My car

changing a wheel

First, the car should be parked on solid, level ground. Get as far off the road as possible. Do not park the car where you leave yourself exposed to passing traffic while working.

• Apply the hand brake and switch on the hazard lights.
• Gather everything you need from the boot, including the spare tyre.
• Your car's toolkit will include a jack. There are special jacking points for this under the car. Do not use the jack on any other points. Refer to  your owner's manual for these jacking points.
• Chock the diagonally opposite wheel to the one being changed.Chock both sides of the wheel.
• Remove the wheel trims, if there are any, to get at the wheel nuts.
• Loosen them just a little before you lift the car because once the car is  jacked up, the wheel will spin freely making it hard to undo the nuts.
  
• Now jack the car up until the wheel is just clear of the ground.
  
• As a safety precaution lay the spare wheel on its side, close to the jack and half under the car. If the jack fails, the car will fall on the spare, rather than on you..
• Remove the nuts and slide the wheel off, lifting the wheel (on or off) with your hands in a 'ten minutes to four' position (or'ten minutes past eight' if left-handed)

Caution: Never place your hands directly under the wheel, or put your leg or any part of your body under the car while it's jacked up. There should always be a wheel under the car just in case, so slide the old wheel underneath before pulling out the new one.

• Place the spare onto the hub.
  
• Replace the wheel nuts, making sure the tapered end locates the wheel, and  tightening them as far as you can.
  
• Lower the car, then tighten the nuts again, using a criss-cross pattern  to ensure that the wheel is seated correctly and securely. This means to tighten  the nuts opposite each other first rather than going around in a circle.
• And, remember -now you don't have a spare, so get the flat tyre repaired  as soon as possible.