A funny thing happened on the way to today's ride

[melissam]

sfa & lph, thanks for the info on the literary quote. "Gang aft agley" sounds like something I'd mumble after having a few too many post-ride beers!

Now, about the tire...true confession time. I've been really, really slacking on my car maintenance habits. The last time I checked my tire pressure on the TSX was a couple of weeks ago. My tires were holding their pressure well, so I wasn't dilgent in checking them. Yesterday I was in a rush to get out of the house, get to the starting point, and get on my bike & out to the beach -- I don't even think I glanced at my tires.

My driveway had a slight trail of rubber where my right tire would have traveled. I'm almost positive that the tire was dangerously low when I left the house. Not only did I not see the problem, I didn't even notice issues with handling problems on the way out to the freeway. As someone who considers herself a car enthusiast, this is more than a little embarrassing.

Well, it's a good wakeup call to do a better job on car maintenance.

Also, I'm really, really grateful that:

• I was able to get over to the shoulder without hurting myself or anyone else on the freeway
• I had really great help from the CHP and AAA
• My wheel was not damaged
• It happened when it was time to replace the tires anyway
• I have the $$ to replace all four tires
• And yes, most importantly, I STILL got to go for a bike ride!

[Tuckervill]

You can check to see if your tires were recalled at this website:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr...callsearch.cfm

We had a Ford Explorer with the exploding tires. The replacement tires were not any better. Worst tires EVER. But I didn't have to buy them..Firestone did.

Karen

[Geonz]

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley.

That's a tired tire. Glad you didn't get creamed!!

[melissam]

You can check to see if your tires were recalled at this website:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr...callsearch.cfm

We had a Ford Explorer with the exploding tires. The replacement tires were not any better. Worst tires EVER. But I didn't have to buy them..Firestone did.

Karen

That's a great website! Thanks for the link!

I have to ask, though, what kind of tires were on the Ford Exploder...er, Explorer? I've had a couple of tires that I haven't been too fond of, but nothing that I absolutely hated.

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley.

That's a tired tire. Glad you didn't get creamed!!

Yeah, I really dodged a bullet on this one! I'm still thanking my lucky stars, believe me!

[Tuckervill]

It's old news (from the '90s), but here's a quote. Ever since this there has been extreme scrutiny on tires.

The Firestone tire recall is perhaps the most deadly auto safety crisis in American history. US regulators on 16 October, 2000 have raised the death count to 119 (the death count has steadily risen from 62, later to 88 and 101 deaths reported on 9/20/2000). Experts believe there may be as many as 250 deaths and more than 3000 catastrophic injuries associated with the defective tires. Most of the deaths occur in accidents involving the Ford Explorer which tends to rollover when one of the tires blows out.

In May 2000, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration issued a letter to Ford and Firestone requesting information about the high incidence of tire failure on Ford Explorer vehicles. During July, Ford obtained and analyzed the data on tire failure. The data revealed that 15" ATX and ATX II models and Wilderness AT tires had very high failure rates: the tread peels off. Many of the tires were made at a Decatur, Illinois plant. Worse, when the tires fail the vehicle often rolls over and kills the occupants.

[kacie tri-ing]

How scary!!!

Way to go for hopping on the bike anyway....

[aka_kim]

Very scary! And good thing you drive a well-handling sports car and know how to use it! Are you going to follow up to see if the tire was defective?