I'm sitting in an auto care shop while they check a low tire on my car. Joy. Seems like I had a low tire just over a year ago...oh, wait, I did! At least it's not the newish replacement for that tire, but the story is similar.
Saturday evening, after my get together with Susan, I noticed the tire was low. I drove to a local gas station and filled the tire with air. This is a miracle in and of itself...I usually can't fill the car tires. I don't know why this is...I can fill bike tires, but never the car tires. My father used to take me to the gas station each time a car needed air in a tire because he wanted me to be able to do it, but I never could do. I'd try and try, but air would be coming out of the tires instead of going in. I've even had boyfriends try to "teach" me. I don't need teaching, I know how to do it, I just never can get it to work. But it worked this time...I was praying.
I've been watching the tire since Saturday night and it was fine, until last night. It looked lower, but I wasn't sure. A few hours later, it was definitely lower. This morning, it was even lower. A neighbor looked at it and said it had enough air to get to the gas station to re-fill it. He then said, "Drive slowly and don't hit any bumps." I responded, "This is Chicago...show me a road without any bumps!"
I drove slowly, avoiding bumps, and got to the gas station. It was only .7 miles away, but the tire was much lower; thankfully still not on the rim. Once again I succeeded in filling the tire. Miracles really do happen. Then I drove straight to the closest auto center. I didn't go to where I've purchased tires the past several years, because it seems like I've been replacing tires too often. The shop is checking it now to see if it is repairable. I suspect not because they are a few years old, I have a feeling I'll be buying two new tires.
UPDATE: There are pieces of metal in both of my rear tires and neither are repairable. ARGH! They also want to replace the front tires since they are showing wear, but I decided against that. More and more reasons to sell my car. Sigh. It's been such a good car!!!! Darn, darn, darn. Don't want to replace car.
But wait, pieces of metal in two tires! I can only think that came from the construction on highway 88 that I drive through each week. Odd that both rear tires are pierced by pieces of metal, but nothing in the front tires. The right rear tire, the one I knew had a problem, had an inch long gash from the metal in the attached picture. I wonder if the metal was originally bigger. The slash was too long to fix. The left tire had a small metal spike in it, but the damage was too close to the tire's edge to fix. So two new tires for the car.
Oh yes, the picture at the top? When I got the car back, I discovered they'd put a hair net on the steering wheel...sort of cute.
Recent Comments