Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407060031
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Sandra Brown Kelly
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Like last week, when my van's left rear tire blew on Interstate 81, just outside Harrisonburg.
It was a rare experience. Slow-leaking flats don't even happen very much anymore, which is why a lot of people haven't been tested on coping with one.
After the initial fright when the tire went, I felt fairly confident that except for getting dirty and making me late for an appointment, this wasn't much of a crisis. I knew the jack was stored under the hood. I even had a screwdriver in the glove compartment that I could use to jerk out the cotter pin that had to be pulled so the screwnut holding the jack could be removed.
The only other thing I needed was a spare tire, and I could get to work.
The spare's in the trunk, right? But, vans don't have trunks. Do you have any idea how silly you feel having to read the car owner's manual as you stand alongside interstate traffic?
If I ever knew the spare was stored beneath the van, I forgot it. But there it was, held in place by a cable that is raised by turning a nut located just inside the van's rear door. The nut is neatly covered by carpet, so it's not noticeable.
After delivering the tire from the van's undercarriage, I jacked up the van and removed the ruined tire. About this time, a good Samaritan in the form of a Roadway truck driver stopped to help. He noticed that the jack was misplaced - vans have a special jack-up spot - and worried that the vehicle might fall. So, he lowered it, using the spare as a support, repositioned the jack and finished the job.
The experience made me realize how nonchalantly we treat the possibility of a flat tire. When you bought a car, have you ever had the seller tell you where the jack is stored? Or, better still, show you exactly where to place the jack in case you have to raise the vehicle?
"Most folks see a tire as just round and black," said Tony Hylton, spokesman for the National Tire Dealers and Retreaders Association, a Washington-based trade group.
He suspected the reason my tire died was because I hadn't been good enough to it. He suggested I hadn't kept the air pressure at the correct level.
"Inflation lets a tire work like it's supposed to work," Hylton said. "It's like putting soap in a washing machine."
Hylton said improper tire inflation is the main reason that tires fail.
"If we properly inflated out tires collectively we'd save 100,000 barrels of oil a day," Hylton said.
So how do you know how much air those round, black things need? Not from reading the side of the tire, Hylton said.
You must read the owner's manual to learn the recommended inflation for your vehicle. Check the pressure once a week and correct it if need.
And learn how to jack up your car, Hylton said.
A final unsolicited tip from Hylton: If you have a flat, don't use aerosol inflators. He said some of the inflators have exploded and caused "horrible accidents" to garage workers when they tried to repair the tires.
by CNB