1996 Ford Contour Owner's Manual - Page 168

Preparing to Change the Tire 1. Make sure that your vehicle will not move or roll. If you have an automatic transaxle, put the gearshift in P (Park). If you have a manual transaxle, put the gearshift in 1 (First). Set the parking brake and block the wheel that is diagonally opposite the tire that you are changing. When one of the front wheels is off the ground, the transaxle alone will not prevent the vehicle from moving or slipping off the jack, even if the vehicle is in P (automatic) or 1 (manual). To prevent the vehicle from moving when you change one of the front tires, put a block behind the wheel that is diagonally opposite to the tire. RWARNING If the vehicle slips off the jack, you or someone else could be seriously injured. 2. Get out the spare tire and jack. RWARNING To avoid injury, never run the engine with one wheel off the ground, such as when changing a tire. 3. Remove the wheel cover from the wheel with the tapered end of the wheel lug wrench. Insert and twist the handle, then pry against the inner wheel cover flange. For information about removing optional wheel center ornaments see Styled Polycast Wheel Ornaments later in this section. 4. Loosen the wheel lug nuts by pulling up on the handle of the wrench one-half turn counterclockwise. Do not remove the wheel lug nuts until you raise the tire off the ground. For information about removing anti-theft lug nuts, see Anti-Theft Wheel Lug Nuts later in this section. 170