now THAT’S how you trash a spare!

i think i had discussed how i was all into run-flat tires after a recent incident…

…well, that was magnified this last friday!

this past weekend brought about some bad commute experiences for me. on thursday night after leaving the ufc’s place it took me thirty minutes to make a trek that normally takes two (she and i timed it saturday on the way home), and friday on the way home brought some shit-house rain that was a bitch to drive through; but friday on the way in took the prize ’cause of…well…this:

the ufc had just called me on her way home from work (she gets off the clock at 2:30, typically when i’m just rolling in) and i had to get off the phone ’cause “i have a noise, it sounds bad…” and it turns out i had a flat. not typically a big deal, but i was on a hill (got to the top okay) and for some reason remembered there being a problem with my spare, like i had needed it previously but couldn’t use it – and couldn’t remember why.

it didn’t take long to figure it out.

while it didn’t look NEARLY as bad as it does in the picture above, it was still pretty bad. it has some pretty significant sidewall cracks and was completely out of air, as was the tire that caused said “noise”. i called the ufc and she started the long trek out to where i was (damn, i love that woman) and while i waited i felt like i had three options, ’cause i didn’t like the idea of leaving my car by the side of the road:

1. try to drive on the current tire and rim, destroying the tire i thought might still be salvageable, possibly destroying the rim i damn well knew was.

2. walk five miles round trip in 100 degree heat to get fix-a-flat which may, or may not, make the spare be okay to get me to austin (another twenty miles) as i knew it wouldn’t work on the actual tire given the leak.

3. trash the spare the rest of the way, and possibly the rim, ’cause i knew if i had to replace the tire i’d use a run-flat which would mean three of my four tires didn’t require a spare any way.

as the picture would hint, i went with the last one. just checked the bank balance and i am WAY off for even being able to cover all the bills this month, but i think i may have to find a way to do this tire thing by the end of the week. it was gonna happen today, but that might have to wait a bit. it makes me nervous driving in (although if you can read this i at least made it in okay ’cause i’m writing this at home but can’t post from here).

once the tires are out of the way all i need to do is locate (and fix) a vacuum leak and fix the top and i think maybe, just maybe, i can just enjoy driving this fucking thing through the fall…