Flat tyre? Save your life, save your time

Suppose you have the above situation when you have already driven out and in an isolated/dangerous spot and perhaps in the night? What if it happens to a medical personnel on an emergency, a couple on the way to their wedding, a school bus conveying children to/from school and the driver leaves the children there […]

Suppose you have the above situation when you have already driven out and in an isolated/dangerous spot and perhaps in the night? What if it happens to a medical personnel on an emergency, a couple on the way to their wedding, a school bus conveying children to/from school and the driver leaves the children there in search of a vulcanizer, to an ambulance conveying a sick person whose life depends on how fast treatment is administered or to a security patrol vehicle on an emergency assignment? What if it happens to a lady and she is all alone?
The above scenario is no mere supposition or fiction. It happens every day and it could happen to you even if your tyres are just out from the factory and filled with the best tyre sealant in the world! The cause could be either a tiny puncture or a leaking valve stem. So how can you save your time, life and valuables in the event of such happening to you? There is only one way: ensure you always carry a compact tyre inflator that you can power from the cigarette lighter of your vehicle to pump the flat tyre.
How can the inflator save your time?
To answer this question, let us consider the steps you need to take to change to a spare tyre, see how much time this will take and then compare these with the steps you need to take to utilize the tyre inflator and see how much time involved.
Let’s number the various steps needed to change to a spare tyre so we can get a clearer picture of what is involved. (1)  you will need to bring out your jack (hoping it works) and (2) the nut driver (spanner) or ratchet. (3) you will need to bring out your spare tyre. This may not be easy depending on where and how it is stored in your vehicle and you could also be unfortunate to discover that the spare tyre is equally flat since most people hardly check to see the condition of the spare before driving. If you don’t have wheel blocks in your vehicle, (4) you will need to look around for something you can use to block the two tyres (front and back) farthest from the flat tyre so as to prevent the vehicle from rolling as you jack it up. (5) you need to remove the hub cap first before you can have access to the wheel nuts. The wheel nuts on the flat tyre have to be unscrewed, half way first and then fully when the vehicle is jacked up. Your wheel will normally have about five nuts and removing each is taken a step so this means further five steps (6, 7, 8, 9, 10). Note that some nuts can prove very stubborn to remove.  (11) you need to locate the proper spot under the vehicle to place the jack and this might not be easy to locate. (12) then comes the actual jacking up of the vehicle and you might discover that when fully operated, the jack has not given the vehicle enough ground clearance to remove the flat tyre.  So you (13) jack it down and (14) look for objects to place under the jack to support the height. (15) again you jack it up. When enough clearance has been got, you now fully unscrew the five nuts which will be another five steps (16, 17, 18, 19, 20). After removing the nuts, you (21) remove the flat tyre and (22) then go for the spare. (23) you need to properly guide the spare tyre through the studs to click it in position. Having done that, you screw the five nuts back halfway first (another five steps 24, 25, 26, 27, 28), and then (29) jack down the vehicle. With the vehicle fully jacked down, you now screw the five nuts tight (another five more steps 30, 31, 32, 33, 34,).  It is now time to (35) remove the jack, (36) pack it, (37) store away the flat tyre and (38) remove the blocks placed on the two tyres to prevent the vehicle from rolling.  Process completed. You are now free to drive off.