cperez
Full Access Member
Finally happened. We were about 75 miles into our trip from DC to WV and cruising along. I hit some type of debris and thought at first it was a chunk of large truck tire. But it made a pretty solid bang, then about 5 seconds later my TPMS alert flashed, followed by a suspension fault warning. I could tell immediately that my rear passenger side tire was shot and I was close to riding the rim.
It was really fun changing the tire a few feet from interstate traffic whizzing by. The cargo mat came in handy as a place to kneel and flop on while extracting the spare and then jacking everything up. At one point I looked over and my wife was sitting on a grassy bank taking pictures with her cell phone and laughing. Thanks, dear.
The only head scratcher moment came as I went to put the lugs back on the spare. On the original rims, the lugs screw in their entire length, and the holding force is on the washers under the bolt head. On the spare, the holes are smaller so the beveled tips are what dog down and provide the holding force. That just didn't look right to me so I called my friendly indy shop and they assured me that it was cool.
The donut spare was only inflated to 20 psi and it calls for 60 so we made it to a nearby service station to air it up. I ducked off the interstate to take a more scenic and less-traveled route and I still had to pull over every now and then to let others pass. I have been behind people in this situation before and they are often clueless about the effect they have on traffic.
During the drive home I was able to order a new Nokian WRG3 from the same guy who sold me four back in January. He's in Lansing, Michigan, so I gave him a hard time over the way the Michigan State Spartans blew up my bracket. I also called my indy shop back and arranged to have them mount it early next week.
Since our schedule was now hosed, we decided to stay home tonight and try again in the morning. Bummer that we won't be able to take the LR4, but all's well that ends well. Time for a cold beer and a cigar. Happy Easter weekend, everyone.
It was really fun changing the tire a few feet from interstate traffic whizzing by. The cargo mat came in handy as a place to kneel and flop on while extracting the spare and then jacking everything up. At one point I looked over and my wife was sitting on a grassy bank taking pictures with her cell phone and laughing. Thanks, dear.
The only head scratcher moment came as I went to put the lugs back on the spare. On the original rims, the lugs screw in their entire length, and the holding force is on the washers under the bolt head. On the spare, the holes are smaller so the beveled tips are what dog down and provide the holding force. That just didn't look right to me so I called my friendly indy shop and they assured me that it was cool.
The donut spare was only inflated to 20 psi and it calls for 60 so we made it to a nearby service station to air it up. I ducked off the interstate to take a more scenic and less-traveled route and I still had to pull over every now and then to let others pass. I have been behind people in this situation before and they are often clueless about the effect they have on traffic.
During the drive home I was able to order a new Nokian WRG3 from the same guy who sold me four back in January. He's in Lansing, Michigan, so I gave him a hard time over the way the Michigan State Spartans blew up my bracket. I also called my indy shop back and arranged to have them mount it early next week.
Since our schedule was now hosed, we decided to stay home tonight and try again in the morning. Bummer that we won't be able to take the LR4, but all's well that ends well. Time for a cold beer and a cigar. Happy Easter weekend, everyone.
