Well shoot. Got a flat!

[Chris142]

Have to pick up my mother in law about 100 miles from my house at a train station. Drove the mil's 2017 Sentra because it gets good mpg.

About 30 miles into the trip I was on the acceleration ramp merging onto the fwy. Looked into the mirror ready to merge,looked up and saw something silver in the lane( dark out).

No time to react.


Smacked it good. Heard the hiss then the low tire message came up on the dash.

Had to drive about 3/4 mile on the flat to another off ramp to get off as there are no shoulders on this stretch of the fwy.

Pulled into a gas station and changed the LF tire. Now I'm stressing about the LR tire as it hit whatever it was also.also post the LF hubcap.

So far the LR seems ok. Waiting on the train now. Hoping we don't walk out to a flat rear tire!

What do people do 100+ miles from home in a strange city with 2 flats?

 

[CarLuver]

they call an uber for the MIL. stay overnight and get the tires fixed in the morning

 

[Nick1994]

I hit a curb in my 14' Grand Cherokee a couple weeks ago and put a gash in the sidewall. Drove it mostly flat a couple miles home. Went to put the spare on, and it doesn't have a lug wrench! All this time with all this offroad driving and interstate driving in the middle of nowhere with my grandpa, and we didn't have a lug wrench. I've put air in the spare at least 5-6 times too.

 

[TheLawnRanger]

If your tires came with a warranty, you may be able to have your vehicle towed to the nearest tire shop that sells those tires. If not under warranty or not a shop to do warranty work, you may have to get towed to the nearest shop with a good reputation
Your insurance will likely cover the towing fee. On the bright side, even if you get scuffed a little financially, the odds of this ever happening again are low. At least you have it out of the way.

 

[y_p_w]

I've had freeway flats before, but before TPMS. Nothing quite like the sound of thud, thud, thud where it's pretty apparent. And I've found a shredded tire pretty much every time. Once I brought it back to the seller, which apparently had an automatic flat repair warranty where they would either patch or replace it at a prorated price. I got the latter since it was unrepairable, and they said it was OK on a Subaru because it was new enough and within the tolerances for tire diameter difference. I think I paid $25 plus installation.

Strangely enough I had one tire that didn't shred when I drove on it at 50 MPH. It was a Pirelli P6000. I figured out it was flat, but it didn't sag even with no air. It was weird. I got it patched up nicely.

 

[Chris142]

If your tires came with a warranty, you may be able to have your vehicle towed to the nearest tire shop that sells those tires. If not under warranty or not a shop to do warranty work, you may have to get towed to the nearest shop with a good reputation
Your insurance will likely cover the towing fee. On the bright side, even if you get scuffed a little financially, the odds of this ever happening again are low. At least you have it out of the way.

No warranty. Original tires to the car. We made it home.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

If I'm going for a longer trip like that I usually throw in a small compressor and plug kit. It helps. Had to patch a trailer tire 250 miles from home before!

 

[jeepman3071]

I hit a curb in my 14' Grand Cherokee a couple weeks ago and put a gash in the sidewall. Drove it mostly flat a couple miles home. Went to put the spare on, and it doesn't have a lug wrench! All this time with all this offroad driving and interstate driving in the middle of nowhere with my grandpa, and we didn't have a lug wrench. I've put air in the spare at least 5-6 times too.

Was there a place for it and it was just missing or is it something that isn't even included with the vehicle?

I remember my dad getting a flat on his '09 Mercedes GL450 SUV. It came with a spare, and he decided he would try and change it himself since he has done it on other vehicles. Well this 5,000+ lb SUV came with a scissor jack. He tried jacking it up and the jack folded in half before it even moved the car off the ground.

 

[Zaedock]

AAA Gold.

Except my kids (and even my SIL) still call Dad, which is spelled dAAAd.

 

[jeepman3071]

AAA Gold.

Except my kids (and even my SIL) still call Dad, which is spelled dAAAd.

My two younger sisters and my parents all call me lol.

 

[Nick1994]

Was there a place for it and it was just missing or is it something that isn't even included with the vehicle?

I remember my dad getting a flat on his '09 Mercedes GL450 SUV. It came with a spare, and he decided he would try and change it himself since he has done it on other vehicles. Well this 5,000+ lb SUV came with a scissor jack. He tried jacking it up and the jack folded in half before it even moved the car off the ground.

Yes it has a slot for it in the stryrofoam holder for the jack. Has the jack and the jack handle, but the lug wrench is missing (bought the Jeep used)

 

[Duffyjr]

they call an uber for the MIL. stay overnight and get the tires fixed in the morning

MIL isn't going anywhere, going to need her credit card in the morning!

 

[Zaedock]

My two younger sisters and my parents all call me lol.

That's because you're so bAAAd.

 

[JHZR2]

This is why you have AAA. They can be slow, but it smooths out the risk compared to thieving towtruck operators charging an obnoxious arbitrary fee.

But the good news is that you didnt bust two tires, right? It could happen, but it didnt. The overall risk is considerably lower than the risk of one tire, which is also extremely low on any one trip (but certainly does happen to us all). Thats the day to play the lottery.