Roadside Repair – When You Absolutely, Positively, Have to Get There

Shenandoah Towing, the one towing service in Woodstock VA., you can count on for roadside repair, is prepared to serve you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. We can even get you on the road again on holidays and weekends. Our knowledgeable staff knows exactly how to help when emergencies arise, no matter the scenario or conditions. The summer months are upon us, the pandemic is manageable, and the kids are out of school. Highways across America are filling up with cars packed with vacationers and their stuff. Everyone’s ready to have some fun in the sun. Your mom has prepared snacks to enjoy on your road trip, and your dad has kicked the tires and checked under the hood to make sure you absolutely, positively get there safely.

Everything is packed and ready to go when you wake up excited to start out on your journey at dawn. But several hours into the trip, disaster strikes. Your car hits one of those unrepaired potholes left over from winter, causing a flat tire. Your dad pulls the car over to the side of the road after hearing a groaning, grinding sound. Your car joins the whole line of cars stopped on the side of the road with similar tire issues. Our experienced staff member is ready to help and suggests that you begin emptying the trunk full of your vacation stuff. After the car trunk is emptied, you lift the plywood cover only to discover that the jack is missing. But luckily, you still have the donut spare. For today’s blog, let’s talk about roadside repair and what you can do to work towards preventing these predicaments from occurring.

Ways To Prevent A Flat Tire

Here are things to be aware of when it comes to the tires on your car

• Check your tire pressure – Checking your car’s tire pressure often and making sure it equals the recommended pressure requirement is vital.
• Check for cracks, cuts, or bubbles – Once you come across one of these problems, call the tire repair shop and have it fixed immediately.
• Rotate the tires every six months or so – The front tires support more weight than the back ones. They also experience additional stress from braking and steering. By rotating the tires, there will be fewer headaches down the road.
• Replace your tires – A tire’s tread can handle about 60,000 miles worth of wear and tear; however, it may need to be replaced sooner.
• The tires come equipped with a wear bar. It’s a strip of rubber situated in the middle of the tread, which helps gauge your tire’s wear and tear.
• When the tread is even with the wear bar, it’s time to replace the tire.

How to Fix a Flat Tire

If your preventative measures have failed you, then its time to pick up your big boy pants and get to work fixing your flat tire. Here are the steps to do so:

• Step 1: Pull over on the highway far away from any moving traffic. Make sure to stop in a safe place where you wont get hit by a car, and a flat surface.
• Step 2: Remove your tire bar and spare tire from the trunk of your car.
• Step 3: Place some big rocks behind your tires to prevent your car from moving backwards when you remove your spare.
• Step 4: Remove your tire jack and start jacking your car off the ground by locating the jacking points. The jacking points for most vehicles are reinforced metal ribs specifically designed to safely lift the vehicle. On most vehicles, there are four jacking points. They’re located under the car’s rocker panels, just behind the front wheels and just ahead of the rear wheels.
• Step 5: Remove the lug nuts and locking nuts from your vehicle with your tire bar
• Step 6: Remove the flat tire and replace with the spare tire
• Step 7: Hand tigthen the lug nuts, then tighten each lug nut 50% for each lug nut and then rotate to the next lug nut and continue until all are tighten. We want to evenly tighten the lug nuts that’s why we keep rotating to a new lug nut each time.

Other signs that your tires need your attention include vibration or the wheel’s shimmy while driving. There may also be a hissing type of sound signifying a slow leak.

Still, there are a few other essential things about tires to know. Specifically, the very first time you have a flat shouldn’t be your first tire change. Changing a tire in your driveway will be good practice for the time when you actually have a flat. And lastly, once you get a flat, pull over to the side of the road as quickly and safely as possible. Continually driving on a flat will damage your car and be dangerous.

Help Is On The Way: Shenandoah Towing: A Premier Towing Service In Woodstock VA

So, with help from Shenandoah Towing LLC’s towing service in Woodstock VA., you’re back on the road. It’s late, and you need to stay the night at a hotel so you can wake up bright and early the next morning to finish the trip. After an excellent night’s sleep, you round up the troops and start the car. But rather than hearing the roar of the engine, there’s silence. Your headlights don’t work, and the dome light is dim. Your car battery is dead. It’s another disaster. It’s early in the morning, and not even the birds are chirping yet. But you know that you can rely on Shenandoah’s 24/7 towing service to jumpstart your car. Our roadside repair services will get you back on the road day or night. We can service any kind of vehicle you drive, from cars and motorcycles to tractor-trailers and dump trucks.

When something unexpected happens with your vehicle, or you just need a jumpstart, we are here to help and just a phone call away. Contact us today! We cover Virginia’s I-66 and I-81 corridors along with many towns in and around Woodstock, VA., and we’ll get you on your way when you absolutely, positively need to get there.