My First Flat Tire Experience

Last night, when I was about to leave the parking lot of my office to proceed to pick up my older sister at her office, I noticed that I wasn't really moving well. So, I got out of the van and then checked what's wrong and I saw that I had a flat tire.

I know that I couldn't fix the tire by myself so I have to call in for reinforcements. Good thing, my officemate Ricky was there to help out and we called in another officemate of ours, Yas to help us out as well.

I had never changed tires before...well for a car that is because I have been changing tires on my bike a lot of times already and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that they are two different things entirely. So backed up with two guys, we have attempted to changed a tire in my van.

Well, one of the funny moments that I can remember from last night was wondering how we'll be able to take out the spare at the back of the van. At first, Ricky was looking for the spare and he couldn't find it at the back of the van. Then I told him it was underneath the van. He then mouth out his favorite expression, "OH, okay! That sucks!"

We found the tire, now how to take it out?

Fumbling with the rack that held the spare, I traced where the screw was holding the tire and found that it was hidden in the bumper of the van. I saw this huge screw that was holding the hook of the rack that held the spare. Yas then used a wrench to set it free. Took us around 5 minutes to take it out too.

Then off we went to the front where the flat tire was located. Jack at hand, I was going to lift the van up. Both Ricky and Yas didn't know how to use my jack so I have to do it on my own. =)

Finally we got to lift the van. Now how to take out the mags? Simple. Ricky just yanked the darn thing out and it just popped out. =)

Now we have another problem. The wrenches that were in the car didn't have anything big enough to take the screw out. So we tried alternatives, from the long nose, to pliers. Finally, Yas had to go to his own car and produced the wrench. Why we never thought about it the first time was beyond us!

We unscrewed the screws, popped the flat tire, and then replaced it with the spare tire. Finally, my car was fine.

Now all we need to do it fixed up all the mess that we made...

At the end of everything, we got to clean up, and we were ready to leave. It was really a new experience for me and I have actually found out that I need more tools in that van that what we already have. I was actually glad that I found out about the tire even before we left the parking lot or else me and Ricky would have been in great big trouble.

Funny moments:

"Mitch, where's your spare?"
"It's at the back!"
Ricky went to the back and opened the back door, "nothing's here, Mitch."
"It's at the back and below."
"Oh, okay! That sucks!"

"Okay, how are we going to get the spare?"
"Um...I don't know..."
"This is embarassing..."
"Oh, wait! Look a screw!"

"What's that?"
"A jack."
"It doesn't look like a jack."
"Believe me it's a jack."
"It's still doesn't look like a jack to me."