(no subject)

[senoritafish]

Starting to think I am cursed.  We just got the mini-van back from its second round of repairs, which took three weeks instead of the promised one (this dealership is so getting a nasty Yelp review).  Driving to work this morning and passing an extremely slow-moving vehicle on the freeway when suddenly I hear a horrible loud vibrating noise from the back of the vehicle and realize I've had blowout.  Since I was coming up on the exit I was planning to get off on anyway, I just pulled off, turned the corner and parked; I hope I didn't drive it too far on the rim and damage the wheel.

This is what I found when I got out of the car to inspect the damage.


Does this look like a normal  blowout?  I'd almost say it looks like it was slashed, except why would it wait until I was 9 miles or so away from home to blow out?  I showed this pic to my coworker, and she thought it looked like a defective tire.



We've had two tires that had leaks, and one of them has gotten to point I have to put air in it every day. This wasn't one of those.   We've been waiting to replace them because 1) we didn't have the money, and 2) we wanted to get a little more wear before we replaced all four at once.

I called John, who was pretty much incoherent because he'd fallen asleep getting home from work; he insisted he'd deal with it after he'd gotten some shuteye, so I told him I'd call work and have someone pick me up.

Cursed I tell you.

Comments

[zimon66]

Get them replaced ASAP. I more than get the "money's tight" (one of the cat's is going in soon for dental work), but you're putting your lives on the line driving on those tires.

With the holiday coming up, maybe you can find a good deal.

[senoritafish.livejournal.com]

This wasn't one of the ones that leaked - it was in fairly good shape. None them are down to the normal wear they'd be replaced at, but I suppose you're right if they're all like this one.

Last time we got them at Costco for a lot less than usual, but maybe that's a place to avoid because of this.

[bertaberta.livejournal.com]

If you haven't driven on them enough to merit normal replacement, I would write a letter both to the manufacturer and Costco letting them know about the problems. 2 leaks and a blowout is not normal.

Costco is really big into customer service and product quality, so maybe you'll get some kind of discount or something out of it. Worth the 5 minutes, to write a letter and give it a try...

[senoritafish.livejournal.com]

I was all set to jump on this; however, once we got the tire changed, it was a lot more worn that I expected, and John told me they were 1) actually coming up on due to be replaced, 2) not purchased at Costco like I'd thought. Well, crap.

We also found a hole in the tread as nearly as big around as the end of my pinkie, and John figured the sidewall holes were from the driving on it at speed until the exit.

>:(

Ah well.

[nugatorytm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I definitely would say defective tire, especially because the holes are symmetrical around the rim.

[senoritafish.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, once the tire was off, we found another hole that probably initiated the sidewall holes (see above). I think I must have hit something that fell off the crappy car I was passing. Seriously, the bumper looked like it was about to fall off.

So the donut's on it now, until we can find a deal on all four.