Tires Suck

Three weeks ago, when we bought the trailer, I was going to meet the previous owner to do the title transfer. The front tire on my Acura was totally flat. Huge tear in the sidewall. I think it might have been my fault, because I had left a steel lawn rake on the floor of the garage while I was gluing up the rack for it. That rake probably got the tire.

Two weeks ago, we took the trailer to Cincinnati for a "test run" while I announced the Nationals. Great trip, despite the pouring rain the whole weekend. If we had been camping, that first night would have seen us returning to my parent's house.

The trip back was the adventure as a tire blew out on the trailer just south of Columbus. Because our van has run-flat tires, we didn't have a jack, so we called a tow truck. $40 and an hour later, we were back on the road using the spare. We stopped at my Aunt's in Columbus for dinner, cleaning the trailer and a mental break. Got back on the road to Pittsburgh around 6. The other tire blew two and a half hours later, just west of Wheeling.

Now I was in trouble, because I no longer had a spare. After trying to get the trailer loaded on a flatbed (the angle got too steep) we left it there. I came back the next morning with two new tires, a 2.5 ton hydraulic jack and a lug wrench. The previous tires were put on by Sears and made by such a terrible company that Sears doesn't even use them anymore. Sears refunded the previous owner, because the tires were new in March. He passed that money on to us. So I was out another $100, after putting the right (more expensive) tires on.


This past weekend, we had gone up to Niagara Falls for our anniversary. Good trip, as you can read from the post. The ride back saw another tire adventure. This time, a run-flat on the van failed, over 100 miles from home. Run-flats are supposed to get you 100 miles from when they lose air pressure, but this was on the back wheel. I didn't think it would make it back to Pittsburgh, so I dropped Emily, Will and the trailer at a campground we knew near Moraine State Park. (The run-flats by Bridgestone have worn so quickly on Sienna minivans that Toyota added them to the warranty on the car and will refund your money if you had to replace them in the first 36000 miles. My first set only got to 21000. If this was a Corvette, I could understand. But this is a minivan.)

$200 this time. It appears that we need to budget a new tire per trip and an extra day. I love camping in the trailer. I don't mind the pack up process of leaving Pittsburgh. I'm starting to dread the trip home, because we seem to be 0 for 2 so far.....

Categories: Personal