New Tyres!

Ever since I picked up the pups, my car has sounded, well, a bit off. The back left tire (spelled tyre here) had begin to shake while I drove. I thought that maybe it was low, so I checked the air, but it was fine. I looked for a balancing weight which might have fallen off, but again no luck. This started to worry me, combined with my cars other quirks (stalling out after 5 feet of reversing or driving slow, the rattle sound from its seemingly empty trunk, the roof leak, the door that doesn't quite shut, the window that doesn't quite roll up, not to mention the oil leak/gush if I park on an incline).

The last straw came yesterday when I drove one of my wonderful, but ancient professors home with an equally wonderful and ancient visiting histologist/embryologist from Czech. I dropped them in town at the hotel they stay at, and as I drove back home, the wobble worsened. It got so bad at one point that I was driving 20 mph (which is REALLY slow even for here). Fortunately, my car surpassed my expectations and brought me home without fail. (It really is a good car, just a little old and rusty.)

I decided it was time, time to bring the car in to be seen (I'm convinced that mechanics are just greesy car doctors). I called my car guy, but not the one I'd originally had all my work done with when I bought it. Oh no, he got attached to a girl in my class who (bless'r heart) didn't make it. He quit his job as head mechanic at the Marriott and they left the island together. My NEW car guy is always busy, but he inspected my car (let me pull the tape off to wiggle the tail light until it blinked so I'd pass), and drove out to my house when my car faked being sick the one time. 'He' is actually a bunch of guys (father, son, and their buddies), but it makes matters simpler if I just pretend he's one guy.

It was 4pm, I asked when he could see me. He said what type of car and what's the problem? I said Mitsubishi Lancer and the wheel wobbles. He said I'm too busy. I said but Ok, but PLEASE look at it, I need you to refer me, I don't know who to go to. He said Ok, come 7:30-8am and hung up. It's the thing here, to hang up when you think the conversation is over without saying goodbye.

I arrived this morning just as he said. He looked at it and must have thought I was an idiot. There was a huge bulge on the tread of my bald tire. He said I was lucky it hadn't blown! We decided that if the tire wasn't the problem and the wheel still wobbled, I'd come back, but if he didn't hear from me, my gratitudes to him for diagnosing it! Then he gave me some options on where to go to buy a new (~$160EC) or used (~$100EC) tire. I chose to buy a pair of new ones and went down the road. They ended up being a little under $400EC ($160USD) and installation and serviced was included. Even got it done in under an hour (exactly 9am when I left).

The drive home was incredible. So smooth! I always thought it was the terrible roads, but now I know it was my car! I put the new ones on the back and there's still a bit of tread on the front. I'm tempted to replace them as well, but I'd like to see how these go for now.

Wish I'd taken a picture of that bulge! As of today there are 151551 miles on my car, of those I've driven about 1600 miles since I got it in September 2007.