Bluster mode engage!

The other day, I got a telephone call from a mechanic pal who told me he had a doozy of a thing to bear witness me. I asked for the gist of said doozy via text message, and was refused. Apparently, this was something that had to be seen in person, and it was best to stop past the shop.

And so I did. Mechanic pal pulls out this disrepair-looking 'steelie' wheel rim with the shredded remnants of a tire somewhat attached to information technology. This tire was shot. In pieces. Ripped to ribbons. You know when you stuff a bunch of junk-mail into a paper shredder? This tire resembled what comes out the other end.

Mechanic pal told me that the tire was, in all likelihood, flat when the vehicle left the owner's driveway.

"The vehicle got driven for, probably, forty clicks," he added.

"On a apartment??!"

That's twoscore clicks on a tire with no air in it. Maybe it picked up a blast, got blown out on a pothole, or was slashed by an angry ex at 3am. In any case, this tire was flatter than a gluten-free pancake before it even left the driveway. And so, the vehicle's owner decided to go and run errands.

Another possibly-contributing cistron to the catastrophic mangling of the tire was the fact that, apparently, this driver was engaged in the horrific practice of listening to headphones while driving. Is driving with headphones illegal? I hope so. It's stupid and irresponsible and might even cause the offender to agree up an emergency vehicle they don't hear coming. Or, you know, not hear the sound of a 3-human foot strap of rubber smacking at high speed into their fender while they steer with the metal border of a disintegrating cycle rim. Or the sound of nearby motorists honking and screaming that they have a flat tire.

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We both shook our heads. How can a driver non realize they're driving on a apartment? Numerous reasons be, and guy or girl, young or old, rich or poor, in that location are clueless motorists out there in masses. The offender in this case may have been a perfectly good driver, simply in terms of feeling, hearing or agreement how a healthy car feels (or doesn't feel), they failed miserably.

Anyhow, for the sake of your safe, your family's safety, and the safety of those motorists with which yous and yours share the route, I'd like to nowadays a list of peachy ways to tell if your ride has a flat tire.

Your steering feels funny. You have to concur the cycle with force to 1 side, to keep your car going straight. The steering wheel is pulsating or vibrating in an unusual mode. The steering feels similar it's attached to a soggy poutine, not a steering system made of steel and rubber. Any sudden feeling in your steering that you're not used to is a bang-up reason to pull over, right now.

Your car keeps slowing down for no reason. Yous shouldn't demand a physics professor to explain that driving on a flat tire will cause your ride to tiresome down, and require drastically more throttle to keep moving at a given speed. If your machine suddenly has trouble keeping its speed up, visit the shoulder or parking lot and investigate.

You hear a weird dissonance. A groaning. A grinding audio. The sound of your engine straining. The sound of a wheel-rim chewing into asphalt. The telltale  'whapwhapwhapwhapwhap' sound often present when a tire has been evacuated of air and is slapping around. Weird noises from under your machine are another nifty reason to pull over and investigate.

People are yelling at you lot that you have a flat tire. When other motorists honk, flash their lights, point, and yell at y'all, and shout things like "YOUR TIRE IS FLAT!! PULL OVER!!!" you lot probably have a flat tire. Of course, attentive driving is required to see and hear the warning signs, and if you're wearing headphones, at that place'due south little adventure you'll hear people trying to advise y'all of the danger you're posing to yourself, and everyone nearby.

Your tire appears flat. You know, deflated. Pancake like. Gooey. Of grade, determining this before you ready off for a day'south errands may require a circle check of your ride, which does take nigh 9 seconds. In our instance in a higher place, the tire was on the front passenger side, and the driver didn't brand a circle check, so they never saw the result.