"DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back" (karsonkinja)
08/09/2019 at 11:48 • Filed to: None
4
21|
"DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back" (karsonkinja)
08/09/2019 at 11:48 • Filed to: None | 4
| 21 |
The start of it all...
I should probably start off by saying that in the grand scheme of things my day yesterday wasn’t too bad, especially compared with how bad it could’ve been, or some of the other things I know that people are dealing with. Of course it easy to say this the next day on, looking back. I will say in the heat of the moment(s) it was pretty stressful.
I left for work late. I had woken up pretty late and had only had just enough time to get dressed and eat something pretty quick before I needed to hit the road. My usual route to work in the morning is surface streets and back road. As I had left home around the time that I usually clock in, I made the executive decision that it was worth it to take the tollway to work to save a few extra minutes (This is foreshadowing ).
Skipping ahead to the part where I was travelling on the highway, I realized that my car was pulling really hard to the right. I look down at the gauges and see my old friend has returned.
Its ironic in a way. This was my last week on these tires. I had an appointment scheduled at discount tire for this Saturday to put on a very reasonably priced set of P Zero Nero GTs.
So, since I had no idea how long I had been driving on a very flat tire and the next exit was 2.5 miles down the road. I immediately pulled over. Just a few weeks prior, a car directly in front of me had its tread separate from the sidewall. I didn’t want to risk that happening to me.
Unfortunately this is where I felt I had to pull over. I was on the shoulder near the green sign on the right. This is also where I found out that ~20% of people move over a lane if there is a car on the shoulder (I’m being generous).
Right around this moment is where my body opens the adrenaline floodgates, which is really not a good thing for me, I have a hard enough time keeping calm, focused, and efficient in situations like these and the adrenaline cranks it all up to 11.
I called my wife and let her know what I was dealing with and set to work. Fortunately the WRX comes with a spare donut tire kit. Unfortunately I had my heavy and cumbersome bike rack and a bunch of biking g ear my trunk, as we had just gone for a ride the night before . Sweaty, with half the contents of my trunk on the side of the road, I finally wrest my spare tire free of its circular prison on the bottom of my trunk. Keep in mind with half the stuff out of my trunk, half of it was still in the trunk. Like I mentioned before I have a hard time thinking things through properly in these types of situations, and I definitely made this process harder on myself (This is called a theme ... or maybe a motif, I didn’t pay as much attention as I should’ve in English class).
I go around to my front passenger side wheel and jack up the car with the terrible scissor jack and realize that like the stupid ape that I am, I forgot to loosen the lug nuts with the tire on the ground (there’s that pesky theme again). So I had to lower the car back down again.
Those of you familiar with the joys of roadside tire swapping likely understand that this process is unpleasant to say the least, especially when you’re using crappy scissor jacks . It usually involves the “turny stick thing” coming un-hooked every three turns in my experience. Coupled with the gulf coast humidity and the fact that at any moment I could get pinned between my car and the barrier by some galaxy brain texting and driving, causing my to die a slow and excruciating death...its safe to say I wasn’t a so-called “happy camper”.
With tire back on the ground I set to loosening the lug nuts. 4 of them come loose no problem...#5 however was a different story.
I knew as soon as I started turning it was stripped or crossthreaded. Then it stopped turning all-together. Its here that my roadside wrenching knowledge is at an end. There’s no way I can break this off. I get back in my car and immediately start calling Subaru r oadside assistance as I still have coverage with my extended warranty. Right then, one of these heroes show up.
generic pic from google
I really cannot be more grateful to this (not the one pictured) angel in a high-vis vest. He walks over and lets me know hes here to change my tire. This is a free service provided by the Harris County Toll Road Authority.
“Hey man I’m really appreciative that you’re here but I’ve got seized lug nut” I explain.
“I think I can get it off for you, let me take a look at it”
So he walks around and finds what I told him is true.
