A few of us were standing around and talking while at Fall Colors. The topic of flat tires came up. We wondered how you would handle these situations.

#1. The Flat Tire.

You are driving along on a twisty state highway, it is 4:30 pm on Sunday afternoon and you have 300 miles to go to get home. Your trunk is packed with a suitcase full of clothes and some other items that you brought for the meet. Virtually all of the space in the car is taken. You have to get home that night as you have an important meeting on Monday. All of a sudden your right rear tire goes flat. You get out of the car, put the spare on the front amd put the front tire on the rear. You are ready to roll and if you can find a filling station you can probably have the tire fixed. The question is, where do you put it while you drive to the filling station to have it fixed?

#2 The Blow Out.

Same scenerio as #1 except this time you are on the interstate moving at 75 miles per hour and your left rear tire blows out. Your rim somehow manages to escape damage, but the tire is shreaded and cannot be fixed. Once again, you put the spare on the front, the front on the rear and proceed. Assuming you can find a place to carry the rim in the car, you still have a problem. You have to go 300 miles and your spare is only good for 50 miles. Where do you find an SO-2 on a Sunday afternoon at 4:30? What do you do? How do you get home?

Any ideas?

 

Are these brain teasers Rob or are you just planning ahead?

Answer to both: Call AAA.

 

Both.

This was an actual discussion I had with a couple of people at Fall Colors.

AAA might work, but remember, you have to be home that night.

 

I've got the Premium coverage with car rental. If I was really hurting though:

#1 - unload trunk as needed to stuff tire in trunk. Put overage in passenger compartment (if carrying a +1 it would be real tight). If you are carrying rope or bungee cords - put down something to cover the trunk lid and strap the tire on there. Drive slow.

#2 - Even though the spare donut is only rated for 50 miles and 50 mph I have seen people drive them much longer. If I couldn't find a service station to get a somewhat compatable replacement tire I would have to chance it on the donut. Again, drive slow.

 

In either case one would call Carl Maldren and ask: What will I do ? What will I do?

 

 

What would Brian Boitano do?

 

There comes a time when you have to reassess whether you REALLY "need to be home" that night. If you do, limp home on the donut spare or rent a car. Otherwise, find a place to stay for the night and go to a tire shop in the morning.

 

Get on your laptop, go to tirerack.com and ask Jim to either deliver a tire to you in person, or to fed-ex it same day delivery to the nearest tree.

 

[QUOTE=OhioRacer,Oct 29 2004, 07:32 AM] What would Brian Boitano do?