Car & Driver

I love my car. I really really do. Which is why I'm going to keep it when the lease is up. But I'm starting to wonder... See, I got a flat last night. And not just any flat. I had a blow out on the 101 north. Like this tire is done blow out. 4 inch hole blow out. Going to that ole tireyard in the sky blow out. Anyone familiar with California can tell you the only way this could have been worse would be if it had been rush hour on the 405 or maybe the 605 and it was dark. Thankfully it wasn't. Well it was dark because, unfortunately, it was 10 o'clock at night so I was basically changing the tire by the light of on coming traffic. Not fun. Fortunately I have changed my fair share of tires so it only took about 15 minutes or so. Which is actually kinda slow for me. 10 minutes tops is what it probably would have taken in the day time on a quiet none busy street. But being on the freeway was a much more daunting affair. One eye on the tire and another on traffic. Luckily no close calls. Not to mention there was enough traffic for me not to have to fumble to much to get it done. I started to call AAA but decided I could this on my own if I could find everything I needed. I've never had to change a tire on this car. Almost 5 years and this is the first one. That is some kind of record for me. So I fumbled for a minute looking for the crank for the jack. Toyota has a weird detachable handle thing. I'm used to it being attached. Between that and the fact that the spare was full sized I was good afterward.

Spent a good portion of the day today researching tires online. I'm getting them a little ahead of schedule but I found a good deal on some Kumho's at a place down the street from me. Yeah I know what you are thinking. What the hell are Kumho's? I thought it too. But the vast majority of there passenger tires got great reviews on epinions.com. I mean people love them. Only ran across a hand full of never by again comments. But comparing their reviews to some of the big boys (Dunlop, Michelin, etc.) there is no question that for the money they can't be beat. So I'm hoping. And in talking to my cousin (who is much more of a mechanic than me) he concluded it didn't really matter what kind I got anyway since I live in SoCal and I'm not doing anything special other than driving through the city. So with luck by this time tomorrow I'll be sitting on some new rubber. I would have gotten 4 more of the same tires I have now but I could find next to nothing on Wynstars Tires. Yeah I know. What the fuck are Wynstars? I don't know but they lasted me longer then any other tires I've ever had. Though truth be told I am also going to be spending more money than I ever have on tires this time around. So time will tell...