The story of the Flat.

I got a Flat tire last Friday.

As I was changing lanes on the highway, I suddenly found myself speedily approaching what appeared to be a block. A block not unlike what you’d use to prevent a truck from rolling on a hill. I didn’t have enough time to get out of the way, so I hit it. Square on. The whole car surged – WHAAATHUMP.

I knew I had a flat. No need to drive any further. There’s no way a tire could survive that sort of impact.

I pulled over, got out. And checked the tire. Sure enough, there was a steady hiss coming from the side. I found a hat from the backseat, clapped my hands with authority, and got to work.

OpenTrunk.GetSpare.GrabJack.LoosenNuts.PutJackUnderCar.RaiseCar.TakeOffBustedTire.
PutOnSpare.ThreadNuts.LowerCarALittleBit.TightenNuts.LowerCar.Remove Jack.PutBusted
TireInTrunk.GetInCar.StartCar.DriveOff.

And about 9 minutes of fury later, I’m back in my car. I was not surprised to see two more cars just a short ways down the road pulled over with flat tires as well.

I get to work… barely. The car wasn’t sounding good. I got out to inspect… and found that the SPARE TIRE WAS FLAT. What?!

Two flat tires? BAH!

I found another Nissan in the parking lot, found the owner, and borrowed his spare. Over lunch, I went to Firestone to get a new tire.

While waiting at Firestone I was called to the desk. “Hi Mike. We need to show you this.”

And we went out into the garage.

“Your passenger side break calipers are frozen up, you’ve only been operating off the driver’s side break. And you really need some new brake pads. we really need to change that, and the rotors.”

$800 later the car was back on the road. Bummer.

6 thoughts on “The story of the Flat.

  • 1/28/2008 at 9:15 am
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    You my friend, have been Nissan’d!

    Reply
  • 1/28/2008 at 10:55 am
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    Is that somehow my fault that the spare was flat? If so, I apologize.

    Reply
  • 1/28/2008 at 10:59 am
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    Nope! Not in the least. I got a flat tire once before and the spare worked great.

    The good news to come out of all this is that now I will have a full size spare tire.

    Reply
  • 1/28/2008 at 1:33 pm
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    This coming weekend, if the weather cooperates, I will be replacing the rotors on the Su-Ba-Ru. We can be brake buddies!

    Reply
  • 1/28/2008 at 8:28 pm
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    Oh man, that cost more than when my radiator exploded and I had to have it replaced with rush service so I could get to my conference on time last week. Major bummer.

    Reply
  • 2/3/2008 at 10:35 am
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    I agree with Kurt. I had the exact same thing happen to my brakes…grr…but yours was much cheaper…so don’t feel too bad!

    Reply

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