Since it's 2012 ... I no longer have to title every single post "On... " It was getting on my nerves towards the end actually. But I started it early 2011 ... and had to finish. You understand.
So it's January. What's good to say about January? Yeah .. pretty much .. nothing.
Except I have a new tire. Oh. And a new rim.
Bothersome. Tires are just plain bothersome. I have issues with tires. Maybe I should say they have issues with me.
About two months ago I noticed one of my tires seemed low. Took it to BMW. Nope, it's fine. A few days later ... low again. Took it to where I bought the tires. Goodyear. Help. Tire keeps losing air. They fill it up. Says it "fine". A couple weeks later ... I SWEAR it's losing air. Back to Goodyear. They rotated tires. Put the annoying tire on the rear. Cool .. not as noticeable when it's low cause it doesn't pull hard to the left anymore.
A couple weeks later. Tire. Low. Am I imagining this? Maybe I'm looking for it. Take it back in. They fill up. Nope ... tire is fine. Right. I'm imaging. Again .. low. Take back in. This time they take the tire off and look for a leak. Nope .. no leak .. tire is fine.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. Hmm. Looks low. Let me actually check it. (btw .. I'm pretty much an expert at checking air pressure and filling tires with air now). 10lbs of pressure. Right. I'm NOT FREAKING INSANE. Drive it to Goodyear. They take tire off again. Nope .. no leak... tire is fine. "But we did put thicker air in it so you should be good to go".
Did he really just say "thicker air"? Thicker air? Is there a such thing?
NEXT DAY. Low. 5 lbs pressure. Fill it up and promptly drive BACK to Goodyear. We are now on a first name basis. "Look Bill .. this is the deal. Something is f'n wrong with my tire. PLEASE PLEASE .. just because I have a vagina do NOT tell me you will put more THICKER air in it and send me on my way"
They have me go to garage. "see these bubbles around the outside of the tire?" "yeah" "well .. looks like you drove on a flat tire ... and now the tire is ruined"
"OH NO .. this is NOT my fault. Had YOU fixed my tire yesterday .. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to drive on a flat"
The mystery was a cracked rim. That had been there for a couple of months (funny .. same time I started to have the low tire problem). Was already corroded. Enter new rim.. Enter new tire. Apparently they agreed that they were responsible for the ruined tire. They bought that for me. But a new rim is uber expensive, btw.
I left that day feeling pretty damn good. And safe. I was having nightmares of a popped tire and running off the road .. flipping my car .. ending up in a ditch... pinned ... and out of sight ... and then dying in my car .. all because of a tire. Could happen.
Figured peace of mind was worth that new rim.
WAIT .. THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY. Next day .. got the low tire pressure light while I was driving. No way .. you GOTTA be kidding me. Pulled over. 10lbs of pressure. Same tire. I instantly thought the tire guys were playing a sick joke on me. RIGHT?. Because ... HOW COULD THIS BE?? It's a NEW tire AND a NEW rim. WTF>??
Filled it up. Drove to Goodyear. Again. It's a familiar route. My car could actually drive itself there. I walk in. They all stop and stare. I calmly said "my tire is low". Their reaction was the same. Actually .. speechless. Then they thought I was joking. Who is playing the joke on who here? We had a stare down. I wasn't joking.
Turns out .. air was leaking between tire and rim. "This happens .. but with new tires .. it's rare ... and a new tire AND a new rim .. even more rare". They fixed it .. sealed it ...
It was SIX tries boys .. but who's counting?
I'm tired. Get it?
2 comments:
just finished reading this to my husband. He stopped me at the thicker air. I had to tell him no wait it gets better and we were both rolling at the va-jah-jah comment!!!
OK, I can explain the 'thicker air' comment. It means they filled your tire with Nitrogen instead of just air. And the fact that they explained it to you as "thicker air" means they don't really know what it is, which isn't entirely surprising for a Goodyear mechanic. Speaking as a car guy, I would not recommend you go to Goodyear for much of anything. That's just my opinion, though.
Leaking rim - yep, that happens more than you think now that all the cars come with alloy rims instead of the gold old steel wheels of the past. The fact that your Goodyear guys couldn't figure that out for the longest time is again not a good indicator of their level of intelligence. A car guy should have thought of that sooner. A tire guy should have thought of it pretty quickly.
If I had a BMW I would most definitely not take it to a Goodyear or a Firestone for much of anything. But that's just me. Anyway, I'm glad you finally got the problem fixed. I have been through crap like that before.
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