I changed the tire -- all by myself!!

You might want to take that date of birth back into the late 1980s....A decade or so ago, a co-workers daughter called him from the side of the road...I will try to recreate the conversation, which while not completely accurate "presents authenticated facts."

"Dad, my car has a flat tire," Allison said.

"Well, you have to change it. You know, get out the spare and the lug wrench and the jack," dad said.

"Trevor did that. But he broke everything," Allison said.

"Trevor, what's Trevor doing there," dad said a bit heatedly.

"Dad!!" Allison said with a quick snap to her voice. "He's just here. What do we do!"

"Well, what do you mean; broke everything?"

"Well, dad, he used the wrench and tried to take off the nuts, but he was having trouble and then after he hit and pulled at them, they just twisted around and broke."

The conversation went on for another few minutes, and if I hadn't been in his office at the time, I would have thought he made this story up...

But seems they tried to take the PLASTIC IMITATION nuts on the wheel cover off while it was still attached to the wheel. They never took the cover off and never got to the wheel underneath.

I showed all my kids how to change tires, check pressures, change oil and how to swap out cabin and oil filters, as well as how to do a few other jobs as they came up. But, they did not listen or pay much attention. Funny, though, once my daughter reached her mid-20s and was paying her own way, she sweet-talked me into showing her how to do everything once again. She can swap out spark plugs, batteries, change oil and filter, clean a MAF, clean and replace a PCV, as well as various bulbs, etc.

 

Friends did manage to shear the actual bolt off trying to free a frozen lug nut. With just one of those cross lug wrenches.

 

I once was a counter-commuter: lived in Detroit, worked in the NW suburbs, where co-workers never tired of dissing where I lived.

When my OEM wheel covers got stolen (where? parking lot of suburban workplace, natch), I replaced them with some plastic cheapies from Murray's or the like, which were made with holes for the lugs; the real lug nuts held them in place.

I later had to shout at an Actual Tire Shop Tech who was trying to pry the first one off, just barely in time before it snapped.

~v~^~v~^~v~

Years later and in Indiana, I rushed home from work one day to get some necessary chores done before heading over to spend a planned evening with my then-SO. Got a phone call from aforementioned SO, who had noticed she had a flat tire, while parked in her driveway. I suggested "hey, nice sunny afternoon in your own driveway, not on the side of the road, all the comforts of home, you've told me you wanted to practice that, you were watching me last time and saw where all the tools are stowed in your truck, why don't you give it a try and since I'll be over later anyway, if you ran into any snags we'll get them sorted then." She said ok, sounds like a plan.

I get the chores out of the way and drive over and there's the truck sitting in pristine shape on four intact aired-up tires, and I say "hey, it looks like the tire change went pretty well!"

She says "it went great! Soon as I called Wulf and said you refused to help, he drove clear up from, like, Green Hill and took care of everything!"