Adventures in annual maintenance

[sholio]

It's tire changeover season (summer -> winter tires), and I was going to take the Subaru to my preferred tire place on Wednesday, but my body decided that getting up at 5:30 this morning after going to sleep around 1 was a GREAT idea (tonight is shaping up along similar lines, I would like to question autumn and all it stands for) so I went in at opening time because they do first come, first served, and usually it's not too long of a wait if you get there early. (The tire place is located in the middle of absolute nowhere in the industrial part of town, so there's really nowhere to walk to, unless window shopping for caterpillar tractors is your sort of thing.)

It opens at 8. I got there about 8:02-04.

Me: I'm planning to wait.
Tire guy: *looks at me with a look of Patience*
Me: It's going to be a while isn't it.
Tire guy: There are 17 cars ahead of you and it's about a half hour per car.
Me: o no
Tire guy: You're looking at 5-6 hours. Minimum. Could be more.

Fortunately ellenmillion rescued me (THANK YOU) around tennish and we went to a coffee shop to write for a while and had an excellent lunch. While I was waiting for her, I edited my novel and listened in on the tire guys patiently explaining to an old dude that the tires he brought are Wrong.

Tire people: These are Volvo tires on 17 inch rims. Sir, you are driving a Jeep Wrangler with 16 inch rims.

It's clear from the complaining that he doesn't understand the problem.

Tire people: Sir, these tires DO NOT FIT YOUR CAR
Tire people: Also, sir, you appear to have studded tires on your car already, why did you want to change them exactly?

(His answer was just that the other tires were Bad. I think at this point the staff wasn't sure whether he meant worn out or morally unfit, and I'm not sure either.)

The other thing about this visit was that my tire pressure light came on as I turned onto the road that the tire place is on. Convenient! I drove the last couple of miles in a white-knuckled sort of way, looked at the tires when I got out and didn't see anything wrong, and asked them to please check the old tires for damage.

Tire guy: .... so it came on about 5 minutes ago?
Me: I know right.

It turned out to be a sensor that needed resetting, so I guess I would have had to come in anyway. How very thoughtful of the car that it happened within 2 miles of the tire place I was driving to anyway.

Same tire guy: But how did it know??
Me: I KNOW RIGHT??

So the car has its winter tires and we next do this dance in April.

Comments

[philomytha]

A very tedious ritual! Glad you had some company for some of it, and very clever of the car to have its sensor go wrong just as you were at the garage anyway.

[sholio]

The car was watching this process WAY too closely; I should probably keep a much closer eye on it in the future. *eyes*

[vass]

Sounds like a very tiring experience.

[sholio]

OH NO YOU DIDN'T JUST.

[vass]

:)

[leesa_perrie]

We don't generally have winter tyres in the UK, there's probably a few exceptions, but mainly we just use one tyre all year round - but then, we don't get the temperatures you do, or the snow and ice levels! Of course, this does mean that any bit of ice or snow can throw the country into a panic, lol! :D :D

[snickfic]

I am laughing at your convos with the guy about the sensor. "I know right!" indeed!

I once put studded tires into a fic and only discovered later that the state the fic was set (Minnesota) in fact outlawed studded tires entirely several years ago. I guess they just pull out the chains when things are really bad??? Not my preferred approach!

[sholio]

Yeah, I didn't know they were illegal in Minnesota!! ... but I think a lot of places cracked down / are cracking down on studs because they wear away the road surface. Even here they're only legal from October to April. (I have all-season Blizzaks these days for my winter tires so I don't have to worry about a hard deadline for changing them back or getting a ticket ... I guess part of it, too, is that winter tire technology has improved a lot and studs are no longer the only good way to avoid sliding off the road when it's icy.)

[timespirt]

The car is sentient and wanted it's sensor changed and just knew you were heading to a place where that could happen...LOL

[sovay]

So the car has its winter tires and we next do this dance in April.

Congratulations on being done with this round! Nice of your car to show the tire pressure light on the way there rather than the way back, at least.

[sweetsorcery]

Thank you for inadvertently reminding me why it's a good thing I no longer have my own car. :D

[lunabee34]

High five for getting it done!

[passingbuzzards]

Omg! I am glad you were rescued from your 6-hour wait and also that your car was polite enough to wait to have its issue until you were on the way to the tire place. :-D

(Also the comments above re: winter tires being outlawed in some states / only being legal during certain months are really surprising to me! CO tire laws are basically exactly the opposite, they can require tires with sufficient tread depth/winter tires/chains on any road during the winter and the interstate through the mountains requires them on a permanent basis from September to May. Which, I mean, obviously when it comes to cliffside roads in the mountains keeping people from going off the road is really a priority, plus when your infrastructure nightmare features the intersection of two of the biggest interstates in the country…)

[sholio]

Oh, that's fascinating; I can absolutely see why! The interesting thing is that I don't know of similar laws on any road in Alaska even though (obviously) winter driving conditions are quite challenging; I guess they assume that if you managed to get here in the first place, you must know what you're doing. That being said, a lot of people do slide off the roads in the winter - I happened to drive back to Fairbanks earlier this month in one of the first big winter storms of the year and passed a loooot of people in the ditch ... (And since I was driving on my summer tires, I was also giving myself a little pep talk like "Okay, self, there are lots of people who are NOT in the ditch, and you are going to drive in such a way as not to be one of them...")

[sealie]

Do they store your summer tyres (assuming they're not damaged) and switch them back next spring?

[sholio]

No, it's the customer's responsibility to store them and bring them back with the car when it's time to change them again. (This actually is a legit problem for people who live in small apartments and the like ...)