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Grandview At Las Vegas
[triennial - points]
Click here for a timely on-line article from Popular Mechanics.
I knew time was running out for my 2 remaining OEM 16-inch radials on my 2002 PT Cruiser from sheer mileage on the car (~60,000), not to mention a deteriorating quality of ride. (The other 2 are still OK -- bought as replacements when the car had gone about 35,000 miles.)
What I didn't know was how badly worn -- as in totally worn out -- those 2 original tires were.
Then I noticed some little wires sticking through the outer edge of the rubber tread area -- actually, exposed wire mesh of the steel radial belts that reinforce the skeleton of the tire. No way tires should wear down that bad & still be on the car.
While I was mulling over whether to get exact replacement BridgeStone tires on the 1 hand or on the other hand to get some decent-quality replacement tires from Price Club, etc., an offer I couldn't refuse materialized out of the blue.
I was minding my own business over at the parking lot in front of the hardware store when this guy approximately my age compliments me on my car. "Nice PT Cruiser," he said. "Looks just like mine." He motioned in the direction of his, much like mine except with bumpers painted bright silver instead of dull grey. "What year is yours?"
"2002," I said. "Yours looks newer."
"Mine's 2004. Say, I have a set of chrome wheels that were original equipment on that car. Would you be interested?"
"Maybe," I said. "What size?"
"I don't know," he said as we moved over toward his car. "I've had'm in the garage ever since I got satin-finish alloy wheels, which I like better than the shiny chrome."
I bent down & looked at the numbers on the sidewall of a rear tire on the guy's car. "17-inch," I said. "What size are the original wheels you took off?"
"I don't know," the guy said. "Here, take my number. I'll be home in about 30 minutes & I can check."
I mislaid the guy's number but didn't completely forget. For 1 thing, any time I drove the car, I got a tactile reminder -- as if I needed 1 -- that the front tires were shot. The back tires were OK, but that's no help for the front tires.
Several days later I asked the Chief Of Staff if she had seen the piece of paper on which I had written the number of the guy with the set of 2004 PT Cruiser OEM chrome wheels. She found it pretty soon & I called the guy. I reminded him of our parking lot conversation about his wheels. "Yeah," he said. "The originals are also 17-inch, & the original set of tires are still on'm -- they've been driven about 25,000 miles."
Whoa ! Wheels and tires. I thought he was just offering wheels -- meaning if I bought his set of 4, I'd need to buy 4 tires to fit. But he was actually offering wheels with tires already on'm.
"I paid $600 each for the satin finish wheels," the guy said, "but I really need to clear out the garage. So if you're interested, just throw out a number.
I paused maybe 3-4 seconds -- seemed longer, but telephonic silences seem longer than they really are -- then I said, "$200."
"Sold," the guy said. "When can you come over?"
"Shux, I can come over now if that's OK. What's your address?"
After I got all those details squared away, we -- The Chief Of Staff & I -- fired up the PT Cruiser & drove on over. The Chief Of Staff was plenty dubious -- all the more so when she learned $200 was the number I had thrown out.
The guy had the tires on wheels stacked up neatly with corrugated paperboard separators preventing metal-to-metal contact between the wheels & preventing metal-to-concrete contact between the bottom tire & the garage floor. The wheels looked semi-dirty, but not nearly as dirty as the super-cruddy 16-inch OEM alloy wheels on my PT Cruiser. The 17-inch tires looked OK -- OEM radials that looked like they'd gone 25,000 miles or so.
The Chief Of Staff eyeballed the lugnut pattern & spacing & declared that the 17-inch wheels would fit on our car in place of the original 16-inch wheels. I whipped out 2 Benjamins & loaded the guy's tired into the back our our car.
I bought some no-scrub spray-&-rinse alloy wheel cleaner & used that, twice -- plus a brush -- to get the 17-inch 2004 wheels reasonably cleaned up. Then I let'm dry overnight before bracing myself for the task of taking off the old set of 16-inch wheels & installing the newer set of 17-inch wheels.
Then I had a blinding flash of inspiration. I called up the guys at the local independent former Texaco auto service station & asked how much they'd charge to swap out the tires. "$25," they said.
"I'll be right there," I told'm, then dropped off the car at the ex-Texaco place while The Chief Of Staff & I went into Washington DC in the other car & got all the diagnostic information & treatment recommendations from my urologist. (But that's another story.)
After absorbing the medical news, we picked up the PT Cruiser on the way back. It looks great & drives great -- for only $225 total.
Next problem is what to do with the old wheels & 2 OK tires & 2 worn out tires. I scrubbed up the old wheels as well as I can so that they look OK -- no better than OK, but at least OK. Next step is to put'm on Craig's List & see if anybody wants to spring $100 or so for a set of 4 OEM alloy wheels + 2 OK tires & 2 non-OK tires. (No sense having the non-OK tires de-mounted on spec.)
