Photography by Dr. E
Editing by 037
Story by 037

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so you got your self a flat...



you need keys if you got locks on your wheels and a nice wrench (pathetic one included w/ your 40k+ car)



keys & locks



the spare tire (nice and yellow to shame you into taking it off pretty fast)



so you got the spare...but what to do now (ponder)



where the heck does that jack go anyway...(the hint is a nice metal bar, everything else is plastic so it's fairly simple)



loosen the bolts and the locks before lifting car



make sure you use the correct bolts/locks as your aftermarket tire might be of a different variety than the spare





raise the car slowly to make sure it doesn't fall off on your foot (good luck trying to use that thing fast)



a combination of 2 items (hook and bad wrench) is used to lift the car in a pathetic but meaningful way



you'll get the hang of it within minutes



once the tire is fully off the ground remove the bolts and the locks, it is time to mount the spare



and here are the different ways of destroying a tire, guess which is the wrong way







I call it the flat tire meet





I used the factory Acura locks for the spare as you never know who wants it



take a good look are the width of the spare, you will notice some tail wagging if you don't observe the maximum recommended speed (50mph) or don't inflate it properly (60 psi)



speaking of inflation, it's a good idea to carry your own mini inflator as my spare was at 34psi, or barely over half of what's recommended



observe the visual damage done to your car by putting your aftermarket tire next to car



say good bye and find water...

 

P.S. she had no key for the tire and she was still trying to jack it up...fail

 

what happen? why are there three of you with flat tires in the same area? and someone did that lady wrong. omg!!!

 

there was a large car part in one of the lanes (2 lanes total) and I smacked it with all 4 tires as I was going right lane to left so didn't exactly have a heads up or anything. Within seconds TPMS reported tires at 20PSI (started out at 37).

I took the first exit and the first good place to park (state property, nice big sign for violators).

As for the lady...I assume she didn't get the memo to slow down with a flat, or maybe she just didn't have TPMS as her tire was shredded beyond recognition, it was also practically bold so no big loss there.

 

037 you forgot one spare thing you should have in your car! extra set of clothes, would hate to change a wheel in nice work dress clothes. damn i would send all those pictures to the city and claim for a new wheel and tire!!!!! and you have proof u not the only one!! demand for a fat payout!!

 

I didn't know NYC has their" FLAT TIRE" change meeting, lol. This is funny. Sorry for your flat tire man. Hopefully the tire can be fix with a patch. Thank you for the DIY instructions how to change a tire. I've a better view now. Did you went and give the lady a hand or at least to tell her she was showing her crack?

 

Good thing it was just the tire. Your car looks good though, did you just get it detailed?

 

extra set of clothes...I'm not Jason Statham from Transporter where he keeps extra clothing in the trunk, I keep random stuff there and not clothing (well, maybe bowling shoes).

fixing tire...went to a shop yesterday and they showed me a nice 1.5" slice in the sidewall on the inside that I missed, the tire is gone. I will have to contact Continental as they have 1 year or 2/32" hazard warranty so I might be able to get a new tire without having to pay anything.

nyc...no, the debris was on the Jersey side and I couldn't figure out how to check their parking schedules for holidays, forget about serious things like hitting pieces of car on the road.

detailed...no, this was just a $6 hands free automated car wash couple days ago, car does look better rinsed.

 

I am impressed that you or your passenger were in the proper frame of mind for a flat tire photo shoot. Thanks for sharing.

 

Where's the PAX system when you need it?

 

add a link to this page from the Garage

I was actually in excellent spirits after blowing a tire since I didn't flip the car or kiss any walls...plus it was good weather for me to see if I can change a tire on my own.

as far as previously mentioned PAX, if I blew a PAX tire I'd be furious as those are stupid expensive and it's not like you can get them anywhere, so I'm really happy I wasn't PAXED.

 

No, I know. No one wants PAX! I forgot to add the tomato face

 

disclosure: below is my personal experience with a tire seller, I do not work for them nor do I get commission -but I should.

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I now have a new favorite tire shop, www.discounttiredirect.com.

I bought 4 sets of tires from them, and they price match. The shipping is quick.

What I really like about them is the fact they offer a lifetime warranty on tires (ex $200 tire nets a $25 fee). They generally offer 4 warranted tires for the price of 3 at purchase.

Of course nobody wants to pay extra and I declined each time. Then my cousin busted a tire from the set I got him within the first 30 days so they allowed me to buy warranty for 4 tires (paying for 4 warranties) and gave me a free tire! The warranty cost was less than half the tire cost and now all the tires are warranted...priceless.

Now for my own tires, as the photos above show, I destroyed one (puncture in the sidewall) and I got a bubble on one from another incident which I do not recall (or someone else did it). Either way, I called em up because Continental has a hazard warranty of 2/32'nds or 1 year from purchase. They said they will honor that warranty but I have to send the tires in as they have to return them to manufacturer. I said that shipping tires to Ohio wasn't really my favorite option. The guy offered to sell me 6 warranties and ship me out 2 tires free of charge.

So the math is, each one of my Continental DW summer tires goes for $202 free shipping. 6 warranties cost me $140. So now I get $400 worth of tires and a lifetime coverage for the one's I already got.

I think that's a pretty sweet deal and now I just gotta wait a local Continental dealer to get 2 more tires

once again that's www.discounttiredirect.com, the place where I buy my tires ;-)

 

I'm sold... Great service.

 

So it's the city's fault? The city doesn'y have any money - they get it from the people I.E. you and me. This is what insurance is for and why they sell "hazard protection".

 

Look at that crack - in the tire I mean.

 

Nice job

 

good job I also keep an extra set of robber/surgical gloves with my spare tires for times like this... so my hands won't get dirty

good thing that flat is the back tire, if it's front tire, you'll need to take off the back tire and put the back to the front (double the work)

 

that's good information as the front does most of the braking so putting a spare there would really mess you up.

quick update on the Continental tire exchange, spoke with a local Continental dealer and they said they sell tires but do not deal with warranty issues (wtf).

So in this case either ship the tire back to discount tire direct or throw it out. I'm gonna go with the recycle option as a lifetime warranty beats shipping 2 bad tires back. Think the deal is good enough as is.

 

Good suggestion. I will.

 

thanks Bob, went to the Garage and couldn't find it, but it was sure fun to read it again

yearly bump to advise new joiners.

 

Nice work for one of the crappy things to go wrong on the road.

 

My son got a flat in his Camry...



LL

 

if I read that correctly it says Firestone on the tire...