Flat tire change in Detroit, MI.

A roadside spare tire change in Detroit runs about $55 to $95. That covers lifting the car, swapping the flat for your spare, torquing the lugs and setting the pressure. If the spare is flat too, dispatch tells you the options before a truck is sent.

The price moves with the vehicle and the spot. A compact in a Corktown driveway is the bottom of the range. A loaded pickup on the I-94 shoulder at night, with a full-size spare slung under the bed on a rusted cable, is the top. The driver carries a floor jack, a breaker bar for seized lugs and a torque wrench, which makes the job much quicker than it would be with the factory kit. Lug locks are the one thing he cannot work around; have the key ready, or the tire stays on. Michigan road salt seizes lug nuts and spare-tire winches, so older trucks take longer, and you hear that on the call.

Cars usually carry it under the trunk floor; SUVs and pickups hang it under the rear on a cable winch; some newer cars have no spare at all, only a sealant kit. Check before you call, because a missing spare changes the job from a change to a repair or a tow.

Sedans from Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota and Honda keep a compact spare under the trunk mat with the jack beside it. Most SUVs and every pickup carry a full-size or compact spare under the rear, lowered with a crank through a hole in the bumper. On a Michigan vehicle that has seen a few winters, that cable and crank are often rusted solid, and the driver may need penetrating oil and time to get the spare down. Newer compact cars and many hybrids ship with no spare and an inflator kit instead; the kit works on a small tread puncture and not on anything else. If you are not sure, lift the trunk mat or look under the rear of the vehicle before you call, and tell dispatch what you found.

Yes, at 50 mph or under and for about 50 to 70 miles, which gets you across Detroit to a tire shop. Keep it off the freeway if you can and do not run it for days. The driver sets the spare to its correct pressure, which is higher than a normal tire.

A compact spare is rated for a short trip, not for the week. It has less tread, a smaller contact patch and a sidewall that will overheat at freeway speed. On a car with all-wheel drive, a spare with a different diameter can also strain the drivetrain if it stays on for long. Plan the trip to the shop for the next day and take surface streets, Michigan Avenue or Grand River rather than I-96. If the spare is full size, there is no limit, but it still needs the same pressure as the others. The driver checks the other three tires while he is there, because a pothole that killed one tire often bent the rim next to it.

Pull as far right as possible, turn on the hazards, and stay belted in on the sunken freeways where there is no safe place to stand. If the flat is on the driver's side next to traffic, the driver may ask you to limp to the next exit on the rim rather than work in the lane.

A flat on the left side of the car on I-94 or the Lodge puts the driver in the traffic lane to change it. That is not safe for anyone, and on the below-grade stretches there is no room to move the car farther right. Rolling slowly to the next exit on a flat tire destroys the tire, but the tire is already done; the rim usually survives a short crawl at walking pace with the hazards on. The driver will tell you whether to move or stay, and where to meet him if you move. On the wide outer freeways, I-96, I-275 and I-94 past the airport, the shoulder is usually wide enough to work on either side, and you wait behind the guardrail while he does it.

Yes, up to a one-ton pickup or a full-size van; heavy trucks and large trailers need a different service. Work vans, box trucks under 10,000 pounds and small utility trailers are routine. For anything heavier, say so on the call and dispatch tells you whether it can be done.

Light-duty work vehicles are a big share of Detroit flat calls, because contractors and delivery drivers run on worn tires through pothole season. A one-ton pickup takes a bigger jack and longer lugs, which the truck carries. Dually rear wheels take longer because the inner wheel has to come off with the outer. Small trailers are fine if the spare is on the trailer; the truck does not carry trailer tires in odd sizes. Semi tractors, dump trucks and anything on 22.5-inch wheels need a heavy-duty tire service, and dispatch will say so rather than send a truck that cannot lift the load. One habit saves a call: check the spare's pressure twice a year when the clocks change. A compact spare loses air sitting in the trunk, and a flat spare on the I-94 shoulder turns a twenty-minute change into a wait for a second truck or a tow.