When plans fell through for my daughter to visit this weekend, we decided to meet in Madison (WI), spend Friday night there, cruise State Street for things you don't see in Eau Claire (or anywhere else on earth, I might add), and do some mother-daughter bonding. As I approached the Lowell Center on Friday afternoon, the tire pressure warning light came on. By Friday evening, the passenger rear tire was FLAT. (Now if you're keeping count, this is my third tire to go flat in less than 2 years!) On Saturday AM, the AAA guy responded within 15 minutes and put on the little spare. He examined the tire & found some unidentified object lodged in the tread. Oh-Oh, he says, if this is your problem it probably can't be fixed. He suggested I call Jon Lancaster Toyota, so I did & threw myself on their mercy on a Saturday morning. Staying over in Mad-town until Monday was not an option due to a night football game vs Ohio State and driving 90 miles home on the little spare wouldn't be safe. When I arrived at the dealership, they looked at the tire & discovered a piece of WOOD had pierced the tread near the sidewall & no patch for me. They got on the phone & located a new tire (Bridgestone Turanza was the OEM). We left in daughter's Yaris to continue our Madison tour, and in 2 hours they called my cell phone to say the car was ready. So my visit to Madison was way more $$$ than I hoped, but I have to say the service department was really great to help me out on a busy day. The cashier told me they had to drive all the way across town to the warehouse to get the tire. So if Fiona really wanted a new "shoe", couldn't she have waited until we got home? Or was she just annoyed at the prospect of spending the night outside with frost anticipated (and if so, how did she know she would be staying the night in Madison?) Or did she just notice the new garage door and opener & figure she wanted something new, too? Or is she really an ogre? - last comment made just above a whisper in case she's listening. I don't think she can read and, lacking opposable thumbs, her internet skills are limited.
Judy, There's a strong possibility that you have a case of sibling rivalry/envy. You might try to reassure/placate Fiona by the occasional purchase of a mutually useful trinket funded from the fuel savings Fiona generates incrementally, and ever so quietly, every day. Some low cost, high utility items might be an MFD hood or leather center console cover -- both very classy. Then again, Fiona might be trying to tell you it's time to invest in some really competent all-weather tires. [Edit] As to how Fiona knows where she is, I don't know how she does it. But I do strongly suspect that not only she knows, but all Prii know. See post #46 in this thread for my experience with this: http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...tml?highlight=weekday+parking+slot#post649960
Hi Judy, I haven't heard of wood being able to penetrate a tire tread, so this is a new one for me. Glad that the dealer in Madison could help out on short notice. Did they report the tread depth of the other three tires? I'm wondering whether you'll need to buy more tires soon.
Bummer! But all's well that ends well (except for the loss to Ohio State). BTW, as a former resident of both those cities I state confidently that one can find similar stuff in Eau Claire as in Madison, if you know where to look :_>
Yup, a piece of wood can definitely pierce a tire. I had it happen to me with my pickup truck, and those tire were a lot more heavy duty than the Prius tires. Be careful running over those "harmless" branches you see on the streets.
Best approach is to assume that ANYTHING on the road can puncture your tires, because lot's of things you might not expect to do damage, will. Wood, animal bones, rocks, you name it. Back when Katrina hit NOLA, I was still recalled to active duty, stationed in, you guessed it, NOLA. I got called back to the HQ only three weeks post storm. Driving the city streets, where you could, was a real adventure. Lots of debris, lots of flat tires. After hearing a few horror stories ('cause there weren't many options for repair during those first weeks), I got really careful, and it paid off. I still ALWAYS assume that anything on the road is hiding a nail. And if it happens to be a shingle, it probably has several nails nearby. Your car will be happy to accept a new shoe any time you offer it the opportunity to get one.
you should see the stuff DH has pulled out of tires. he used to have a big jar with the more interesting stuff in it. ha, i know all about sporting event traffic. i'd avoid it too, if i could.
The really sad news is that the tire only had 15K miles on it. (Fiona is a pampered princess with a very leisure workload - runs to Starbucks, Sunday services, and retail therapy.) I will look into the little luxury gift idea, Maybe I'll get her waxed & detailed before the bad weather hits. And maybe Richard Schumacher knows of some good ethnic restaurants in Eau Claire. It's the daughter who lives there & is pining for something more than beer & brats. We enjoyed a great meal at a Tibet-Nepal-India eatery on State Street that I would plug if I remembered the name. The grilled lamb was outstanding! She also found a "Chaney/Satan in 2008" bumpersticker for her boss, while I purchased a"Cheeseheads for Obama" pin.
Sorry, my experience in EC is now infrequent. I can only suggest checking the free paper each week for listings.
"She also found a "Chaney/Satan in 2008" bumpersticker for her boss, while I purchased a"Cheeseheads for Obama" pin" Sounds to me you found the very thing she was looking for.
