got a flat! (not an apartment!)

Published on September 5, 2006 in life. 3 Comments

yay! on the way to work I got a flat. bleh. was on 680 heading to Fremont, and right after the Landess exit my car started going “thoomp thoomp thoomp” and we figured out I got a flat :P (was with the best-friend, Laura)
sooo, I sneak over all four lanes of highway to the side near the Calaveras exit, set my blinkers on, and go crazy calling people to tell them HEEELP :P
meanwhile, my mind’s going 2 million miles an hour, wondering what to do. I know I need a spare, and a jack, and one of those doohickeys that turns the screws on the wheel. so I tell Laura to call people at work for help and I busy myself with the trunk, pulling out the spare and the jack and the doohickey that turns the screws. I’m not sure how to use the jack, but I know how to take the screws out, so I set laura to figuring out how the jack works while I loosen the screws enough to unscrew them by hand (Cause that doohickey is unwieldy!)
soooo Laura and I finally figure out you have to turn this lil thing on the front of the jack like a screw, and it’s a sloooow process getting the car high enough to take the tire off, but WE DID IT! and then we got the spare on, and the jack lowered (we couldn’t figure out the quick-release so we just unscrewed it slowly). By the time the jack was loose enough to pull out, we realized the spare was flat :\ I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to look like that or not though, so I just drove the car off the calaveras exit and went to a 76 at the end of the exit. They changed the tire and gave me a brand-new one for 95 bucks (including tax I guess). The whole thing made Laura and I late for work by an hour and a half, which isn’t too bad considering these things can take a while.
sooo, I’m all proud of us now, cause WE CHANGED A TIRE! and neither of us had any idea what we were doing!
haha, liteon tech support is awesome :D we figure things out together =^.^=
(shutup brendan and royce :P )
aaanyway :)
as for the tire thingy, it was only worn out in one spot and it was on the other side of the tire near the car, so whenever I checked I couldn’t see that it was worn out, and the threading on the far side was fine so I didn’t think it’d wear out unevenly — in any case, the car’s going in for a “check-up” soon (maybe the end of the week?) and the other three will likely get replaced also.
I didn’t know tires wore out unevenly =o.O=
sooo, anybody who thinks they have okay hunkey-dorey tires, MAKE SURE to check the OTHER SIDE (somehow, how the hell do you do that anyway??!?)
also, that stupid metal stuff sticking out of the tires on the other side cut my middle-finger :( just a flesh wound! but it’s annoying having this bandaid on when I’m trying to type >.<
on the way in to work after we got the tire fixed, I got a caffeinated soda and some chocolate, so now I'm HYPER HYPER HYPER and typing a bazillion miles an hour hehehe :)

  • almostangelic

    Usually when a tyre wears unevenly it means that your wheels are unbalanced. Does your car pull to one side if you drive and let go of the steering wheel? It’s not a huge problem. Just need a wheel balance. :)

  • lorikitty

    heh, a friend of mine from germany said that exactly the same way, including the “tyre” part XD
    yes, I’m aware of that, and yes, the car pulled in one direction. it doesn’t anymore, or not noticeably (I have to concentrate to notice it). The car’ll be going in for a tuneup around the 15th of this month and the other tires will get all realigned and stuff. I killed a few curbs while first learning how to drive, so the alignment’s probably off, too. you know — using “drive” instead of “Reverse” :D

  • cheeseboy

    I put new tires on the car shortly before you got it. They have the road hazard/replacement warranty thing, and the paperwork should be with the car (in the glove box?). The tires are from Just Tires, which changed their name to Goodyear Tires. They’re on El Camino, on the sunnyvale side of 85 .. between bernardo and 85.

    If you’re getting all-new-tires, get an alignment also, otherwise it’ll chew through the new tires quickly if your alignment is off.