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Laugh at my misfortune

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
I am snow tire poison

As we all know, winter is here…and around these parts most people install snow tires. I did so this past weekend on the Jetta.

So on Monday, Brenda calls me at work to rush home because an opening had come up at the hospital for an appointment she needed. So I go home, and she goes to her appointment. 11:30 am, alone with the girls. So I bundle the kids up and we go play in the snow. I then get it in my head that we should go for a drive. As I'm loading them into the car, I notice that one of my tires is almost flat. "Hmmm….that will need attention." Off to the gas station, pump the tire up for now.

We get home a little later. Brenda calls after her appointment. Test went fine…..but the Jeep has a flat tire. (You're sh*ttin' me??). So I bundle the girls back up, load them into the jetta. Wife and I swap cars and leaves me in the parking lot with the crippled Jeep. It's dark and 20 deg F…but no mattter. I can change a flat in 5 mins.

Haul out the spare and the jack. I begin to loosen the nuts. First two are pretty damned tight, but they break free. Number three would not budge. Leaning, grunting, forcing….the tire iron moves…but not how it should. It was that slow, laboured movement of deforming metal. "Oh no"….. I break the last two free and examine the damage to nut number three. Sure enough, the nut was no longer hexagonal. After a few mins of using the jack as a hammer to force the tire iron onto the nut, I yield and call my dad to bring some tools.

He arrives. He brought a flash light. I examine the damaged nut. Turns out that (and I don't know if this is common), but the decoractive chrome nut is actually two pieces. The chrome part is a thin (like .015") cap swaged onto the structural part. The cap had "torn" making it impossible to get the tire iron on. I pryed the chrome cap off with a screw driver, used a smaller socket, and though the nut was CRAZY tight, it cracked loose and I was able to change the tire…..drove home with 4 nuts on the wheel.

So yesterday, I put the Jetta in the garage, remove the leaking tire, throw it into the back of the Jeep, and head to my parents' place, (where I store the snow tires). I figure I would put the snow tires on the Jeep, and leave the Jetta tire there. My dad could bring both the Jetta tire and flat Jeep tire to his local garage to get them repaired. (He's retired…needs little projects to keep him out of trouble).

I begin loosening nuts again. Sure enough, it happens again. The chrome cap deforms on the crazy crazy tight nut. "Hmmm….oh well I know how to fix this"…. I loosen the rest of them around the car. I return to the offending nut. To say that this nut had been over torqued would be an understatement. In trying to remove it, I broke a ratchet drive, sheared off the end of an extension, and cracked a socket. (All craftsman…so all fully warrantied). Whoever torqued this nut had to have put the impact gun on it, put a rubber band around the trigger, and went to lunch. The will be no getting that one off without air tools.

Sooooooooo…..I changed the other 3 tires, I left my jeep there, and took his home. So he will go to the local garage today, in my jeep with the damaged Jetta tire, my wife's flat, and the fourth snow tire, to be swapped out at the garage.

Oh and upon further inspection, almost all of the nuts have been damaged...ie: small tears in the chrome cap. I suspect that I am not a TOTAL retard. I think that these nuts might not be impact gun friendly.

I will be buying new nuts for the Jeep.

This all would be funny if it were happening to someone else.
 

Da Peach

Outwitted by a rodent
Jul 2, 2002
13,681
4,904
North Van
Still weird that the tires went flat in the first place...

Perhaps you should make up with the horse and leave the cars at home...
 

Graphics

Turbo Monkey
Jul 9, 2006
1,706
0
Connecticut
drove home with 4 nuts on the wheel.

I begin loosening nuts again. Sure enough, it happens again.

almost all of the nuts have been damaged...ie: small tears.

I think that these nuts might not be impact friendly.
sorry to hear about your nut problems!!! :biggrin: at least it's hump day and not monday. :bonk:
 

ktmsx

Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
527
0
CT.
I have been using all year tires for a looooong time with todays tire selections it is not woth having two sets....my.02 anyway......
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,379
12,533
In a van.... down by the river
Is the snow more slippery there???
All season radials are OK if snow is fairly uncommon or melts quickly. But if the roads get snowpacked and stay that way for long periods of time, or you face *real* ice on a regular basis, snow tires would be invaluable.

All seasons are more than enough if you've got AWD, though. In pretty much any condition except constant ice.
 

ktmsx

Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
527
0
CT.
I live in New England so we do see some bad weather.After watching my wifes car make it up and down our driveway in the winter I don't care if you live in Antartica the coditions could not be worse....and her car is like a tractor with those tires........
 

ktmsx

Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
527
0
CT.
All Seasons aren't you paying attention...............ha....ha....thats all I know I will look though......My wifes little sister who lives with us, has to walk up the driveway if there is a little dusting...460' uphill....cracks me up every time..........
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,379
12,533
In a van.... down by the river
All Seasons aren't you paying attention...............ha....ha....thats all I know I will look though......My wifes little sister who lives with us, has to walk up the driveway if there is a little dusting...460' uphill....cracks me up every time..........
Dude - what *kind* of all seasons? Because even amongst the all seasons there is a ton of variability. :rolleyes: