Module: Tire Safety

The Complete Tire Safety Academy

Two skills every driver should have: changing a flat safely on the shoulder of a road, and reading the code on a sidewall well enough to know if a tire is actually right for your car.

Part 1 — Emergency Procedure

How to Safely Change a Flat Tire

High-contrast, six-step checklist — built to be readable on a phone screen at the side of a road.

  1. Step 1

    Safety First

    Park on level ground immediately, pull the parking brake tight, turn on your hazard lights, and place a wheel chock behind the opposite tire.

  2. Step 2

    Loosen Lug Nuts

    Grab your lug wrench. While the vehicle is still firmly on the ground, loosen the lug nuts on the flat tire by a half-turn counterclockwise — do not remove them yet.

  3. Step 3

    Lift the Vehicle

    Locate your car's designated frame jacking points (check your owner's manual). Position the jack cleanly underneath, and raise the vehicle until the flat tire clears the pavement by 2–3 inches.

  4. Step 4

    Swap the Wheels

    Remove the loose lug nuts fully, pull the flat tire off, and lift the spare tire onto the lug bolts.

  5. Step 5

    Hand Tighten

    Reinstall the lug nuts by hand, tightening them until they are snug against the wheel face.

  6. Step 6

    Lower and Final Torque

    Lower the vehicle until the tire touches the ground just enough to gain friction, but don't let the full weight down yet. Tighten the lug nuts firmly in a star/crisscross pattern. Lower the vehicle completely, remove the jack, and give the lug nuts one final check for tightness.

Part 2 — The Decode Matrix

How to Read a Tire Sidewall

Click each piece of this standard example code to break down what it means.

P 215 / 65 R 15   95 H
Select a code above
P215/65R15 95H

This is a standard passenger tire size string. Click any segment — P, 215, 65, R, 15, 95, or H — to see what it controls.