MEMORANDUM

To: Students in LIS 3021 / Fall 2017

CC: Dawn Betts-Green, Cheryl Booth

From: Jack Porter

Subject: Changing a flat tire

Date: October 14th, 2017

Introduction
With all the construction going on around Tallahassee, there is building debris and hazardous
material scattered all throughout the road ways. In order to better protect yourself and your car,
this memo will highlight the technical steps it takes to successfully change a car tire. This is an
important skill to have because you might not always have the option to call a company or
family member to come help you in an emergency situation and having the knowledge and skills
to change a tire could one day be used to get you out of a unfavorable situation.

Procedure
The following are steps to take to change a care tire.

1. Locate the tire that you are wanting to change and identify other tires that might be in need of
service.
2. Locate the necessary items you will need in order to change the tire. (tire iron, spare tire,
gloves, jack, owners manual, and a flashlight if needed)
3. Now find a safe and flat area to park your car in order to begin the process of changing the
tire. (get a safe distance off of the main road so that traffic can continue to flow and not be a
danger to yourself.
4. Turn on your hazard lights so that other cars can see you.
5. Put the car in park and apply the parking break so that the car will not roll while you are
underneath it.
6. If you have a hubcap on the tire locate it and remove it so that you can get access to the tire
lug nuts.
7. Attach the tire iron to the lug nuts and proceed to loosen them.
8. Place the jack underneath the car located on the car frame near the wheel that you are going to
be changing.
9. Begin to slowly raise the car up into the air until the tire is just barely off the ground.
10. Fully remove the lug nuts from the tire and remove the bad tire.
11. Locate the spare tire in the car using the owners manual and proceed to place it back onto
the car.
12. Hand tighten the lug nuts onto the new tire and begin to lower the jack slowly.
13. Lower the vehicle fully to the ground and use the tire iron to fully torque all of the lug nuts
onto the wheel.
14. Locate the hub cap and replace it onto the new wheel.
15. Dismantle and stow away all equipment used for the operation.
16. Check the pressure of the spare tire and if needed fill the tire with air.
17. Take bad tire to a service station where they can look at it and patch the hole if needed.

Summary
If you are to have any other questions relating to flat tire and or getting to campus safely and
effectively, please contact Tim Howard in the human resources department. Tim is a certified
technician before he joined our team here at FSU and has first-hand knowledge on the
procedures of changing a tire. You can contact Tim at (850) 656-9865 extension 5. Or you can
email him at Tim.Howard@my.fsu.edu on week days from 9am till 5pm. We hope you will all
be safe in your travels and be prepared for whatever comes your way.