Say you are driving your “Beamer” across country on a long trip to visit your aging aunt when, possibly because you neglected to have your BMW properly aligned, a tire blows, leaving you by the side of the road with a flat. For some people, this is no big deal and they can change out a flat in no time. For others, this may require calling a BMW repair service in Austin, TX to come out and fix the flat. Unfortunately, however, if you are in the latter category, we must emphasize that your aunt lives in a remote location far from Austin and you are now by the side of an abandoned two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire and no cell reception. What do you do?
Changing a flat tire really isn’t very difficult, but it does require that you have another spare tire with you, as well as a jack and tire iron. Chances are that if you are driving a BMW, these are located in the trunk of your vehicle. If not, they may be underneath your vehicle. Once you locate and take these items out of your car, make sure that you are parked safely before you proceed. The chances of being run over on a busy freeway while changing your flat tire are, in fact, pretty high, so if your car is still sticking out into the street, roll it forward onto the side of the road and out of the way of traffic.
Next, unfasten the hub cap from the flat tire wheel, using your crow bar if necessary. Set this aside. You will see four lug nuts holding the wheel. Now is the time to loosen them, but don’t remove them completely. If you do not have a special tool, you can use the tire iron, which usually has a tool on the end that fits the lug nuts perfectly.
Put your jack near the flat tire in an appropriate location to lift the car up enough to get the tire off. Your vehicle manual should tell you where the safest places are to jack up a car. Use common sense. Once you have the car lifted, remove the lug nuts and then the tire. Replace the tire with the spare, lower the car with the jack, and then tighten the lug nuts. You have just changed a flat tire. When you get back to the city, you can take the car into the BMW repair shop in Austin, TX to get a new tire. When you are buying a new tire at your BMW repair shop in Austin, you may want to ask about an alignment, as well.
Put the flat tire and all your equipment in the same place you acquired the spare. You are ready to go, so be swift. Your aging aunt doesn’t have all night to wait up for you, you know.
