Flat tire · Spare · Roadside

Flat tire change in Shreveport, LA.

A flat on the I-20 shoulder at night is not the place to learn where your jack is. We put the spare on, check its pressure, and send you to a tire shop that is open.

Call (318) 718-9188 Text us

How much is a flat tire change in Shreveport?

A roadside tire change typically costs $60 to $95 and takes about 30 minutes on scene. That covers jacking the car, removing the flat, mounting your spare and setting its pressure. If you have no usable spare, a tow to a tire shop is quoted instead at the local rate.

The price does not change for the size of the car, but it does for the hour and the distance. A tire change in the Shreve City lot at noon is the low end; a blowout on I-20 near the Greenwood exit at 2 a.m. is the high end. The operator uses a floor jack and an impact gun, which is faster and safer than the scissor jack in the trunk, especially on the soft shoulders along I-49. Lug nuts are torqued to spec, not just gunned tight, because an over-torqued lug on an aluminum wheel can strip or snap. The flat rides in your trunk or on the truck, your choice.

What if I don't have a spare?

Many newer cars have no spare at all, only a sealant kit; then the fix is a tow to a tire shop or a plug if the hole is small. The operator can plug a simple tread puncture on scene so you can drive to a shop. Sidewall damage can't be plugged and needs a tow.

Check your trunk now, not on the shoulder. A growing share of cars sold since about 2015 ship with an inflator kit and no spare to save weight. The sealant in those kits works for a small nail hole and ruins the tire pressure sensor, so most tire shops charge extra to clean it out. A plug from the truck is cleaner: the operator pulls the nail, reams the hole, sets the plug and airs the tire, and you drive to a shop on Youree Drive or Mansfield Road for a proper patch from the inside. Anything on the shoulder of the tire, a bulge, or a cut longer than a quarter inch is a tow, because that tire can let go at speed.

How far can I drive on the spare?

A compact donut spare is good for about 50 miles at 50 mph; a full-size spare has no limit beyond its age. Donuts on the I-20 bridges or I-49 at 70 mph are a bad idea. The operator sets the pressure, which on a donut is 60 psi, far higher than a normal tire.

Donut spares sit in the trunk for years and lose air; most are at 20 psi when they come out, and a donut at 20 psi will overheat and fail in a few miles. The operator airs it to the 60 psi printed on its sidewall before you leave. Drive to the nearest open tire shop, not home across the parish. On a full-size spare, check the date code on the sidewall; a spare more than six or seven years old can crack even with full tread. If you drive a truck with the spare under the bed, the cable winch that lowers it often seizes with rust here; the operator carries the tools to work it loose.

Why do tires blow out so much on I-20 in summer?

Pavement temperatures over 140°F plus underinflation plus highway speed is the formula for a blowout. The I-20 concrete between Greenwood and Haughton runs hot, and a tire 10 psi low flexes until it fails. Check pressure monthly in summer, in the morning before driving.

Most summer blowouts are not road debris; they are tires that were already low and already old. Heat raises pressure a few psi while driving, but a tire that started at 25 psi instead of 35 is flexing hard at the sidewall, and the heat from that flexing is what separates the tread. The tire pressure light comes on at 25 percent low, which is already too low for the interstate in August. Look at the sidewalls for small cracks, especially on a car that sits outside in the sun on Mansfield Road or Barksdale Boulevard. When a tire blows at speed, hold the wheel straight, do not brake hard, let the car slow on its own, and ease onto the shoulder.

Can you change a tire on a truck, SUV or trailer?

Yes, up to one-ton pickups and most SUVs; trailers are fine if you have the spare and the lug wrench size. Dually rear wheels and anything heavier need a tire service truck, which we will tell you on the call rather than sending the wrong truck.

Pickups and SUVs are most of the tire calls out toward Keithville and Blanchard, where the roads to the lakes and the hunting leases are gravel and the sidewalls take a beating. The floor jack on the truck handles a loaded half-ton or three-quarter-ton with the right jack point under the axle. Boat trailers on the way to Caddo Lake or Cross Lake are common; most have no spare, and the operator can tell you whether the tire can be plugged. If the lug nuts are rusted on, which happens to trailers that sit, the impact gun and a breaker bar usually get them, and the operator will say if a nut has to be cut.

Stuck somewhere in Caddo Parish? A truck is on the way.

Call (318) 718-9188 Text us