Changing a Wheel, step by step
Educational reference. On a motorway or fast road, stay behind the barrier and call for help instead.
- Park safelyLevel, firm ground. Handbrake on, in gear, hazards on.
- Chock the opposite wheelDiagonally opposite, if you have anything to use.
- Loosen the nuts half a turnWith the wheel still on the ground.
- Jack at the marked pointThe reinforced point shown in the handbook, not just anywhere on the sill.
- Swap the wheelNuts finger-tight in a star pattern.
- Lower, then tighten fullyIn a star pattern, on the ground.
Afterwards
- Space-saver spares are usually limited to 50 mph
- Re-torque the nuts after 50 miles
- Get the punctured tyre repaired or replaced promptly
Educational reference. Never get under a car supported only by a jack.
Questions about the Changing a Wheel poster
- What’s on the Changing a Wheel poster?
- 6 numbered steps, with a full worked run-through. Educational reference. On a motorway or fast road, stay behind the barrier and call for help instead. Park safely — Level, firm ground. Handbrake on, in gear, hazards on.; Chock the opposite wheel — Diagonally opposite, if you have anything to use.; Loosen the nuts half a turn — With the wheel still on the ground.; Jack at the marked point — The reinforced point shown in the handbook, not just anywh…; Swap the wheel — Nuts finger-tight in a star pattern.; Lower, then tighten fully — In a star pattern, on the ground.. Educational reference. Never get under a car supported only by a jack.
- Who is the Changing a Wheel poster for?
- Changing a Wheel belongs to the Practical skills section rather than to a school year, because life skills is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning the car can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Changing a Wheel poster?
- Loosen the nuts before jacking. A wheel in the air just spins. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Changing a Wheel belongs on the wall where that life skills work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Changing a Wheel?
- After an Accident, Breaking Down and Buying a Used Car sit alongside Changing a Wheel in the Practical skills section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.After an AccidentBreaking DownBuying a Used Car
- Is the Changing a Wheel poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Changing a Wheel downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Practical skills section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Changing a Wheel poster print at?
- Changing a Wheel is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Changing a Wheel loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Changing a Wheel on the same wall.
Browse every Practical skills poster, or start from the full catalogue.