My life is not dull
Nov. 12th, 2006 01:25![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillMy front left tire did not blow today.
This was because the strips tearing loose where the tread was detaching, because I had worn through the metal reinforcing wire, started patta-patting against the strut in the wheel well. It was an odd enough sound that I pulled over to try to find out what it was, and pulled over again to get a better look a few minutes later. It was just beginning to go flat when I figured it out.
It left me stranded in a quiet parking lot on Brokaw, fifty miles from home, in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. (Why do I never get flat tires in my own county?) I changed over to my little half-size donut spare to drive the two miles to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emmett_the_sane's place, where I had been going, and called a few tire places. There was no way I'd be able to get a new tire before morning, as they were all going to close within an hour. Sigh.
So I called home, let them know what was going on, and proceeded to have a good time anyway. It was a very nice visit, involving clean dishes, hugs, and good food. I finally left just a hair before 11 to start the trek home.
I really hate doing the half-size spare competition. I disliked the West-Oakland-to-Concord run, and that was nothing compared to the San-Jose-to-Concord run. Getting passed by semi trucks on 880, whee. At least traffic was light; I pegged the cruise control to 55 (where the tire hum wasn't quite so irritating), cued the hazard lights, and plodded home.
I'll spend some time tomorrow clearing all the stuff out of my car that accumulated over the last three days, and take it over to Wheel Works. I want them to look over all the remaining tires and the donut as well... I may end up having to get more than one tire (I tend to get them in pairs these days) and that may put new tires for the GTV on hold for a while. Gwen has priority, though -- the GTV isn't what gets me to the train station.
At least it didn't give up when I had to make an appointment or a class or a train, and it didn't strand me in Davis. If I needed to, I wcould have crashed atemmett_the_sane's apartment... but it would have made two nights in a row of not sleeping at home, and I desperately wanted to get back. Still, it was nice to know that it wasn't a huge crisis, and I had several workable options -- I've been hip-deep in crises lately. I reassured myself during the trip that all of the essential bits of the car were fine, it was just the automotive equivalent of throwing a shoe... easily fixed, no harm done.
Tired, long day. Bed now.
This was because the strips tearing loose where the tread was detaching, because I had worn through the metal reinforcing wire, started patta-patting against the strut in the wheel well. It was an odd enough sound that I pulled over to try to find out what it was, and pulled over again to get a better look a few minutes later. It was just beginning to go flat when I figured it out.
It left me stranded in a quiet parking lot on Brokaw, fifty miles from home, in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. (Why do I never get flat tires in my own county?) I changed over to my little half-size donut spare to drive the two miles to
emmett_the_sane's place, where I had been going, and called a few tire places. There was no way I'd be able to get a new tire before morning, as they were all going to close within an hour. Sigh.So I called home, let them know what was going on, and proceeded to have a good time anyway. It was a very nice visit, involving clean dishes, hugs, and good food. I finally left just a hair before 11 to start the trek home.
I really hate doing the half-size spare competition. I disliked the West-Oakland-to-Concord run, and that was nothing compared to the San-Jose-to-Concord run. Getting passed by semi trucks on 880, whee. At least traffic was light; I pegged the cruise control to 55 (where the tire hum wasn't quite so irritating), cued the hazard lights, and plodded home.
I'll spend some time tomorrow clearing all the stuff out of my car that accumulated over the last three days, and take it over to Wheel Works. I want them to look over all the remaining tires and the donut as well... I may end up having to get more than one tire (I tend to get them in pairs these days) and that may put new tires for the GTV on hold for a while. Gwen has priority, though -- the GTV isn't what gets me to the train station.
At least it didn't give up when I had to make an appointment or a class or a train, and it didn't strand me in Davis. If I needed to, I wcould have crashed at
emmett_the_sane's apartment... but it would have made two nights in a row of not sleeping at home, and I desperately wanted to get back. Still, it was nice to know that it wasn't a huge crisis, and I had several workable options -- I've been hip-deep in crises lately. I reassured myself during the trip that all of the essential bits of the car were fine, it was just the automotive equivalent of throwing a shoe... easily fixed, no harm done.Tired, long day. Bed now.
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Must be some bug that's going around...
Date: 2006-11-15 07:18 (UTC)(I'd noticed for a couple of days that at slow speeds I could hear a faint "thuk-thuk-thuk" from my right-rear wheel, but couldn't figure out what it was. The tire wasn't flat, although it was a little low, so I filled it up, and then the next day noticed that it was losing air, so I topped it up a couple of PSI and decided to watch it.. then on Friday I got the couple of blocks from my house to Stanfords and discovered that the tire was completely flat, and had to change it out with the spare in the parking garage before going home. Turns out the noise was from the head of a screw that had gotten completely embedded in the tire.. Ended up getting that fixed on Monday.)