Flat tire

Had a flat tire this morning before we even got the car out of the garage, and good thing, because that would have been very hard to do on the road.

First, the instructions suggest you chock the opposite wheel to keep the car from rolling when you jack it up. I assume that if you are on the road and don't happen to have a chock with you, this step is optional? I did have one since I was in my garage, so I did it anyway.

The lug nuts were on so tight I literally had to stand on the wrench and jump up and down to get them all loose. No wonder they have you do that before jacking up the car.

Doing all this with gloves on (since it's bloody cold!) is hard. The hardest part, though, was flipping pages in the manual (and later, typing on my phone while I was asking for advice...).

Where I really got stuck was getting the wheel off once the car was jacked up and the nuts were off. It was stuck good and hard. I had to tap with a rubber mallet (and when I say "tap" I mean hit as hard as I could) and that wasn't enough. I finally had to pry with a crowbar with all my strength, which I was hesitant to do since I wasn't sure where to pry. Eventually I had to just hope I had the right spot and wasn't breaking my brakes. Which it turns out I did, and the tire finally came off.

Took about 45 minutes to change the tire, which is pretty ridiculous really. I'm sure it'd go a lot faster a second time though. But what if I didn't have a crowbar? The one built into the lug wrench might be good enough (now that I know where to pry) but I am doubtful. Wonder why the rim was so stuck in the first place.