air pressure.
It is important that you never drive long distances on a spare tyre, and make sure to book your car in with a garage to get the tyre replaced as soon as possible.
