Yesterday morning I was driving on the 405 and something didn't sound right. For a second, I thought it was just the crappy concrete, but the noise was loud & it didn't sound right. I held the steering wheel loosely to see if it was pulling to one side and the car drove straight. It certainly didn't feel like a flat. I was near an exit, so I pulled off onto surface streets & stopped to check. The front passenger tire was flat. Not low, but completely flat.

After I bought the car, I replaced two of the tires, so it was one of the remaining old tires that crapped out. I got out my air compressor to see if I could pump it back up, but the air was leaking really fast. Now I could have called AAA, but since the car is an experiment, I decide to change the tire myself. I got out the jack, tire iron & the spare tire, which, by the way, I had never inspected. The spare actually had air in it.

The jack was the easiest I have ever used. Changed the tire in under 5 minutes, and I was off again.

Later in the day I passed a Pep Boys, so I stopped in to see if they could fix the tire. A mechanic looked at the tire and laughed -- "There's no way to fix that. I'm surprised it didn't fail sooner." I was a little shocked. I bought two tires from a different Pep Boys in June & when they inspected the front tires, they didn't recommend replacing them. I haven't put that many miles on them since June. At least the spare was working, and it isn't one of those mini-spares, it's a full size tire.