You’re driving down the road, minding your own business, when suddenly you hear a strange noise. It sounds like someone’s tail pipe has fallen off and you look around to see where it might be coming from. By the time you realize the sound is coming from your car, your tire is a mangled heap of useless rubber and you are riding on your rims. You could pull over and wait for help, but why wait? Learn how to change your own tire and be armed when you’re out driving.

The most important part of being prepared is to have the right equipment. You should have the following items in your trunk at all times:

1 can of Fix-A-Flat

1 can of WD-40

Tire iron

Jack

Spare tire or donut

Fix-A-Flat can often inflate your tire enough to bring you to the next gas station or even further if you’re lucky enough to have a simple slow leak. If your tire is destroyed or the Fix-A-Flat doesn’t work, it’s time to change that tire.

The first thing you need to do is pry off your hubcap with the flat end of your tire iron. If you don’t have hubcaps, skip this step. Next, loosen, but do not remove your lug nuts with your tire iron. If the nuts are too tight or rusty, give them a spray with the WD-40 to loosen them up. After your lug nuts are loosened, look up at the sky and say, “Why ME?” Then, get ready to jack up your car. Look for a sturdy flat spot underneath your car to jack it up, giving yourself enough room to work with the tire. Usually there will be a flat plate somewhere near the bumper in the back or behind the tire in the front where you can safely jack up your car. If you are still doing this by yourself, it means you are either on a very deserted road or chivalry really is dead. After you’ve got the car jacked up, remove the lug nuts and take off your dead tire. Replace the tire with your spare or donut. If you are using a donut, be sure to get it replaced as soon as possible as these small tires are not meant to be driven long distances. Once you have your spare tire on, tighten the lug nuts only as much as you can without exerting force, then lower the car back down. Now that your car is back on the ground, tighten those lug nuts with all your might. You’ve just changed your own tire!