Freakin' tires

[Farore]

So, I love my car. His name is Dorian and he's a Saturn Ion. With back suicide doors. Tuesday I took him in to get an oil change and ended up needing a few other things done, air filter, break fluid, etc. So it ended up being about $140. Even got a free tire rotation, woots.

Yea, not so woots actually. Wednesday on the way to work my car dips and I hear an ominous pop. I've had flat tires before. Two. And I hate them. Slowly pull over to the 7-11 on the corner, and yep, it's a flat. The last flat I dealt with was actually on Roll's car, and it kicked our asses. We couldn't get that thing off to save our lives. We actually had to call a company to come change it. I dunno how much I've shared about that, but I love doing technical and automotive stuff. Used to help my dad work on our cars all the time. So calling someone was an absolute last resort. Knowing that my tires were just rotated the day before I know there is absolutely no way I'm going to be able to change this thing.


Now, that isn't as bad as it sounds because I have OnStar, though it took them 30 minutes to get out there to change it, which I knew would happen because it took that long the last two times. But the last two times it happened right as I was arriving at work, so I wasn't late. Yea, not so much this time. Luckily my boss and coworkers are very understanding and didn't mind. I just hate being late.

Anyways, yea, tires.

[Bear]

I'm glad you are okay...I've had a tire blow on me and I was pretty freaked when it happened. I was actually driving up to Vegas at the time on the 15 heading into the mountains right out of the LA basin. It was night time (to beat traffic) and it was when my car was relatively new; the tire COMPLETELY shredded. It looked like black shredded cheese and there was rubber bits all over the road.

I found out then that my car had tire locks and I never imagined stock rims would have tire locks!! So I was pretty upset I couldn't change my own tire and had to call AAA cause I couldn't find the key. Waited about 45 minutes for the guy to get there. He looks over the car, goes into tool and jack kit that came with my car and inside a little pouch I didn't even know existed was my rim key.

My dad was with me too, so it was double man failure that night. We hung our heads in shame the rest of the way to Vegas. lol

[Farore]

Yikes! That definitely makes me feel thankful mine happened in town. 45 minutes sounds pretty fast considering there are like... 4 towns on the 15 between here and the point where you hit the mountains. It must have been creepy being stuck out there at night too, though probably better than the alternative of being stuck in a car in the sun.

My first two tires got completely shredded. This one just has a fist sized chunk of rubber missing from the side. I could never get lucky enough to have a pluggable flat. Oh well.

[Kerreth]

That happened to me on the way to a car service appointment last year. It was quite literally all the way across the island and it happened less than a mile from the freeway exit. The rest of the tire is tied up around the axle in there.

And it was the rear passenger tire, but I got to the left shoulder. Nobody knows terror until they attempt to change a tire with cars whizzing literally 2 inches behind you at 70+ mph.

[Farore]

Yikes, that sure isn't pretty. Mine weren't quite that shredded, but still pretty nasty. I think I'd have a heart attack trying to change a tire with my back to freeway traffic.

There's a super bumpy part of the 95 freeway here in Vegas right after the 95 and 15 cross. The contractor didn't use enough rebar because he was a cheap weasel. Anyways, I got rear ended there and my car fishtailed right into the median wall. Knocked my entire engine block a few inches to the right, caused a nice crack down the right side of my car (was also a Saturn, so the shell was made of plastic hence cracking vs crumpling), and knocked one of the back wheels completely off the axle. Needless to say I still get nervous every time I drive that stretch.

Even better that all happened the day we got our yearbooks and had the signing party. So yea, everything in my Junior yearbook is "Oh, sorry about your car" etc.

My poor baby Patrick. I guess I only have this one of the front end; the other pictures were probably on my old, old laptop that got stolen >.>



And my sexy Dorian right after I got him. He's like five years old now. Jeeze, now I feel old.

[Jane Gray]

Wow, your pretty car got pretty damaged. I do say, those roads can get pretty bad. At least there wasn't ice covering the ground when you got hit; the outcome would've probably been much worse. I'm glad you're okay though, not in the hospital or anything.

[RollCasket]

Yeah...poor Patrick...743 Strength wasn't enough to save him =(

[Farore]

Thanks Jane. And yea, when it snows in Vegas people lose their minds. A year or two ago we got about an inch of snow and they called a snow day at the schools.

[Adol The Red]

I live in Michigan and people still lose their minds when it snows. Obviously not as bad as canceling school and stuff, but you'd swear every year that about 95% of people on the roads have never seen the stuff before in their freak'n life. Proof once again that winter is when everyone should just stay inside and sleep. I think that sounds good.

[Farore]

We should live our lives more like bears to avoid the snow haha.