by Stacey Thompson

You haven’t really owned a car until you’ve replaced a flat tire. In my over a decade-long ownership of two automobiles (an Altis was my first car, and now I have a Prius), I’ve probably encountered flat tire problems around eight times (I have the worst luck with sharp metal objects on the roads), and out of all those occasions, I had to do the entire procedure (unassisted) thrice.

I may not be your regular greasemonkey or automotive enthusiast, but those experiences did teach me a thing or two about how to get through this irritating but necessary ordeal with most of your sanity and humor intact. Along with wisdom from other more grizzled car owners, I found these handful of tips most useful concerning on-road flat tire changing:

Crappy Tools and Spares

Unless you got yourself an automobile model that’s worth six figures or more, you shouldn’t expect the extras like tools and spares to be anywhere near impressive. I (Read more....)