Getting Tired

Getting Tired

Current mood:amused

Those who REALLY have known me for a long time will appreciate this entry more than those who just know me casually. I am not known to be "kind" to car tires. I either am abusive to them because I have a car that will allow me to be abusive (LOL) or my cars are so old they chew them up, or I dont keep a car long enough to worry about it.... I grew up in the day of cars that knew how to wear out a tire, and in the day of the $10 used tire store, LOL! I had cars I bought JUST because I wanted to wear tires out on them, LOL...see car blog for more details, LOL...

The genesis of my blog today is the fact that I am buying new tires for my van today. I have had these tires since day 1, and I can say in all my years, this is the FIRST set of tires I have gotten brand new, consumed properly with no abuse or issues, no flat tires, no damage repairs or plugs...all the way to the end of their service life. When I replace the tires this afternoon, they will have about 78,500 miles on them! That is a pretty remarkable number if you know me. I mentioned it to my brother, and he was amazed I had put that many miles on the van already, let alone the tires.

I really wanted to get to 80,000 miles just to say I did, but the front tire has a newly developed slow leak, and apparently operating it underinflated caused a problem that accellerated my decision to replace the whole set of 4 tires. I want to get to the end of the life of these tires without having had to remove my jack, or spare...or damage my van in the process of a blowout like I did to a few other vehicles I have owned.

AND, in a related issue out of my character...I am replacing them with the SAME brand and size tire, and paying full price without negotiating into a cheaper tire like I normally do, LOL. If I can get 80,000 out of THIS set, then it will be time to sell the van probably, so why skimp and get something that wont likely last as long?

It appears the self discipline and maturity of age has paid off for me...that and having a vehicle that is loaded with weight and unable to do stunts probably helped out as well...LOL. If the van could do smoky burnouts easily, chances are I would not be writing this today, LOL!