Author Topic: Flat Tires, is it just me?  (Read 3227 times)

micah

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Flat Tires, is it just me?
« on: April 25, 2017, 07:52:03 PM »
It seems like every few months I get a nail or something in my tire.  Looking through my records, its probably more like twice a year.  This past year or so its been 5 times between our two cars...

4/25/2017 - my car, nail
4/20/2017 - blow out on wife's car, found a razor blade in tire
2/16/2017 - my car, nail
8/17/2016 - screw in tire of wife's car
3/11/2016 - my car, nail

I've gotten pretty good at changing tires.

So how often would you say you get a flat?

Attached pic is my wife's van from last week. Tire exploded at highway speeds with our 4-year-old in the car while on a bridge over the Connecticut river.  To my wife's credit, she got the van to safety without incident.
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KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2017, 06:07:08 AM »
Meh.  It is hit or miss.  I might go decades.  We get a slow leak now and again, but rarely.  As in years apart. 

Then again, I have a buddy that picked up three in as many months.

micah

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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2017, 09:53:02 AM »
I think I just have bad luck.

I went out and bought a floor jack at walmart last night since I change so many tires.  Went to use it this morning and realized that when the tire is flat, there's not enough clearance to fit the jack under the frame. Doh!   Boy do I hate having to use that crappy scissor jack that comes with the car.
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KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2017, 06:00:25 AM »
Modern low profile car jacks are generally roll around.  A nice one is usually about $200 ish.  Be sure to break the lugs before lifting and to block the other tires to decrease the chance of roll back.

Jake

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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2017, 02:13:57 PM »
I had a car with low profile tires some years back and it seemed like I would get a flat at least once every 6 months. But ever since then, I had one incident in the past 7 or 8 years. We were in a hurry to a charity event, dead of winter, evening, below zero temps. Always have really warm gloves and a balaklava in my go bag :) 
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micah

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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2017, 02:20:28 PM »
It seems I never get a flat on a nice day.
This recent one was in the rain, most are either in the dead cold of winter or the blazing sun of summer.  I had a flat once on the highway in Florida coming home from Disney (before kids).  I changed the tire in a parking lot, it was 90 degrees out and the surface temperature of the blacktop had to be 110-120.  That was not fun.
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charlie

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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2017, 01:35:52 AM »
To heck with that. My insurance comes with roadside assistance. I think we've gotten a slow flat once or twice in 20 years where we made it home or somebody's house and then called. But I don't remember because I didn't have to change the tire myself and sear a painful memory into my brain.

Mike

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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2017, 09:46:10 AM »
I had a bad run where I punctured a tire about once a year and in such a way that it couldn't be patched.  Fun part was that I have an AWD and the tires had enough wear that I had to replace all 4 each time.  Thankfully that streak has ended.

micah

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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2017, 11:00:02 AM »
I had a bad run where I punctured a tire about once a year and in such a way that it couldn't be patched.  Fun part was that I have an AWD and the tires had enough wear that I had to replace all 4 each time.  Thankfully that streak has ended.

my brother had that happen a few weeks ago on his Subaru but the other 3 tire still had some ok tread on them.  He bought one tire and apparently the shop has a tool that shaves off some of the new tread so it matches the wear pattern on the other tires.  In other words, he bought one brand new tire and purposely wore 20k miles off it before putting it on the car.
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Re: Flat Tires, is it just me?
« Reply #9 on: April 30, 2017, 09:40:30 AM »
I think it happened to us once since living in Ohio and we think the shop put the screw in the tire on purpose. Long story.

I had one other instance and it wasn't even my car.  I was using a company car for a day and somehow picked up a nail. Figures. Otherwise I've had good luck.