Changing Tires At Home Could Be Easier: 5 Tools That Can Help The Process

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

If you get a flat or damaged tire while you're out on the road, in the middle of nowhere, then there's unfortunately not much you can do besides call for some auto assistance and start twiddling your thumbs until they show up to change it. However, in the event that something happened to your tire while your car was in your garage or driveway, you may not need to call for external assistance. If you have access to all of your tools, you might just be able to save yourself some time and cash and handle it at home.

Of course, this is predicated on the assumption that you've got all of the tools necessary to handle a tire change in your garage, such as a pressure gauge, a torque wrench, a trolley jack, and others. If you don't have those tools, it might be a good time to invest in some — you can find just about everything you need at retailers like Amazon, Home Depot, and Harbor Freight, and with each tool backed up by average user ratings of at least four out of five stars to boot.

Before you consider replacing your entire tire, you'll want to check if it actually needs a full replacement. Even if a tire is a little flat, it's possible that its pressure has just been altered a bit by ambient temperature changes, or it's simply been a little while since you topped it off. The same goes for your spare tire, which could need a top off before you can put it on. Either way, you should have a tool like the AstroAI AIRUN H Portable Inflator and Pressure Gauge, available on Amazon for $31.99.

This compact inflator is designed to be small enough to fit in your car's trunk or under one of its seats, while still being strong enough to handle whatever tires need air. Just plug it into your car outlet to power it up, then affix the hose to your tire's valve to get an automatic readout on its current pressure. If you need to pump it up, just enter your targeted PSI, and the inflator will start running, turning off automatically when the PSI is reached.

Alongside its 4.5 out of five average rating from Amazon shoppers, this inflator has earned an Amazon's Choice badge for itself for its quality. One user said it was one of the best purchases they had ever made, as using this inflator is far more convenient than having to seek out a gas station with a potentially-broken air pump.

If you do end up needing to pull your entire wheel off your car to swap it out with a spare, you'll need to undo the hefty lug nuts that keep it fastened in place, as well as re-fasten those nuts. You can't really do this by hand, since those nuts are tightly wound intentionally. That would be a job for a sturdy torque wrench, such as the Husky 1/2 in. Drive Torque Wrench available at Home Depot for $94.97.

This alloy steel torque wrench is designed to handle fastening and unfastening jobs in a torque range of 50 to 250 lb-ft. It provides a clear, audible clicking sound as it works, letting you know when you've reached your target torque setting, which helps prevent the common mistakes of under- or over-tightening of lug nuts. The handle can be easily twisted to set your target torque, while the twist lock ring keeps your target torque in place without slipping.

This torque wrench is a top-rated Home Depot product, with an average user rating of 4.5 out of five stars. One user called it a good value and praised its ease of use, particularly in regards to how accurate its torque setting was and how simple it was to set it.

One of the reasons it's harder to change a car tire when you're in the middle of nowhere is that you can't do it at all if you don't have a jack handy. Putting aside the fact that it's definitely not safe to attempt while the tire is firmly against the ground, you probably wouldn't be able to remove the tire anyway. If you're working at home in a garage, you'd hopefully have access to a jack to safely lift the car up, such as the Pittsburgh 2 Ton Compact Trolley Jack, which retails for $49.99 at Harbor Freight.

This trolley jack is relatively small in size and light in weight, making it easy to carry around and place underneath your car prior to a tire-change job. It's surprisingly strong for its size, though, able to 4,000 pounds on its own to get that wheel safely off the ground. It's made of formed and welded steel for extra durability, and has smooth-rolling casters to slide cleanly underneath your vehicle, even if the gap is a little narrow. When you're done working, just twist the valve release, and it'll safely release your car back down.

This tool comes consistently recommended from users at Harbor Freight, who have collectively given it an average rating of 4.5 out of five. One user has bought two of them over their lifetime, only having to replace the first one after it lasted for a good 20 years, making regular use of it to keep their trailer in shape.

Depending on the precise problem with your car tire, you may need to get access to the actual inner surface of the tire to deal with it, not just the full wheel. The tricky part is that a tire is vacuum-sealed onto the wheel via the bead, and you definitely can't get in there with just your hands. If you need to get into the tire proper, that's a job for the BeadBuster XB-450i Bead Breaker, available on Amazon for $149.00.

This specialized device is designed to loosen a tire's bead, the inner edge that keeps it sealed against the rim. Just clamp the tool to the rim, and drive in the large metal bolt on top using a power drill. The pneumatic pressure it creates will safely break the bead without damaging the tire or the rim, and with exponentially less hazard and effort than doing so with a pry bar or a hammer. The included clamp arm will fit most rims, though BeadBuster sells other, swappable arms for different types of tires and vehicles if you need them.

This tool is a #1 best seller on Amazon amongst tire bead breakers, and has a 4.6 out of five average user rating. One user said it was "worth its weight in gold" for the time and effort it has saved them in wheelwork, and they highly recommend it for anyone who likes or wants to do their own wheelwork at home.

After you've broken a tire's bead to service it, you can't just stick it right back on the rim and put it back on your vehicle. That bead was vacuum-sealed, and if it isn't re-sealed, the tire could end up falling right off while in motion. Ergo, in addition to a bead breaker, at-home tire management work also demands a bead seater to properly mount the tire back on the wheel. For this purpose, try the XtremepowerUS Heavy Duty Tire Bead Seater, available on Amazon for $84.95.

This combination air tank and blaster is designed to deliver a focused, powerful blast of compressed air in order to swiftly seat a tire bead and cut down on overall installation and maintenance times. The hose has an extended lip, which keeps the bead in place and directs air as necessary during the seating process. It's rated to work on most tire types, including regular car tires, trucks, trailers, tractors, and more. The air tank can store up to five gallons of air, monitored via a built-in pressure gauge so you know exactly how much you've got left.

The XtremepowerUS tire bead seater received an Amazon's Choice badge, and a hearty 4.7 out of five rating from users. One user specifically bought this tool to seat the beads on some previously very stubborn tires, and was able to handle all four of them with its help in just 10 minutes.

Even if you're not stranded in the middle of nowhere when you need to replace your car's tire, it'd still be pretty annoying if you got all set to take care of it yourself, only to find that your tools have fallen apart outside your notice.

To ensure that scenario doesn't come to pass, we focused on helpful tire-changing tools readily available at major retailers, each one with an average user score of at least four out of five stars from its respective store's shoppers.