Puncture, Jacking Points, And The Space-Saver

Before The Wheel Comes Off

Stop where you will not be hit. Firm, level ground. Hazards on, triangle if you have one. Handbrake in, first or reverse in gear, P on an automatic. Chock the opposite wheels. Estate cars have a folding chock in the tool kit: pull and twist the two halves into a triangle.

Where The Kit Lives

Fold the boot floor, lift the cover. Spare, jack and brace are in the well. The jack and brace sit under the spare. Alloy cars often have a locking nut; the key is on the brace or in the glovebox. Prise the centre cap with the flat of the brace.

Jacking

Two points each side, use the one nearest the flat. The head of the jack goes on the sill flange at the stamped indent. Nowhere else on the sill, and never on a plastic cover. Soft ground wants a board under the jack foot.

Crack each nut a half turn on the ground. Do not stand on the brace. Raise until the tyre clears, nuts off, tapered face was inwards, wheel off, spare on, nuts finger tight, lower, then tighten.

Torque And The Narrow Spare

Steel wheels 85 Nm, aluminium 103 Nm. Re-torque at the first safe stop. Some cars carry a space-saver: narrower than the road tyre, 4.1 bar (60 psi), not above 80 km/h (50 mph), no hard corners, no hard braking, off the car as soon as a full-size tyre is back.

If you have no gauge, crawl to air. Repair the punctured tyre; a second flat with the space-saver already on leaves you stranded.