HOW TO GET A YOUR TIRES REPLACED WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR HOUSE DURING QUARANTINE

Many people may not want to leave quarantine this summer, even if they badly need to replace the tires on their cars. There are two ways to handle the situation: try to fix a tire yourself or hire a mobile tire installation service to come and replace your tire in your driveway. Here are the basics of both.

Strategy 1: Fix the tire at home yourself with a sealant.

Balding tires or tires with a flat spot won’t be helped this way, but a flat tire caused by a puncture may be easy to fix with a sealant or plug. If you have a can of sealant, use these steps to fix it:

Find the leak. Listen for hissing, or use a mixture of soap and water to find bubbles along the tire’s surface.

Remove any objects. Nails, screws, and shards are often the source of the puncture. Carefully remove them with pliers and then quickly move onto the next step.

Turn the wheel. Ensure that the air valve is at the top.

Use your sealant. After thoroughly reading the specific instructions for the sealant you buy, attach the nozzle to the valve and use the sealant.

Test the tire. After the allotted amount of time (according to your sealant), drive for a few minutes around the block to see if your sealant holds.

If the sealant holds, you’re good for another few days, but it’s likely only a temporary fix. Those unwilling to go to a shop to replace it will need to move on to the next few steps.

Strategy 2: Replace the tire at home.

For those who have a spare tire or a replacement tire around the garage, changing a tire yourself isn’t too stressful. However, taking the tires on and off the rim may be much more difficult to do yourself.

Find a stable surface. Don’t try to do this on a hill or an irregular surface.

Use your parking brake. Engage your brake to make sure the car stays in place.

Secure the back tires. Set heavy objects in front of and behind the back tires, like rocks or concrete blocks.

Jack up the car. It should be carefully and firmly placed under the vehicle at a perpendicular angle.

Remove the hubcap, nuts, and tire. Loosen the nuts, pump the crank on the jack to lift the tire off the ground, and then remove the lug nuts in a star formation. Then, you can take the tire off the car.

Remove and replace the tire on the rim. Now, if you have a spare tire or a whole new tire with a new rim, you can move onto the next step. But if you want to replace the tire on the rim at home, that can be much more difficult; most shops have a tire machine that can do that quickly. In order to do this yourself, you should know where the bead of the tire should go, have the right equipment and have a great deal of patience. Otherwise, it’s best to move onto the next strategy.

Place the new or spare tire on the hub. Carefully put the tire on the hub, tighten the nuts by hand and then tighten them further with a wrench before slowly cranking the jack to lower the car.

Now, chances are that you don’t have a whole new tire with a rim. Your spare will only last for a few hundred miles, so you will still need to drive it to a shop to replace it. That is unless you move onto the next strategy.

Strategy 3: Hire a mobile tire installation service.

Tire Outlet offers mobile tire installation that’s easy for you to use. That way, you can get your new tire installed without having to leave your house. It can come to where your car is parked – at your home, your workplace or your school.