I'll share even though it exposes my own screw up

I started a new job recently. A couple weeks ago I had a 2:00 meeting scheduled for a one on one with the CEO. Around noon I decided to run over to Chick Fil A for a quick bite. I'm on the inside lane of the drive thru, place my order and as I am pulling forward I look over at the guy in the outside lane to my right and when I do, I hit the curb with my left front tire. As I get to the kiosk to get my receipt, the guy says 'Hey, your tire is going flat'.

I pull forward and pull into a parking space to assess my options. It's now 12:15, I'm wearing a light gray suit with a white shirt. I'm new to the town and have no family or friends within a 3 hour drive. I do have a spare tire. I'm considering whether I can attempt to change the tire without getting nasty when I remember I have my trusty battery booster/air pump in the back. I also carry a tire plug kit (which is worthless here because it's a sidewall issue).

I manage to put enough air in it to think I can make it to a Walmart that's about a mile and a half away. I had bought my tires with the road hazard at Walmart for the specific reason that there are locations everywhere. I manage to make it just as the tire goes flat again and explain that I only have about an hour and could they either put the spare on for me or if they have time just go ahead and replace.

They actually said they would get it taken care of and sure enough within 45 minutes I am ready to go with a new tire for a grand total of $13 which is just the cost of putting the lifetime road hazard/rotation plan on the new tire. Gotta hand it to the Walmart auto center at that location, they came thru and I made it to my meeting without ruining that suit!

In the past couple of years I have plugged a horse trailer tire and pulled a nail and plugged a tire in my daughter's car.

Last month.

Technically three times last month and two times this month, but since it was the same tire every time...

17 years. Tire blew while going 75 or 80 down a major interstate in Texas. Managed to limp across 4 or 5 lanes of traffic to shoulder, and had to change it on the side of the highway with traffic blasting past me.


However, I get slow leaks from picking up a nail or similar object every year or two.

quote:

Originally posted by bigwagon:
I've had a few slow leaks and fixable punctures, but I haven't needed to change a flat tire on the side of the road in well over 10 years.

Me, too, but I interpreted the poll to mean tire just flat. I have had to inflate and get fixed tires with slow leaks about 2 years ago.

flashguy

Bought a new set of tires in April. Ran over a screw driver in June. Put a huge hole in the tire. Made my day.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
The last actual flat tire I had, where I had to pull over and change it, was in 2008. Since then I have picked up nails and had to repair them, but I caught them (either by seeing them or losing air), and the tires didn't go flat.

That's my situation as well. In just this last year I had 3 I caught early. I usually keep an eye open for any tires getting low. I have 3 cars so that's alot of tires.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
The last actual flat tire I had, where I had to pull over and change it, was in 2008. Since then I have picked up nails and had to repair them, but I caught them (either by seeing them or losing air), and the tires didn't go flat.

That’s one reason that I love the TPMS in my Hyundai Sonata that continuously displays the pressure in all four tires.

One puncture last Sunday, another a month or so back. Had to buy new tires both times.

Funny you should mention this. I had a flat on Wednesday.

AAA had a service truck arrive in about 5 minutes to put the spare on, the it was 1/2 mile to Discount Tire for the repair.

The AAA guy was fast. From the time I popped open my trunk lid while he was putting his floor jack in position to finish was maybe 3 minutes.

My last one was about 14 years ago on a relatively new Toyota 4 Runner. However, about a week ago, someone driving a small sedan, blew one right in front of me on the interstate at 70mph. We were in the center lane and he opted to pull off on the left shoulder.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Last month.

Technically three times last month and two times this month, but since it was the same tire every time...

Do you just throw nails all over and drive through them for fun? Hopefully they've all been patches, but good golly that sucks!

Speaking of flat tires, I did see a nice newer GMC Sierra 1500 on the 101 yesterday morning throwing sparks all over driving maybe 55 or 60 with a flat rear tire. Can't imagine he didn't realize he had a flat...

First time was a screw. Second was the plug didn't work. The rest were another plug and "slim" that only worked somewhat, while waiting for time, weather and funds to align.

Two new rear tires went on two days ago.


I am very lucky with cars. I've had a new tire last two days (caught the edge of a storm drain and tore out the side wall) and a new windshield last a week and a half.

Sounds like a real rough run, hopefully 2020 brings you much better auto-luck.

Just had one a few months ago. This was the second time in less than two years I have had one in the sidewall!

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I kind of expect V-Tail to post about a flat tire on his S35 Bonanza.

At his age, it's more along the lines of the model T...

This morning. Front bicycle tire. Doesn't count?

Last month, shredded a rear tire on my dually, while towing a tandem axle equipment trailer. Limped into a tire store, and two new tires installed in an hour, whew.

The month before, shredded a tire on a tandem axle boat trailer. I had to leave the trailer while I went home for a taller ramp - I had a ramp but it wouldn't lift the other axel up high enough to get the spare tire on.

In September, I had a slow leak in a tire on my Mustang. Sealant helped but didn't seal completely. Pulled the tire off in my driveway and found a piece of steel in the tread, which was patched.

Plenty more flats but it gets fuzzy after that.

I do have Michelins on three trucks and those have never had a flat. My wife's 2001 F150 has Michelins with 80,000 miles, no flats and plenty of tread left.

The last hurricane. It went on for months. Everyone had their roof repaired and both shingles and roofing cleats were all over the road. Large pieces of steel and other items littered the roadway as the government contractors overfilled the trucks and the remainder spilled onto the highway.

A couple of weeks. I have to drive through an industrial area and there are a lot of road hazards. I have to get my tires repaired at least twice a year.

We had 40 series Continental run flats on our BMW and the ride was so bad it would shake the fillings out of your mouth. Couldn't stand those tires, and came to the conclusion that modern standard tires are pretty reliable, so I installed standard Michelin go flats all around even though there is no room for a spare. That was 2.5 years ago. so far so good. I picked up a screw, but it was a slow leak that could be plugged when I had the chance. If it comes to it, I have roadside assistance.

In 1993, my brother and I took a cross country trip, me leading in a van, he driving his truck with a car on a trailer. We pulled into a campground for the night and only then discovered that one tire on his trailer was shredded down to the wheel rim and the wheel chewed up. Good thing it was a tandem axle trailer and he had a spare.