Pushing the Limits

Have you ever had one of those days when choices you made earlier caused you a lot of turmoil? I did on Monday and just have to share it with you. I drive a car that has sport tires on it that cannot be rotated and have a life of about 25,000 miles. I’ve known for a few months that it was time to replace the tires but kept thinking that I would do it next week. Part of this was due to really busy days and not wanting to take the time, but the other part was my desire to get the most out of the tires that were on the car.

On Monday morning I was driving to the office but needed to stop for gas on the way. I was getting off the highway in Grapevine and suddenly felt a funny wobble coming from the back of my car. I drove to the gas station because the wobble had stopped when I was driving straight. As I turned into the gas station, it happened again, and I knew that I had a tire going flat. At the pump, I walked around the car and discovered that my tire had rolled its final mile. No problem, I thought, I’ll put on the spare and drive to the tire store to get new tires.

I opened the trunk and started digging around for the tire. I was surprised to find an electric pump, a first aid kit, and other helpful items, but I couldn’t find a jack or a spare tire. I thought that I had to be looking in the wrong place because who would build a car without a spare tire? After a few minutes of searching I called the dealership where I purchased the car and explained the situation. They told me that it was not uncommon for my style of car to lack a spare tire…REALLY? So now I’m sitting at a gas station with a tire that can’t be repaired and no way to even get the car in a state that it can be driven for a couple of miles. I ended up having to call a tow truck to tow my car to a tire store, and in the process I wasted half a day. Oh, one final thing about the new tire installation. I sat and watched as they mounted my new tires to the wheels (rims), but then the wheels wouldn’t go back onto the car. The rear tires are larger than the front tires and they had put the tires onto the wrong wheels and had to take them off and do it all over again. Ugh…

What I learned is that in trying to save myself a few weeks of wear and tear I ended up losing a lot of valuable time. I’m thankful for the tow company and the tire company for helping me get back on track, but if I’d only replaced the tires when I knew I should have, this problem could have been avoided. We all have things in our lives that we know need some change but we keep thinking that we’ll do it next week. We’re living right on the edge, and if we don’t deal with the issue it will lead to bigger issues. Make today the day that you change those things and get back on secure ground. If you deal with the issue today, you will never get caught needing a spare tire and a jack.