“So its just the one” he tells me “and you can drive on 4 lug nuts, so if you give me permission to break it, I’ll go get my impact gun and send you on your way”
So I give him permission. He breaks it off, gets my spare on and even fills it with air. They don’t accept cash tips, as I found out, but you can bet I’ll be filling out that comment card he gave me. Seriously mad props to these guys, and especially the guy who helped me.
I wish I could end this story here. Its a nice positive note. However as he put the donut back on he warned me that when I go to replace the broken stud, that it might be a good idea to replace another stud he pointed out that looked like it was getting worn. (“oh boy” says you, “more foreshadowing. I love reading unnecessarily long form blog posts by sub-amateur writers”)
I call up Discount Tire when I get to work to see if my tires have arrived yet for my Saturday appointment. I am told that the tires are there and that if I bring the car in today they can put the tires on today. I work like a madman to clear my plate so I can duck out early and drop off my car at discount tire.
I was feeling pretty relieved. I would have my new tires on all four wheels, donut spare safely back in its prison and I wouldn’t have to have my wife drop me off at work the next day. As it turns out I was to be punished for my newly positive attitude.
It only took them ~40 minutes to install my tires, so I was in a pretty good mood heading back to the tire shop. Until I arrived and saw the donut spare was still on. I was pretty nervous about the other stud stripping after the HCTRA roadside assistance guy warned me about it. He assured me he felt like the nut went on fine and it should come off okay too. When I ask about why the donut tire is still on the car, the tech explained that when he went to take the wheel off he couldn’t get the lug nut off with the impact gun and didn’t want to strip the stud and have me leave on 3 studs. “Crazy crossthreaded” was the term he used.
Discount tire doesn’t do car repairs, s
o this morning I dropped the car off at my longtime family mechanic’s to get that fixed. I also have a dealer appointment next Tuesday to get some warranty related stuff looked at, so if I get time I’ll probably do a write up on that as well because I’m sure it’ll be anything but straightforward.
Thanks for reading. It helped a bit to get it all in writing. I had to take a quick nap yesterday evening after I got back from discount tire to reset the stress-o-meter. I wish I could control it better sometimes, especially when I know its not a big deal and I’m fortunate to be in the position to be able to afford the work and have enough time to get it all done. Typing it out and reading it the next day certainly does help put it all in perspective though. I just wish it was easier to come to that perspective in the moment.
CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 11:55 |
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holey crap.
Arrivederci
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 11:59 |
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That really sucks, but shoutout to that HCTRA guy - what a great service, especially that it seems he came along rather quickly.
vicali
> CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
08/09/2019 at 11:59 |
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swollen nuts..
facw
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 12:01 |
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Yep, that’s a big nope for me. I’d have called AAA and then waited in the car (with my seatbelt fastened). Alternatively, I’d have just driven slowly on the flat to the next exit, and figured that a ruined wheel or even a ruined fender wasn’t worth risking my life over. I’ve spent too much time in Houston traffic to trust the other cars on the highway at all.
Sounds like it turned out ok though, so that’s good. Glad HCTRA was able to help you out (I really should cancel my EZ tag account now that I’m 2000 miles away, but I guess in the meantime, the interest they are earning on my $40 provided a tiny, tiny percentage of assistance ). Too bad it sounds like he stripped that other stud, but still better than hanging out on the highway I think.
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CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
> vicali
08/09/2019 at 12:03 |
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I’d get those checked out! Especially if you have more than 2!
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DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
> CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
08/09/2019 at 12:04 |
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Yeah I told my mechanic to take a look at the rest of them.
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CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 12:05 |
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Last time I asked my mechanic to look at my nuts, I had to find a new shop
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DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
> facw
08/09/2019 at 12:08 |
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Yeah in hindsight I could’ve done some things differently. Like next time I’ll just call HCTRA immediately and wait on him/her instead of risking it like that. I was panicking a bit. Not proud of that, but it is what it is.
