new tires, goddammit

at 52,264 miles i'm pulling into a gas station to top off the car for a run to las vegas.  just as i do, the tire light flickers comes on.

in most ways the timing couldn't be better, so i pull on in and as i'm filling, check the tires.  on first inspection, they seem fine.  the passenger rear is two pounds low, but that's not enough to raise an alarm -- or at least it shouldn't be.  i've had a false tire alarm on this car before, but still, something seems not quite right.  and the fact that that one tire is noticeably lower is interesting ...

i mull it over as i wash my windows and check my oil then go back and look more closely at the tire ... and right there, i see it ... there's a pin nail in the outside tread.

goddammit.  tire people will do damn near anything to sell you a tire, including things like tell you that sidewalls can't be repaired and "anything on the outside of the outer or inner third of the tread is a sidewall."

as i'm heading to pick up an accomplice, i get a TXT of a good tire store that i'm just passing.  i pull in and after 15 minutes or so, they call me into the service bay.

"well, it turns out the best tire you had is the one with the nail in it."

they've circled all the problems on the various tires with yellow wax pencil and you don't have to be the world's best mechanical engineer to figure out there's problems here.  the belt is clearly pulling from the sidewall on one tire, there's burbles on the other two.

i was planning on heading to vegas 30 minutes ago, but now i'm looking at a new set of tires.  i'm in no rush -- i try to live my life such a way that i rarely am -- but it's still not the kind of thing that will push your mood up.

fortunately i'd read several reviews of the place on yelp as i was waiting (i'd link to it here, but i can't pull that website up right now for some reason), and it was clear to me that this isn't a clip joint.

i tell the manager he should go ahead and put tires on ... i tell him the car has two unusual traits: one, it has extreme curb weight for a vehicle of this size, so i need something with minimal rolling resistance; and two, it often does desert runs, so i need something with a high temperature rating.

he thumbs through his tire selection and comes up with a set that he's clearly happy with.  he'd had an idea for me originally, but his tires were more expensive and not as well temperature rated, as the tires my needs pointed him toward.

an hour later i have a road worthy car for $458, less a $40 rebate (that i have to mail in).

it occurs to me later that 52k probably means i could probably get some kind of a rebate on the original dying tires, had i been a little more aware.  with some additional legwork i could still probably get a few bucks back, but i probably won't pursue it ... my life's madness right now.

$418

51,858 mile service

chrysler's website is broken and you can't see the coupons they advertise (you can click here and then click on the "3 great services for 1 low price" ad to see what i mean).  i hit the 51k mark in las vegas, but figured i'd come back and try to cobble together an oil change in the bay area.

fortunately, michael stead chrysler in walnut creek had an ad on their website for a $30 oil change, so i drove the hour up there to get things done.

the staff was courteous but pushy in that weird service way.  "this is a turbo, sir, you should get your oil changed every 3,000 miles and it's been 4,000 since you had the last one done."

well, actually there are two service conditions for the turbo engine in a cruiser -- 5,000 and 3,000 -- and i could have it changed at 5,000.  in fact, i volunteer to get it done at 3,000 so i won't have chowder heads like you telling me what is in-and-out of warranty.  i don't tell him that, of course.

"that's why i'm here."

he suggests my tires are wearing thin, asks if i want a quote ("sure") and sends me to the waiting room to wait for hertz to get me a rental car.

i can see him working on his computer as i talk to an older fellow in the waiting room about the merchant marines ... it looks to me that he's reading something about me on his screen ... it's a body language thing ... and yeah, you could say i'm just making stuff up, but remember, i've written poker books and made a lot of money on the tables ... i'm not completely unfounded, and he sees something ... i can tell.

he comes back to the waiting room.  "i was looking at your account and see you live in santa clara.  that's a haul from here ... if you'd like, i'll put you next in line -- i have another technician getting done in about 15 minutes -- and we can wait here and then go."

"sure, that'd be great."

okay.  so he already knew i was in santa clara.  i told him that when i handed him the car and they made the work order.  so, unless it just took awhile for that to sink in, that's probably not the real reason.  if i had to guess, and this is a guess that could only be categorized as "wild-ass," i'm guessing there's either a mention of my letter to sergio marchionne in my official record, or he was somehow directed to this 'blog and was reading it.

in any event, the tire quote got lost in the shuffle (which is fine).  out in an hour, no problems found anywhere on the car again.

$30

new wipers on

i was given an extra pair of wipers (as a coupon spiff) several oil changes ago and i put them on the continual car today.  noting it only for future reference.

47,958 mile service

using a coupon off the chrysler website i went to stevens creek chrysler and had an oil change and tire rotation.

nothing to report, aside from the fact that their inspection showed, once again, nothing wrong with my car.

$21

... and now it's for reals

crossed over an important, but otherwise unnoticed milestone today.  driving back late down 101 i crossed 48,000 miles on the continual car.  this is the point where i would no longer have been able to buy a lifetime warranty wrap ... if i had waited until yesterday to buy it, i would have paid $336 more and would not have been given $376 worth of rental cars while the cruiser was in the shop.

i'm still happy with my purchase of the maximum care wrap and am glad that the car made it this far for the warranty to come into play ... if it'd be totaled by now, i'd simply be out the $1542 i'd paid for the policy, with essentially nothing to show for it.

now one of two things has to happen for me to be happy.  either:

* i never have a problem with the car (in which case both chrysler and i are joyous)

= or =

* when i do have a claim, it actually gets paid off by chrysler

time will tell.  oh yes.

quote of the moment

"the most common turbocharger failure is bearing failure related to
repeated hot shutdowns with in adequate 'cool down' periods. a sudden
engine shut down after prolonged operation will result in the transfer
of heat from the turbine section of the turbocharger to the bearing
housing. this causes the oil to overheat and break down, which causes
bearing and shaft damage the next time the vehicle is started."

-- 2008 PT cruiser service manual, volume 3, page 11-23

quote of the moment

"increasing the turbocharger boost WILL NOT increase engine power."

-- 2008 PT cruiser service manual, volume 3, page 11-22