Roll with it, Baby

Big Brand Tires in Ventura can kiss my business goodbye. Technically, they've never actually had my business, because the one time I went there it was for the free flat repair. Free does not equal business, except in the all important future business and good will way of looking at it. And a year and a half ago, when they fixed my tire by plugging the hole the wayward screw caused, I was so happy with the free service that I knew I'd go to them for new tires, when that day came.

That day is not now. But the twit who waited on me this morning wanted it to be. They must get a commission.

Yesterday, as I came out of the grocery store, I noticed that my rear tire on the passenger side was very low. By the time I got home it was a few psi's short of flat. My landlord, John, has many tools and handy things in his garage and he put air in with his compressor. I thanked the universe for waiting till I got home for this to happen, rather than having it go flat on the 405 or the 101, as I drove home from LA just the day before.

But this morning, when the jerk from Big Brand Tires looked at my tire, he said, "We can't do anything to repair this. This tire is old. See these cracks? This is very unsafe. See this crack here? (I did not) These tires are over six years old and we can't repair any tire older than six years."

I told him that was strange, that this very shop had repaired a tire just a year or so ago, and all my tires are older than six. He said, "Someone did you a favor."

He then looked at the others and said that my two front tires were okay (they are actually about the same age as the rear ones, with a difference of less than 10,000 miles between them), but the two rear ones just had to be replaced. And he could do it as "cheaply" as $190. plus tax.

I said, "Orrrrr, I can just have someone else fix my tire. Bah-bye."

I came home annoyed and dejected. I hate car issues. John stopped what he was doing and told me to pull my car into the driveway (I park on the street, usually) so he could take a look. He removed the tire and we saw what looked like a nail embedded in it. Turned out to be a screw, broken off, but it looked like a nail head.

We drove to Harbor Freight (in John's truck, not with my three-wheeled car) so I could buy a tire plug kit, then he proceeded to fix it for me. That was less than reassuring. First he couldn't get the screw out. It looked like he was hurting my tire as he dug at it and tried to pry it up. He finally had to unscrew it to get it out, rather than just pull. And the glue part didn't go as it should have, since I guess you're supposed to have no air in the tire when you apply it. We had air. The glue blew up and away and pretty much did nothing it was meant to do. Then he stuck what looked like a corkscrew into the hole, making it bigger. That seemed counterproductive. And finally he pushed this gluey stick into the hole. It didn't go in easily or well or deeply. I tried not to show the concern I was feeling. The screw was doing a better job of keeping the air in my tire, as far as I could see.

Then he pumped the tire up to 50 psi, which had me expecting it to blow at any moment. It didn't. He put it back on my car and we're now waiting and hoping. I'm not sure about the 50 psi part. I mean, if the plug holds, then don't I have to let air out somehow to get it back down to 32? And if it doesn't hold...oh, man, I don't want to think about that.

I'll have to find someplace that doesn't want to sell me tires, who will patch it, and hope that the six year "rule" that the creep at Big Brand Tires talked about isn't a law here. I simply don't have a couple hundred bucks for new tires, just because mine aren't teenagers anymore. Frankly a more mature tire is preferable, I think. Yes, it has a few miles on it, but it's been around, knows the road, and has proven it can roll with whatever I ask of it. Also, it's paid for. So important.

The plug will hold. That's the positive thought I'm going to keep in my mind. After all, the one from last year has held up just fine, right?

And I really do have good luck. The tire held up for the long drive to LA and back, and I live with someone who was willing and able to help me fix it.