01 October 2015

Ugh, Part 2

So yesterday afternoon, during the afternoon drive time, "low tire pressure" indicator lights came on, in both our vehicles.

I intended to check my wife's tires, after they'd cooled down, but forgot about it during the course of the evening. So neither vehicle got checked.

So this morning, she reminded me. At the crack of 05:50, I was out in the driveway, kneeling in the remaining snow with a flashlight and a tire gauge.

I discovered that the right front was four pounds low. Drove the thing to the gas station that's three blocks away, pushed the Start button on the parking lot compressor, and slapped the hose on the valve. That's when I discovered that the compressor was making the right noise, but there was no air coming out of the hose. What it did was allow the offending tire to lose another four pounds of pressure.

I drove back home, grabbed the portable compressor from the garage, and aired the tire up. The low pressure light went out. Easy peasy.

I put everything away, and still neglected to check mine. After all, I'd checked the tires on Saturday, and they were fine. It's all good, right?

Yeah, right. I backed out, went down the hill, and around the first corner. But the low, rumbling growling sound didn't stop, so I got out and looked, under a streetlight.

Sure enough, the right rear tire was down to less than 10 pounds. Sigh.

Back home, grabbed the compressor again, and aired the thing back up to 35 pounds. Drove to work without further incident.

But I just looked out at the lot, and that tire looks suspiciously less round than the front one does. Hmm. I guess I'll be stopping off at a garage on the way home.

And just in time to get the tires changed over for the winter, too. At yet another garage.

All in all, I was only 30 minutes late for work. I suppose it could have been worse; I wasn't looking forward to changing a tire today, anyway.

Oh well ... onward and upward. Isn't that what they say?  :)

6 comments:

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

Always when you least expect it is when a tire will be low or have a problem.

Rev. Paul said...

True enough, Sandy. But I can't even remember the last time I had a flat tire.

Old NFO said...

At least you didn't roll it off the rim... sigh

Rev. Paul said...

Agreed, NFO - I was very careful driving back to our place.

Chickenmom said...

Fix-A-Flat is your friend - so is a little air compressor that plugs into the cigarette lighter. They sure do come in handy!

Rev. Paul said...

Chickenmom, the "portable compressor" I referred to is one made by Goodyear, and it runs on 12 volts. I kept it with me all day yesterday. Was a good idea, too: the spare only had 18 lbs of pressure when I mounted it.