The First Remarkable Event

The week before Christmas is always busy and this one is no exception. But there were two rather remarkable / memorable occurrences.

I have a new car that "talks" to me all the time. Normally, I would avoid anything this extravagant, but it is loaded with safety features and I have been very pleased with it. Even save money on gas and insurance over the old one.

A couple of weeks ago, my new car told me the tire pressure was too low. The tires looked fine to my naked eye. I chalked it up to extreme changes in temperature, but I had DS look at it anyway when he came. One tire was slightly low, he filled it, and it ran well. Yesterday, I made a round trip to Houston & back, about 360 miles. On the way home the red tire pressure signal came on. Again, everything looked fine and I made it home without any problem.

Since I am planning a long trip over the holidays and I was in the vicinity, I took the car into the dealer. They said they would take a quick look at it. The service department girl came back a few minutes later and showed me what the problem was. A screw, about 1/4 inch in diameter and 1 1/2 inches long, had been embedded in my tire causing a slow leak! I could have been stuck out in the middle of nowhere or, even worse, had a blowout.

The methods of patching tires has evolved considerably. They pulled the screw out, injected a rubbery substance that filled the hole, trimmed it off, and were finished. The tire heats in use and the injected substance is incorporated into the tire, so there is no patch weakness.

The whole effort was less than 15 minutes, then they washed the car for me, and sent me on my way. For this they charged me......$00.00! I know I will pay big bucks for check-ups, but I can't complain when I get this kind of service. Oh, and while I waited I had a soft drink and bag of fresh popcorn. Nice touch when I had not had any lunch. No doubt about it, I am a happy camper.