TIRE COMPRESSOR & CHANGING A TIRE

We've come a long way, baby, but a lot of us females still aren't adept at changing a tire. I am adept because my father made sure I knew how to change a flat on my first car - a '69 Mustang - and because of the way I drove that car (corners), I had lots of practice changing flats.

Any woman who has not changed a tire on the car she currently drives, should practice doing so. Know where the lug wrench is and the "locking" lugnut socket if you need one to remove your wheels. Make sure the lugnuts aren't on so tight that you can't break them loose.

Know where the jack is and the proper place to put it when you are jacking up the car (owner's manual should have this info).

Also make sure your spare tire has sufficient air. I had a flat last week (thankfully the car was in front of the house) and my spare has only half as much air pressure as its supposed to. And then I discovered that the portable tire compressor I carry no longer works (must've killed it on my neighbor's car last month). [any recommendations for a new one?]

While getting new tires and an oil change after that flat last week I had a couple hours to burn and did so reading through my Honda Element owner's manual. A good investment of time now and then.