How to Jack Up a Car

It's a good idea to practice jacking up your car at home. Don't wait until you have a flat tire out on the side of the road somewhere. Follow the steps below to learn how to jack up a car in the event that you need to change a flat or just check something out underneath your car.

Instructions

1

Get your car to a level location before your attempt to jack up the car. If you have a flat on a slope or hill, slowly drive or roll your car to the nearest level spot of ground that is clear of highway or road traffic. Move your car as far from traffic as possible.

2

Make sure that the car is in gear if it's a manual transmission or in park if it is an automatic transmission. Engage or set the emergency brake regardless of the type transmission your car has.

3

Locate the jack in your car. If you do not know where this is, pull out your owner's manual for reference. Your owner's manual will also have written instructions on how to jack up the car to change a flat, so keep the manual out. Put wheel chocks or wedges behind the tires to prevent rolling, especially the tire directly adjacent to the tire you will be changing. Use a rock, brick or piece of wood if you don't have wheel chocks.

4

Find the lift point or notch on your car in the area closest to the wheel that has the flat tire. Lay out your jack, the jack lift and lug nut wrench to have all your needed items to jack up the car and change the tire.

5

Loosen the lug nuts on the tire prior to jacking up the car with the lug wrench.

6

Insert the jack into the lift point or notch, attach the handle, which is also your lug wrench. Crank or jack the car up until the car is at the height needed to change the tire. Keep in mind that you will need more height to put on the inflated tire than you will to take off the flat tire, so adjust your jacking height accordingly.

7

Take off the flat tire, put on the inflated spare tire and lower the car back to the ground with the jack. Tighten up the lug nuts securely with the lug wrench, repack your jack back into the car and you're really to roll.