How To Change Your Tires Yourself - Winter/Summer Tire Swap, by Your Home Garage on YouTube. 12 min 47 s.
- Video length
- 12 min 47 s
- Time to do it
- 45 minutes
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Steps
- 10
What you need
Steps
Park on flat, solid ground and set the parking brake. Chock the wheel diagonally opposite the one you will remove first.
Put on work gloves and gather your breaker bar, correct socket, torque wrench, floor jack, jack stands and chocks.
With the tire still on the ground, loosen each lug nut about a quarter turn. Do not remove them yet.
Find the jack points in your owner's manual. Place the floor jack under the correct reinforced point and lift until the tire clears the ground.
Slide a rated jack stand under the correct jack point and lower the car onto it. Never put any part of your body under a car held only by a floor jack.
Remove the lug nuts and pull the wheel straight off the hub. Lift the replacement wheel into place and line up the bolt holes.
Hand-thread all lug nuts until they touch the wheel. Snug them in a star or cross pattern, then lower the car until the tire touches the ground.
Set the torque wrench to the figure in your owner's manual. Tighten each nut in the same star pattern until the wrench clicks. Do not guess the torque.
Check each tire's pressure with a gauge when the tires are cold. Inflate to the pressure on the driver's door jamb placard, not the maximum on the tire sidewall.
Repeat the process on the other three wheels. After 50 to 100 km of driving, recheck the lug torque and tire pressures.
Tips and common mistakes
Loosen the lug nuts before lifting the car, or the wheel may spin.
Use jack stands every time and keep the floor jack in place as a backup.
Torque the lug nuts with the wheel on the ground, not while the car is in the air.
Check tire pressure when the tires are cold and recheck the torque after the first drive.
Questions
Do I need jack stands to change a tire?
Yes. Use rated jack stands under the correct jack points before you remove a wheel. A floor jack can lose pressure or tip, so never rely on it alone.
How tight should the lug nuts be?
Use the torque figure in your owner's manual, measured in Nm or lb-ft. Tighten in a star pattern with a torque wrench, not by feel.
Can I reuse the same lug nuts?
Usually yes if they are in good condition and fit the wheel. If your winter wheels need different nuts, use the set supplied for them.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