Something interesting is going on around here practically all the time.
I knew time was running out for my 2 remaining OEM 16-inch radials on my 2002 PT Cruiser from sheer mileage on the car (~60,000), not to mention a deteriorating quality of ride. (The other 2 are still OK -- bought as replacements when the car had gone about 35,000 miles.)
What I didn't know was how badly worn -- as in totally worn out -- those 2 original tires were.
Then I noticed some little wires sticking through the outer edge of the rubber tread area -- actually, exposed wire mesh of the steel radial belts that reinforce the skeleton of the tire. No way tires should wear down that bad & still be on the car.
While I was mulling over whether to get exact replacement BridgeStone tires on the 1 hand or on the other hand to get some decent-quality replacement tires from Price Club, etc., an offer I couldn't refuse materialized out of the blue.
I was minding my own business over at the parking lot in front of the hardware store when this guy approximately my age compliments me on my car. "Nice PT Cruiser," he said. "Looks just like mine." He motioned in the direction of his, much like mine except with bumpers painted bright silver instead of dull grey. "What year is yours?"
"2002," I said. "Yours looks newer."
"Mine's 2004. Say, I have a set of chrome wheels that were original equipment on that car. Would you be interested?"
"Maybe," I said. "What size?"
"I don't know," he said as we moved over toward his car. "I've had'm in the garage ever since I got satin-finish alloy wheels, which I like better than the shiny chrome."
I bent down & looked at the numbers on the sidewall of a rear tire on the guy's car. "17-inch," I said. "What size are the original wheels you took off?"
"I don't know," the guy said. "Here, take my number. I'll be home in about 30 minutes & I can check."
I mislaid the guy's number but didn't completely forget. For 1 thing, any time I drove the car, I got a tactile reminder -- as if I needed 1 -- that the front tires were shot. The back tires were OK, but that's no help for the front tires.
Several days later I asked the Chief Of Staff if she had seen the piece of paper on which I had written the number of the guy with the set of 2004 PT Cruiser OEM chrome wheels. She found it pretty soon & I called the guy. I reminded him of our parking lot conversation about his wheels. "Yeah," he said. "The originals are also 17-inch, & the original set of tires are still on'm -- they've been driven about 25,000 miles."
Whoa ! Wheels and tires. I thought he was just offering wheels -- meaning if I bought his set of 4, I'd need to buy 4 tires to fit. But he was actually offering wheels with tires already on'm.
"I paid $600 each for the satin finish wheels," the guy said, "but I really need to clear out the garage. So if you're interested, just throw out a number.
I paused maybe 3-4 seconds -- seemed longer, but telephonic silences seem longer than they really are -- then I said, "$200."
"Sold," the guy said. "When can you come over?"
"Shux, I can come over now if that's OK. What's your address?"
After I got all those details squared away, we -- The Chief Of Staff & I -- fired up the PT Cruiser & drove on over. The Chief Of Staff was plenty dubious -- all the more so when she learned $200 was the number I had thrown out.
The guy had the tires on wheels stacked up neatly with corrugated paperboard separators preventing metal-to-metal contact between the wheels & preventing metal-to-concrete contact between the bottom tire & the garage floor. The wheels looked semi-dirty, but not nearly as dirty as the super-cruddy 16-inch OEM alloy wheels on my PT Cruiser. The 17-inch tires looked OK -- OEM radials that looked like they'd gone 25,000 miles or so.
The Chief Of Staff eyeballed the lugnut pattern & spacing & declared that the 17-inch wheels would fit on our car in place of the original 16-inch wheels. I whipped out 2 Benjamins & loaded the guy's tired into the back our our car.
I bought some no-scrub spray-&-rinse alloy wheel cleaner & used that, twice -- plus a brush -- to get the 17-inch 2004 wheels reasonably cleaned up. Then I let'm dry overnight before bracing myself for the task of taking off the old set of 16-inch wheels & installing the newer set of 17-inch wheels.
Then I had a blinding flash of inspiration. I called up the guys at the local independent former Texaco auto service station & asked how much they'd charge to swap out the tires. "$25," they said.
"I'll be right there," I told'm, then dropped off the car at the ex-Texaco place while The Chief Of Staff & I went into Washington DC in the other car & got all the diagnostic information & treatment recommendations from my urologist. (But that's another story.)
After absorbing the medical news, we picked up the PT Cruiser on the way back. It looks great & drives great -- for only $225 total.
Next problem is what to do with the old wheels & 2 OK tires & 2 worn out tires. I scrubbed up the old wheels as well as I can so that they look OK -- no better than OK, but at least OK. Next step is to put'm on Craig's List & see if anybody wants to spring $100 or so for a set of 4 OEM alloy wheels + 2 OK tires & 2 non-OK tires. (No sense having the non-OK tires de-mounted on spec.)
Something interesting is going on around here practically all the time.
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
