Why my tires are not!

Knowing very little about cars (“$50 per spark plug? Sounds about right to me. Put it on my bill.”), I have always appreciated the fact that mine doesn’t give me very many problems. Sure, she must have mouthed off at someone to get egged once ($1,000 worth of damage to her pretty paint job for that one) and she did once rear-end a snippy little Ford that was going too slow for her taste, but generally, there haven’t been too many major problems.

You can see where this one is going… last night, driving home in the dark, on the highway, minding our own business, the Accord unwittingly ran something over and got whatever it was stuck in a tire. I was alerted to a problem by some vibrating, loud clangs and a lot of other noise I don’t care to ever hear again. Not wanting to get stranded on the highway, I pulled off at the next exit and found a well-lit parking lot.

I called the PH to come “rescue” me, but had the tire changed by the time he got there. I know there are plenty of people who would have waited for their knight in shining armor to ride up in his Chevy Cavalier and rescue them, or called the nice folks over at AAA for help, but I say everyone should know at least basic car care (how to change a tire, how to pump gas… ahem, New Jerseyites!... how to check the oil level, how to change the windshield wipers).

The good news is, the tires were just purchased in April and they come with some sort of guarantee so a new one shouldn’t cost me much at all. In the meantime, I’m proud of the fact that I will never have to spend an hour on the side of the road waiting for help (um, unless it’s something serious. But my car promised me that won’t ever happen. Right, Accord? Right?)