huinesoron (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
huinesoron) wrote2021-10-05 10:04 pm
huinesoron) wrote2021-10-05 10:04 pm
Cars is dumb
"Alas," thought I, "I just need to complain, but I have nowhere I can do so."
Oh wait. Yes I do.
~
Last Monday, I strolled out at ten to 8 to put the children in the car. That gets them both to school at the right time, and then I can drive straight to work, get there about ten minutes early.
Only when I looked down, one of my tyres was completely flat and doing its best puddle impression. NOT good.
Cue the fastest tyre change I've ever pulled off (about 20 minutes, and that's with the dodgy wheel nut that I had to get a hammer to fit the spanner over). Spare fitted, bundle the kids in, and I STILL got them to school in time. Phew!
Luckily, there's a garage right by work, so I took the car round there and said, "Uh, tyre, flat." They took a look, pumped it back up, and told me it didn't seem to be leaking air, and could someone maybe have let it down? I went "errrrrr," because why would someone deflate /one/ of my tyres in my driveway at the end of a dead-end road? But I couldn't rule it out. No charge, I thanked them and went to work.
(Half an hour late, but thankfully my manager understood.)
That lunchtime, I swapped the tyres back and measured the pressure - fine. The following morning, measured it again, it was down from 31 to 29 PSI. But, y'know, it was cold, and pressure drops with temperature, so I wasn't convinced it was a real thing. It was fine all week, and over the weekend.
Cut to this morning. Stroll out, turn the car on, and... >>>Tyre Pressure Warning<<< Oh no. Take a look - yep, it's gone again.
This is fine.celebestel wasn't at work today, so I switched to her car and did the school run. Working from home, so I said I'd switch the wheel over at lunchtime.
I did not. I used her car to do the school pickups, then waved her off for her night shift saying yes, I'd do it right away.
Got all the stuff out. Jacked the car up. Looked for the locking wheel nut.
No locking wheel nut.
(If you're not familiar with these things: one of the five nuts holding my wheel on requires a special thing that fits in the spanner. Without it, you can't turn the nut. Even with pliers. I tried.)
I check the car, the house, the driveway. Nothing. I have a sudden sinking vision of leaving it by the side of the car when I put the wheel back on at work.
No need to panic, I've got a foot pump for exactly this situation. I'll pump it up, drive over to work - it's only five minutes away - pick up the nut which will no doubt be exactly where I left it. Nobody uses that part of the car park anyway.
Get the pump. Fit the pump. Pump the pump. Pressure stays at zero.
I have literally no options at this point. The five minute drive to work is an hour's walk, and it's already 8pm. The only thing I could do is wait untilcelebestel gets back at about 9 tomorrow, and take the kids in late in her car.
... or, I could phone my dad, who lives half an hour away. ^_^
Bless him, he drove down with a functioning foot pump, then drove me to work to look for the locking nut. Which WAS NOT THERE. We searched the entire car park - I even snuck in and looked on the reception desk in case someone had picked it up. Nothing. Did it go down the drain? Did it get eaten by a giant magpie? I have no idea. I doubt I ever will.
The one thing that went right is that Dad's foot pump worked. Tyre is currently inflated; I'll check the pressure in the morning, refill if necessary, then I guess I'm taking an unscheduled work-in-the-office day and taking it to the garage to say a) tyre go squish and b) pls to remove stupid pointless fancy nuts. If someone wants my wheels that badly, they can have the sharding things.
~
"I assume the garage can remove them without the locking nut. I assume it's not like, 'You have lost a £5 piece of metal; now your car must be scrapped." ~ me, borrowing trouble.
Oh wait. Yes I do.
~
Last Monday, I strolled out at ten to 8 to put the children in the car. That gets them both to school at the right time, and then I can drive straight to work, get there about ten minutes early.
Only when I looked down, one of my tyres was completely flat and doing its best puddle impression. NOT good.
Cue the fastest tyre change I've ever pulled off (about 20 minutes, and that's with the dodgy wheel nut that I had to get a hammer to fit the spanner over). Spare fitted, bundle the kids in, and I STILL got them to school in time. Phew!
Luckily, there's a garage right by work, so I took the car round there and said, "Uh, tyre, flat." They took a look, pumped it back up, and told me it didn't seem to be leaking air, and could someone maybe have let it down? I went "errrrrr," because why would someone deflate /one/ of my tyres in my driveway at the end of a dead-end road? But I couldn't rule it out. No charge, I thanked them and went to work.
(Half an hour late, but thankfully my manager understood.)
That lunchtime, I swapped the tyres back and measured the pressure - fine. The following morning, measured it again, it was down from 31 to 29 PSI. But, y'know, it was cold, and pressure drops with temperature, so I wasn't convinced it was a real thing. It was fine all week, and over the weekend.
Cut to this morning. Stroll out, turn the car on, and... >>>Tyre Pressure Warning<<< Oh no. Take a look - yep, it's gone again.
This is fine.
celebestel wasn't at work today, so I switched to her car and did the school run. Working from home, so I said I'd switch the wheel over at lunchtime.I did not. I used her car to do the school pickups, then waved her off for her night shift saying yes, I'd do it right away.
Got all the stuff out. Jacked the car up. Looked for the locking wheel nut.
No locking wheel nut.
(If you're not familiar with these things: one of the five nuts holding my wheel on requires a special thing that fits in the spanner. Without it, you can't turn the nut. Even with pliers. I tried.)
I check the car, the house, the driveway. Nothing. I have a sudden sinking vision of leaving it by the side of the car when I put the wheel back on at work.
No need to panic, I've got a foot pump for exactly this situation. I'll pump it up, drive over to work - it's only five minutes away - pick up the nut which will no doubt be exactly where I left it. Nobody uses that part of the car park anyway.
Get the pump. Fit the pump. Pump the pump. Pressure stays at zero.
I have literally no options at this point. The five minute drive to work is an hour's walk, and it's already 8pm. The only thing I could do is wait until
celebestel gets back at about 9 tomorrow, and take the kids in late in her car.... or, I could phone my dad, who lives half an hour away. ^_^
Bless him, he drove down with a functioning foot pump, then drove me to work to look for the locking nut. Which WAS NOT THERE. We searched the entire car park - I even snuck in and looked on the reception desk in case someone had picked it up. Nothing. Did it go down the drain? Did it get eaten by a giant magpie? I have no idea. I doubt I ever will.
The one thing that went right is that Dad's foot pump worked. Tyre is currently inflated; I'll check the pressure in the morning, refill if necessary, then I guess I'm taking an unscheduled work-in-the-office day and taking it to the garage to say a) tyre go squish and b) pls to remove stupid pointless fancy nuts. If someone wants my wheels that badly, they can have the sharding things.
~
"I assume the garage can remove them without the locking nut. I assume it's not like, 'You have lost a £5 piece of metal; now your car must be scrapped." ~ me, borrowing trouble.