Writing from Tucson, AZ where Pop will see the Lymphoma Specialist today for a follow-up.
We drove down from Vegas yesterday. It was a nice almost uneventful drive. When we got to Kingman, yesterday, I pulled in to a gas station to top off the tank. Once I shut off the engine, Rochell went in to pay for the gas and I started pumping. While the tank filled a guy, presumably a gas station employee, showed up and offered to clean the windshield. I noticed that Pop was mumbling about something and it turned out he was talking to this guy.
The windshield guy mentioned he saw an issue with the tires of the car. Pop said I should let this guy put the car up on the rack and see what he was talking about. So I follow him next door to the conveniently located tire shop. Up, into the air, goes the car and this guy proceeds to show Rochell and I where the rubber is separating from steel belt, or something like that.
Rochell and I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, nor does Pop. He’s trying to sell us four $139 tires. We decide he was full of shit, and that it was the end of the month and he was trying to make quota on tire sales. THEN he decides to try selling a $99 tire. THEN he tried the guilt trip route…”You can’t put a price on safety”, blah, blah, blah. As soon as we backed out of the garage, Tire Guy was on his way back over to the gas station to try his sales technique on someone else.
I have to admit, when we pulled out, the seed of doubt about the safety of the tires had been planted and I thought about it for most of the drive.
Fast forward to the 10 o’clock news here in Tucson and their leading story is about tires aged over 6 years and how the composition of the rubber changes over time and especially in hot climates. Catastrophic damage can be caused by rubber separating from the belt while driving. Guess how old Rochell and Pop’s tires are…5.5years.
Now I’m wondering if the Universe is telling me something??? More to follow later.
Filed under: Observations, Television, Travel
