Well, have you?

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Answers

Only once, and I was about eleven. My mom and sister tried to change it while I sat inside from the cold eating pizza. They had one pair of glovesies between them - cheap thin leather gloves not meant for warmth.

Some guy came over and helped us, which was good 'cos we couldn't have gotten the tire off otherwise.

We missed the movie we had wanted to see. Can't remember what it was tho, so I don't stress.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

When I was going to school in Santa Barbara, I was moving home for the summer. I had all of my cds (that's like 350) in my trunk, plus all of my posters, etc., on top of the spare tire, and I was towing a U-Haul. Of course, smack dab between Santa Barbara and San Francisco, my tire blew, in this city north of King City (the original Steven King town... it is SCARY there), at 9 pm. Crap. So, I drove back with the U-Haul and my spare (after unloading my entire truck on the side of the road in the middle of the night) at about 30 mph. It took almost 6 hours... bleh...

Of course, that's nothing compared to when I was driving TO school and my dad punctured the oil pan of my car and then drove until King City, at which point we stopped for gas and all the oil drained out of the car... bleh!

The Secret Page

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Wow, I felt I was right there, changing out that Firestone Tire with y'all.

I enjoyed it, up until the Target shopping. "What the hell you buying all this stuff for -- sigh?" I vicariously comment.

The last flat tire I had was the very next day after buying the set of tires that are on my car now. Otherwise, they've not been flat for the last 40,000 miles. (it was a nail)

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Got one last winter, just far away enough from home that I didn't want to drive there. If you are going to get a flat tire, the best place to get one is near a tire store. The second best place is near a church where people are getting out. I pulled into the church parking lot and had all kinds of freshly-churched people there to help me, shine headlights on me, etc. They can't say no at that time because of God. I recommend driving near churches for this reason alone.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

I've changed a million flats in my life, but only stands out. When I was in the Air Force stationed in Korea I was driving a "duce-and-a- half" truck, a large truck with a total of ten huge tires. We on a dirt road in the middle of a bunch of rice-paddies when I hit a big rock and blew out the front tire. I and my partner were pulling out the jacks and stuff when a couple of Korean farmers showed up, seemingly from nowhere. They grabbed the tools away from us and changed the flat for us! It was really hard work, but unlike us, these guys clearly knew how to do it. They looked like an Indy pit crew in action. They didn't want any money, but they let us give them two cans of coke and were were on our way.

It was a really nice gesture and I appreciate it to this day.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Paul, how horribly ironic. Last winter, I was driving home down one of the dark, serpentine roads near my home town, headlights ghosting across the marshes, when I hit something, and was soon trundling along with a flat tire. Ahead, there were lights and a gap in the hedge, so I pulled in.

Turned out to be a bunch of satanists, cavorting with several of the demons they'd summoned up that evening.

Rather than help me change my tire, they all gathered round and pointed and laughed, occasionally running away with my tire-iron, or shrinking themselves down to imp-size and doing a jig on my shoulders. Naturally enough, I didn't want to offend them, so I had to pretend to find it all hilarious, but damn, those people can be SO fucking unhelpful.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

yes...yes i have. i drive a 71 VW bug in bad condition and me and a friend were driving to the mall when we thought it would be funny to skid around on the road, (it was gravel becuase we had taken a "short cut", ha) so i pulled a fast one and ended up going back first into the ditch on the side of the road. Now i have done this before and nothing happen, but my friend (laughing his butt off) got out to look at the situation. He saw a ripped off tire and a cooler. we think that us running over the cooler trying to stop is what did us in. Well we were out in 111 degree texas heat changing the tier with those stupid german VW tier tools. in a nutshell it sucked a big one.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

The most memorable flat tire was when I was on the way to my very first job interview after graduating from college. It was a 2 hour drive to Dallas, during morning rush hour. I was all dressed up in my interview suit. My right back tires blows to smithereens.

Before I could even pull over, a man pulls over on the shoulder. I pull over to the shoulder. The good samaritan jumps out of his Mercedes and walks over to my car. He said he saw my tire blow out and wants to know if I need help.

He changed my tire and wished me luck on my interview. That was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I wish I knew his name.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

depending on exactly how grateful you are, his name might have been rudeboy.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2000

The key to mimimizing flat tires is to keep your tire pressure at the top end of the specified range. The key to that is to get one of these little 12 volt air compressors and put it in your trunk. If you suspect your tire looks low, use the compressor to top it off then and there. Be sure to get the 12 volt kind, not the 110v type.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2000

nah, I've never had to change one myself, but I've had 3 flats, 1 blowout on i-95 and 2 from parking (on glass)? I have been saving all times by the kindness of strangers and relatives and I had an AAA membership. I should feel bad about this, but I just am paranoid about tire pressure instead.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2000

Hey Jen, There is a Target in Daly City about three blocks from the BART station. It is at 5001 Junipero Serra Blvd. Flat tire, my friends in high school would get one about once a month. Once in the desert with no spare( we lived). Once right outside a tire store. The one in the desert was by far more fun!

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2000

I've had so many flat tires that any time I'm driving and hear anything remotely strange, I immediately get panicky, and feel like pulling over to look. Sometimes, it's not just a flat, but an entirely fucked up wheel. I once deformed two rims in the span of a week driving over the same stretch of potholes.

Oh, and what they say about spares is crap. We once got a flat halfway to Des Moines from Minneapolis. We probably drove 100 miles on that spare without incident. I've had to drive around for weeks on a spare because I've fucked the wheel up so bad that I can't put a new tire on it.

My luck seems to have gotten better though.... I think that the last time I had any tire trouble was last year. And I didn't even have to change it, I slid into a curb after it had snowed one night, and cracked the rim. The tire stayed on fine, I just had to add air evey once in a while to make up for the slow leak.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Get Triple-A... it's worth it, well worth it... and you don't have to put an AAA sticker on your bumper or anything weird like that... just phone AAA and they send a tow-truck to change your tire or start your car or tow you to a service station, etc. You might go years without needing it but it is very reassuring to have it and when you need them they're just a phone call away. I bought my daughter her own membership as soon as she turned 16 (and got her license). The two most important things to take in your car: AAA membership and a cell phone.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

Just twice so far....

Driving back from Fort Ross on Highway 1, by back tire blew out on my motorcycle. I pulled over to the side of the rode and looked at it -- yep, it was flat. There wasn't much we could do about it, so me and my companion wandered down to the beach and looked around. AFter we hung out at the beach, we wandered back to Fort Ross and took the walking tour. I called a friend, and about an hour and a half later, he showed up and took us home.

The other time, I was driving across the Golden gate bridge on Halloween in my orange pinto. The front left tire blew out, and the steering wheel started vibrating while the car tried to slow down. I was determined to make it to the other side of the bridge, so I just dealt with the vibration. Smoke was coming up from under the wheel well. The lady in the car next to me honked and pointed to let me know my tire was flat. I was thinking, "No shit." My friend in the seat next to me crouched in the floorboard in shame, while the friend in the back was laughing his head off. We got to the other side, put on the spare, and found the spare was flat. A caltrans truch happened to be in the "Scenic Overlook" parking lot, and he filled ourm flat tire. We raced to the gas station which was about three or four miles away, got some temporary spray tire fix-it stuff, and drove the remaining forty miles back home. I kept the shreaded tire we replaced to show my dad. :)

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002