Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Flat Tire

On Saturday I ran into the curb and got a flat tire.  We were not too far from home but it was raining and kind of a pain.  Bob accidentally broke a tool while trying to change it so we needed to go home to get the replacement tool.  Luckily a friend was able to give Bob a ride back to the house (thanks Kelli).
Anyway with the spare on I wasn't too worried about getting it fixed.  Little did I know getting new tires can be a big pain.  First off you should know we don't have a standard size tire.  They are extra big.  Not our choice, just came with the car.  So I went to three tire places on Saturday, two were closed and one didn't have the size we needed.  We drove to church the next day with the spare.

I got up bright and early Monday morning and went back out to one of the other tire places to get a new tire.  They told me I needed to replace all of them!  Not because they were worn, they still had plenty of tread.  But because we have AWD and all of our tires need to be exactly the same or it will ruin the transmission.  I had never heard of such a thing before.  He was charging me almost $900.  What I thought was going to be a hundred dollar fix was quickly turning into a grand.

So I turned around and left and now we still have the spare on and are in hunt for a used tire or just something cheaper.  Does anyone out there know more about this?
The spare tire.  It looks so tiny.  It is smaller than the others and feels very weird to drive.
The tires we have on the other wheels.
Scarlett and Leon hanging out at Discount Tire while I try to figure out what to do.


5 comments:

Sarah said...

I just got new tires too. I had to order them because they didn't have my size either. I think that's normal to have to order them and wait a few days. And I know you are always supposed to buy at least two at a time. But I don't have AWD-so that makes sense that it would be different for that. I'm not sure if it messes up your alignment or is just safer... but we have always replaced two at a time. And it cost me $400 so your price estimate sounds about right. And I also know that it's not good to drive on the spare because they can pop really easily if you go fast. You could always just sell your 3 tires after buying four new ones. And that is the extent of my tire knowledge :)

Jacquelyn said...
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Gayle Daly said...

I'm glad you didn't buy into replacing all four tires. I can see two at a time. I'd call the dealer and ask. Guess you won't be hitting curbs anymore huh?

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Unknown said...

There are really cases like that. Some cars really require big tires and are very hard to find, that you sometimes really have to have them ordered and shipped because they’re not available in your area. Using a spare of a different kind will work for a few weeks while searching for a new one though. I hope you guys can find even a used tire of the same size soon. :)

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