We have all been in that rare instance where we are stranded on the side of the road! Talking about stress… number one thing to remember here is stay calm and always think safety, because if you do not do things safely you are going to get hurt, and that car is heavy. So before you get in the situation that calls for emergency tactics, you need to think ahead. This is more of a subjective area of car ownership, but one of the most overlooked areas by the smartest of car owners. Depending on the area you live, you will need certain items with you at all times. The first being the properly inflated spare tire. Most of us never even know where the spare tire is, let alone if it has any air in it. So find it and check it. In addition to keeping the spare time inflated to the proper psi, check to see if your spare tire has any dry rot. If so replace it, it could be the one thing that gets you to a safe place safely. Now that you have checked to see if you have a spare tire, now look for the “jack” that is right, if you have a spare tire and no jack to lift your car, you really don’t have anything now do you. A hydraulic jack is the best tool to carry, because a hydraulic jack holds the best and is easy to use, but they cost more than a cheap jack that most car manufactures provide with your car when they are new. Now if you just bought a used car from a private owner (as apposed to a used car lot) you may find that the other guy took that nice jack and left you with no jack at all. In that case, you will need to go to that auto parts store or a discount store and find a nice jack for that day we all hope never comes…a flat time on the side of a busy highway in the middle of a heat wave… talk about stress! Another thing you will want to have is what my dear old father used to call a four-way. A four-way looks like a big cross with sockets on all four ends of the cross. This is a tool! It has four different sizes on it so that you can find the correct size for your lug nuts (those are the nuts that hold your tires on). The four-way comes in metric or ASE depending on if you drive an import or a domestic car will dictate the need for metric or ASE. The other reason my old man told me to always have a four-way is for the simple fact that it will give you leverage when taking off the tire, and if you just had a new set of tires put on your car you are going to need some leverage. Why? Simply put, the guy at the tire store uses what is called an impact wrench and that puts the lug nuts on very tight, and depending on the person you trusted to put your tires on will dictate how tight the tires were put on (some too tight and some not so tight).
