[masraum]

I've only ever had 2 serious flats in this car (have had numerous slow leaks). In both cases, I hit something in the road that pinched/cut the sidewall and had near instant 0psi (ok, it probably took 1-2 mins to go to 0psi).

This morning, at 515 in the pitch dark and fog on a country road, I hit something that cut the sidewall. I realized it a min or 2 later when the TPS light came on and the "-##" started counting up at an alarming rate. On top of that, when the light came on, I was on Interstate 10 where there's currently construction so neither side of the road has a shoulder to pull onto. I put on my hazards and slowed WAY down. I drove, probably .5 mile until I could pull off, and by the time I was there, another 1/4 mile got me to a well lit truck stop parking lot. I was about 20 miles from home. I got a tow back home ($200). On the way, the tow truck driver called the manager of the local tire shop to check on tires. He didn't have what I needed (no surprise) but was able to order the 1 that the warehouse showed in stock. It should be here this afternoon. I suspect that'll be $350-400 once it's mounted and balanced.

I drove the rear tire on that side up on a couple of 2x4s and was able to squeeze the scissor jack from the wife's outback under the jacking point and get the car up and tire off.

I've been thinking for a bit that I needed to get another floor jack. I've been thinking about the HF ultra-low profile Al jack, but it's expensive, and still probably not perfect. I discovered that HF sells a clone of the AC Hydraulic jack (100#) that's 1/3 the price of the AC Hydraulic, so I think I'll be getting that instead. I guess I'll need some jack stands too. Wish I hadn't sold all of that crap, but it didn't make sense to pay for a larger storage unit for 10 years just to keep it.

And, Amazon has changed from USPS for us to UPS which has added 1-3 days to our shipping times which is a pain, since I'm waiting for some tools that I was going to use to change the oil this weekend. I hope they arrive.