I could’ve maybe driven slowly to the next exit or safe area but the re was an on ramp before that and I didn’t want to get in to a different kind of unsafe situation. I was at the top of the crest too so I was pretty visible which kept me from moving on as well. I didn’t want someone to come over that crest at 80mph and have move over quickly when they saw me.
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DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
> Arrivederci
08/09/2019 at 12:09 |
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Yeah I think someone must’ ve called. Like I told facw, I should’ ve just called them, they have a phone number, I didn’t realize it was free though.
Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 12:11 |
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Someone really messed up your nuts. To many ugga uggas.
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DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
> Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
08/09/2019 at 12:17 |
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This isn’t my first experience with this. A discount tire once over-ugga-ugga’d my wifes old car and crossthreaded 3 of her studs. O f course we find out about the other two after manhandling the first one off. We had to get it towed to a firestone (only place nearby that would take it first thing).
I almost wrote a write up about that a couple years ago, but discount t ire took care of it for us and I didn’t want to blow up their crap on the internet. I was pretty exhausted by it too.
VincentMalamute-Kim
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 12:23 |
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Whew! Reading that caused a mild PTSD response. I had complete engine/power failure on I-294 right after I-88 merged and I-290 was exiting.
It was nighttime. Right shoulder looks wide enough but was too narrow for the car trailer. Part of it hung out into the lane. I was similarly amazed at the number of people who don’t move over. I was similarly unable to stay calm. Anxiety went off the scale.
Ford Roadside Assistance was a complete failure, said he’d be there in 45 minutes about 5 times. Never showed up.
Toll road snow plow driver in the right two lanes was a hero. He passed in the two lanes to the right of the divider, stopped and then backed up 200 yards on the toll road so he could ask if I was OK! He called the State Police who got me a real tow truck. Toll Road Repair guy with lots of lights helped keep us safe.
Ford Roadside Assistance texted me next day, at 9am, that he’d me there in 45 minutes.
All that to say - I feel ya! And there are good people out there.
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Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 12:27 |
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Unless it’s at the dealer I actually take my wheels off my car at home and take them in separately when I need tires.
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DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
> VincentMalamute-Kim
08/09/2019 at 12:27 |
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Oh buddy that is bad. I would’ ve been on the phone with everyone I knew in a 50 mile radi us to come help me get out of there. What a cluster of a place you got stuck in too.
I’ve definitely learned some things from this experience though. Need to regularly check lug nuts, fluids, etc , have some lights in my car. Get that damn can of fix a flat off my shelf and into my car...
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VincentMalamute-Kim
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 12:40 |
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I have a cheap cigarette lighter yellow emergency strobe light . Lesson: Buy an expensive one!
Need to regularly check lug nuts
What I get from that is don’t let anyone else touch
your car. I
was
impressed with my
local Discount Tire. O
ne guy went
around with an air impact and a second guy followed with a torque wrench.
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VincentMalamute-Kim
> Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
08/09/2019 at 12:43 |
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Me too. I just did that to get my mom’s Sienna flat tire fixed. And found that someone else had
torqued all
the lug nuts to 150-200 ft/lbs.
HoustonRunner
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/09/2019 at 14:01 |
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Yep, they have helped me out a couple of times as well. Darn right I filled out the comment card and praised the service as soon as I got to work each time!
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vicali
> CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
08/09/2019 at 16:11 |
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And got another ticket..
Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
08/15/2019 at 18:43 |
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Cross-threaded, overtorqued or undertorqued wheel lug nuts... this is why I rotate tires myself. So many “mechanics” can’t get such a simple thing like properly torquing a wheel lug nut right.
And when I get a new set of tires later this year, my plan is to bring in the wheels, have them stick the tires on the wheels and I’ll install them on the car myself.
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DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
> Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
08/15/2019 at 18:45 |
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I would definitely do this if I had the space to.
Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
04/25/2020 at 01:03 |
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Yup, yup, yup.