If any of y'all are waiting for a sign to figure out/practice how to change a spare tire like I was, go practice changing a tire. Got a low tire pressure warning right before I got to work at 0 dark 30 this morning (crap, but I'll get it checked after work), then I get out of my car and hear a very Obvious Hiss. (Shit. Shitshitshitshit what do I do I'm going to be late, nothing's open) I resolve to check it in a couple hours once things are open, see if it's driveable.
Spend the rest of my shift trying to decide what to do, how to get to the place I HAVE to go to keep my (3 month old so I thought I'd have Less tire related anxiety 😐) under warranty. Literally decide, as I'm walking up to my car, that I'll try changing to the spare, so long as I have everything. Luckily I did, but I had a moment of panic because the jack was under the spare, which was attached Very Well. Get everything out, spend five minutes googling trying to figure out where the stupid pinch welds are on my car, get the jack situated, shove the spare under the car a bit because I'm paranoid, set the parking brake, and get to work. Everything went surprisingly well, given I'm working off assorted Tumblr posts and YouTube videos, up until I'm letting down the jack and the spare Keeps. Going. Down.
Apparently you need to inflate some spares. This would have been good information to have, so I could have thought to check the pressure periodically. (I realize this may seem obvious to some, but it Was Not to me)
Thankfully, there's a gas station less than a mile away, so I can air it up after scrambling for quarters and not being able to count so I feed in my existing quarters then have to go get change for the rest. Took nearly the entire five minutes to fill the tire enough ish, and thankfully I did have a tire pressure checker so I could monitor it because there wasn't one on the machine 🙃
Drive low-key terrified because I knew donuts weren't Real Tires but I didn't realize how much of a difference there was Before Now. Get to the tire place, which Had Not picked up the phone when I was calling to check availability but was the closest, only to get 'well, I don't know if we can get you done before we close. Your car's new enough, you can drive on the spare'.
1. I literally can't go to a competitor because of the warranty and all their locations close in 2 ish hours
2. They couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone and Say they were too busy so I could have gone to the next closest
3. I have work tomorrow, still at 0 dark 30, and the next day, so the other option is to get it fixed Monday afternoon. I have to drive on the highway, that was responsible for my flat tire. I am not going to do that without a spare
Which I Am Currently Using So It's Not Really A Spare Now Is It
I ask them if they could please try. They do manage to finish in a bit over an hour, thankfully. But since I now know exactly how many options I have in a populated area, I am going to be stocking up on tools and supplies and I will double check all of those before I do anything more than a couple hours from civilization.
It is nice to know that I can change my tires by myself, even as unprepared as I was. But so help me I want Options for next time.
(also @ariaste, running close to the wind is a confirmed comfort read. I was too stressed and tired to read anything new, even fan fiction, so I pulled it up and was grinning in two pages, holding back snickers within ten.)
