Follow this process to fix a flat tire and avoid the frustration of being stranded away from home:

1. Look ahead and locate a safe place to pull off the road away from traffic. The last thing you need once you have a flat tire is to put yourself into harms way by being too close to traffic. Pull as far as you can off the shoulder of the road and as flat of as a surface as possible. You don’t want to be at an angle once you have to begin jacking up your vehicle.

2. Turn on your hazard lights. Typically you will find your spare tire, jack and wrench located in the trunk of your car. Place these items on the side of your car opposite of traffic.

3. Loosen the lug nuts with your wrench counter-clockwise. You are going to need to put your weight into it. Don’t be shy. Don’t take them completely off just yet.

4. Locate the flattest surface possible under the vehicle to place the jack. Be sure to review in your owner’s manual how to correctly use your jack. Once you have followed your owner’s manual steps to lift your vehicle, be sure to have the tires around 6 inches above the ground.

5. Remove the lug nuts off the vehicle and remove your damaged tire. Be sure to pull the tire off as evenly as possible avoiding any scraping of the wheel.

6. Check the tire pressure on your spare. Be sure to check your owner’s manual on your recommended spare tire air pressure and warnings. Place your spare tire on your lug nut posts all the way flush with your wheel-base.

7. Put on all the lug nuts. Hand-tighten the lug nuts on to the posts.

8. Lower the car based off the owner’s manual recommendations. Once the vehicle is all the way lowered, begin to tighten the lug nuts. You will tighten one lug nut to about halfway and then go to the opposite lug nut on the wheel and do the same process. Continue this process until all of the lug nuts are half tightened. Once this is completed now do the same process until the lug nut is completely tight. Identify the lug nut opposite and continue to completely tighten going back and forth until all lug nuts are completely tight.

9. Place your tools in your trunk and drive cautiously on your spare. Be sure to follow the recommended warnings regarding your spare tire from your vehicles owner’s manual.