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I've known for a while I needed to get new tires (I drive a Miata and the car hydroplanes pretty easily when the tires start to flatten out a bit) but apparently I *really* needed 'em.
Drove back from the airport last night, and the ride was kinda rough. I figured a wheel was out of alignment or some such, but this morning when I pulled out of the driveway and headed down the street, the car started driving increasingly funny... and of course, two blocks later, it had become obvious that one of the tires had deflated.
I live about six blocks from Les Schwab, so the solution was fairly self-evident. Stopped in, asked 'em to swap it out for a new one, and sat down to flip thru the paper. They said "oh, probably only 20 minutes or so."
About ten minutes later the tire-changing dude came in (looking rather like he'd just stepped out of his Bitchin' Camaro - I felt like he belonged in Vice City) and says "um.... you need four new tires."
I was not quite expecting that.
So he shows me the tires. The steel belts have broken and are protruding through the inner side of the tires. Three of them are now leaking air.
"When did you last get your tires changed?"
I have to think about that one. I had these tires put back *on* the car in October - they're my snow tires - but I haven't actually gotten *new* tires in about four years. I find it odd that three of them decide to go in one night, however. I haven't been taking the car off jumps or anything, though, despite the occasional desire to drive it like the General Lee.
Long story made short, they have two choices in stock - a mismatched set of two retreads and two new cheap tires, or four new high end radials. I think about going with the cheap tires, except that the labor cost is the same either way, so neither is especially cheap - so I opt for the high end all-weather tires. woo, glamorous.
I go back to reading the newspaper. And the magazines. And the Little Nickel want ads. I am bored out of my gourd by this point and my laptop is still at work where I left it. I attempt to get the "hubcap preview computer" to do something other than show me what it would look like if I had my Miata jacked up and fitted with a set of hubcaps that look like lids for a giant salt shaker. This is unsuccessful although leads to me snickering and clicking the up/down link on the suspension to make the on-screen Miata do the low-rider thing.
I play Tetris on my cell phone for a bit until this becomes tedious. I am ready to start reading the warranty information on my tires, or the operator's manual for an air wrench, which is pretty much all that's left around that I haven't read. Fortunately The Dude comes back in and lets me know that I'm good to go, and presents me with the lug for my tires. (Standard hubcap wrenches don't take the lug nuts off Miatas - they have their own peculiar interface.) I put it back in the trunk where he had apparently forgotten that he found it, stash my warranty info in the glove box, and head on out. From the moment I turn out onto Aurora, it's apparent that things are Much Better. It's stunning how much more smoothly the car corners with these new tires. I'll feel much safer in the rain with them.
Reminds me, tho, I need to take the car in for an oil change. Best do that before a similar catastrophe erupts.
Drove back from the airport last night, and the ride was kinda rough. I figured a wheel was out of alignment or some such, but this morning when I pulled out of the driveway and headed down the street, the car started driving increasingly funny... and of course, two blocks later, it had become obvious that one of the tires had deflated.
I live about six blocks from Les Schwab, so the solution was fairly self-evident. Stopped in, asked 'em to swap it out for a new one, and sat down to flip thru the paper. They said "oh, probably only 20 minutes or so."
About ten minutes later the tire-changing dude came in (looking rather like he'd just stepped out of his Bitchin' Camaro - I felt like he belonged in Vice City) and says "um.... you need four new tires."
I was not quite expecting that.
So he shows me the tires. The steel belts have broken and are protruding through the inner side of the tires. Three of them are now leaking air.
"When did you last get your tires changed?"
I have to think about that one. I had these tires put back *on* the car in October - they're my snow tires - but I haven't actually gotten *new* tires in about four years. I find it odd that three of them decide to go in one night, however. I haven't been taking the car off jumps or anything, though, despite the occasional desire to drive it like the General Lee.
Long story made short, they have two choices in stock - a mismatched set of two retreads and two new cheap tires, or four new high end radials. I think about going with the cheap tires, except that the labor cost is the same either way, so neither is especially cheap - so I opt for the high end all-weather tires. woo, glamorous.
I go back to reading the newspaper. And the magazines. And the Little Nickel want ads. I am bored out of my gourd by this point and my laptop is still at work where I left it. I attempt to get the "hubcap preview computer" to do something other than show me what it would look like if I had my Miata jacked up and fitted with a set of hubcaps that look like lids for a giant salt shaker. This is unsuccessful although leads to me snickering and clicking the up/down link on the suspension to make the on-screen Miata do the low-rider thing.
I play Tetris on my cell phone for a bit until this becomes tedious. I am ready to start reading the warranty information on my tires, or the operator's manual for an air wrench, which is pretty much all that's left around that I haven't read. Fortunately The Dude comes back in and lets me know that I'm good to go, and presents me with the lug for my tires. (Standard hubcap wrenches don't take the lug nuts off Miatas - they have their own peculiar interface.) I put it back in the trunk where he had apparently forgotten that he found it, stash my warranty info in the glove box, and head on out. From the moment I turn out onto Aurora, it's apparent that things are Much Better. It's stunning how much more smoothly the car corners with these new tires. I'll feel much safer in the rain with them.
Reminds me, tho, I need to take the car in for an oil change. Best do that before a similar catastrophe erupts.
