Reason #44 Why Summer is Better Than Winter

[bljones]

Changing two tires in a gas station parking lot a half an hour from home in July heat is sweaty. Changing two tires in a gas station parking lot a half an hour from home in February cold is just plain painful....

Dock Six Chronicles: Reason #44 Why Summer is Better Than Winter

[thehardaground]

Sorry, but after looking at the condition of said tire in your blog........ what did you expect?

[jackdale]

I have never snow slicks before. Does the exposed belt material add to the traction?

[smackdaddy]

Zowie dude! You let your admiral drive on those? That must be some impressive green light launching....smoke billowing....backend fishtailing....bits of rubber and nylon showering the fat guy on the moped behind her....

[bljones]

No excuses. She shouldn't have been driving on those tires.

I asked SWMBO what happened, and all I got in reply was a wide eyed look of innocence and a shrug. I asked her if she had been checking the tires once a week like I suggested, and I got "welll, sort of. I check the left side, but i never check the right because it is hard to get to it with all the snow at the curb, and stuff." Guess which tire blew?
Something tells me she simply hastened the demise of a dying tire by hitting a pothole.

In retrospect, I should have been monitoring her maintenance monitoring. In future, this will not be the case.

However, i was amused (but proud) to notice this morning that she checked the tire pressure on all four tires and the engine oil level before heading off to work.

[merc2dogs]

My wife simply does NOT pay attention to the car. I learned years ago to never trust my wife when she says she checked the oil/tires/antifreeze/gas or anything else on the car, and to ALWAYS take her car for a drive once a week to listen to it check it out, then when I get home check fluids etc.
For years the only cars I would buy her were manual shifts, because it was a lot easier and cheaper to replace a clutch than a transmission.....

Thankfully, after 25 yeas she's gotten so she lets me know if her car starts making strange noises or doesn't act right so I can avoid emergency repairs.

Now if I could get her to understand what the light on the gas gauge means I'd be alright

[Daveinet]

I don't agree with your premise. In the winter you can always add more layers. I have yet to be stopped by a snow storm - both my wife and I went to work the morning of the Chicago blizzard. When its cold, you can just deal with it. When its hot, you can only take off so many layers, drink so much water. At some point, it zaps your energy. Of course 80 degrees and 10% humidity is great, but if you are going to pick an extreme, I'd rather it be cold than hot.

As far as the condition of the tire, I can't tell if the tire was just worn to the threads, or if there was tread separation. There looks to be tread on the rest of the tire, so not sure if it was the fault of lack of maintenance or a tire defect. Yes, good vehicle maintenance means inspecting for bubbles, but how often does one check and how quickly did the bubble form. Since the sidewall is blown out of the tire, it really looks like a tread separation problem, not a wear problem, as best as one can tell from the photo.

[islandskipper23]

Im tired of winter gas