And boy am I incensed. Not because I had to buy two new tires, but because the reason I had to buy two new tires NOW, and not months ago. When we SHOULD have.

This morning our car told us to check the tire pressure on the tires (it’s not quite so sophisticated as to tell us which one, just that *a* tire or tires needs to be checked). We noted the front left was low on air before we left the house, and made a point to stop and put air in it at the gas station before we hit the freeway.

Fast forward to lunch, and *bing* it warns us yet again, to check tire pressure. *sigh* Same tire, almost as low as it was that morning. Greeaaaat.

So after lunch, since my boss is so much cooler than my husband’s and I can get away from the office easier and without a big to-do-about it, I took the car to the nearby dealership to have them check the tire.

Turns out, it was leaking from a PATCH that was done on it sometime since we bought it new in March 2007.  Who knows when, but we were never informed.  Neither my husband nor myself recall being told that it had been repaired.

The ONLY tire we are well aware that had been repaired, was the REAR left tire, and that was done right before we left on our vacation to San Diego in August.  And *I* had to point out the stinking nail on that one.  AFTER they checked it and filled it with air and were about to send us on our way.  Nice, right?

Anyway, apparently, they don’t keep track of simple tire repairs in their system.  So I have no way of proving WHEN it was done.  I can only guess, it was probably when they last rotated the tires, which was in February 2008.  Which was, incidently, just before we went on our anniversary vacation to Las Vegas.

Are you keeping track of the number of long distance driving stints we’ve done so far?  Not to mention the daily weekday commute, 45 miles one way, to work and back?  And the occasional visits across town (75 miles) to my husband’s brother’s house, which there have been at least two or three of those…

So here is the kicker.  It’s not so much the fact that a) they didn’t even tell us about the repair, and b) they don’t track repairs to tires since they don’t charge for them… but it’s WHERE the damn patch was located that has me so ticked off.

Basically, the guy today told me it was too close to the sidewall to re-patch.  And frankly, it shouldn’t have been patched in the first place, but replaced  (he didn’t say this out loud, but the implication was loud and clear).  And the little bit of digging I’ve done on the ol’ internet since I got home, confirms that.

I’m steaming mad.  We are DAMN lucky that this failing patch evidenced itself as a slow leak, and wasn’t a catastrophic failure while we were, say, driving 75-80 mph on the way to San Diego and back – with our daughter and mother-in-law in the car with us.  Or the times we drove to my husband’s brother’s house across town – with our daughter in the car.  Or the numerous times he and I drove to work and back at 75-80 mph.  Or when we drove to Vegas.

The guy offered to wrap the tire in plastic and place it in our trunk so when I go to the dealership by our house – which is the one we regularly take our cars to – I can show them the shoddy work and total disregard for our safety, and try to get *something* back for the… I don’t know.  Just SOMETHING.  I don’t care if I get the next three oil changes done for free – they better bend over backwards to show their apologies.

Our car has only ever been to two other places other than this dealership.  One – a collision repair center from our accident (we were rear-ended) in April, and two – the dealership I took it today, the repair center took it in to have it looked over after their repairs to make sure everything was up to spec and to check the seats and LATCH connector where the empty carseat was attached (our daughter was at daycare when the accident happened, and yes we bought a new carseat).  And neither of those places had any reason to do any repairs to the tires, our tires were not damaged in the accident.  So that leaves the dealership by our house.

Yep, they’re going to just LOOOVE my visit on Saturday.

Tags: Tire Repairs, Tires