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• Many South African families will be heading on the road once the holidays come around.
• More people are likely to travel by car than plane as we limit our exposure to Covid-19.
• Great memories are created on road trips, but they also come with hiccups and one of them is suffering a puncture.
It's hard to imagine that close to nine months of lockdown in 2020 we are on the cusp of the summer holidays. And while many people will work later into the year as usual and the final school term will end later than it ever has, South Africans will be traveling.
We love traveling within our cities, provinces and sometimes to countries in Southern Africa. In the time of Covid-19, many people are less likely to want to travel by plane in order to decrease exposure to the virus and are perhaps more likely to travel by car.
Road trips in South Africa evoke many great memories but also mean tackling the country's roads and as we know punctures do occur from time to time.
So, in the spirit of helping fellow travelers and while getting a puncture is a pain, it's something that can often be rectified quickly at the roadside.
Here's how to do it:
1. If possible, find a safe space to change a tyre. A hard, level surface is your best friend as you don't the car to topple over. Also use a high-visibility jacket or the common triangle usually found in the boot to make other motorists aware you're stationary.
2. Remove the spare wheel, jack, wheel brace, and if needed, the locking wheel nut.
3. Loosen the wheel nuts, but not completely.
4. Locate the vehicle's jack point and line the jack up with it. Make sure the jack is level on the ground before raising the wheel off the ground.
5. Once the wheel can be spun you can then remove the wheel nuts, be sure to keep them stored safely. Remove the punctured wheel and put replace with the spare wheel.
6. Line up the spare wheel with wheel bolts and carefully lift it into position.
7. Get the wheel nuts back in action place them carefully into the section before tightening them as much as possible, and making sure the wheel is level.
8. You're almost there! Lower the car onto the ground by using the jack. Once the wheel is on the ground, do another tightening of the wheel nuts.
Compiled by Sean Parker
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