Tires

My tires were bald. Pretty upsetting for only having 20k miles on the car. In Texas, the State Inspection is good for two years on a new car, and mine expires in April. Despite the fact that I slipped around quite a bit in the rain, I was going to try and hold out until then. But then my wife stopped riding with me, terrified of a blow-out.

I stopped at Discount Tire this morning, having previously priced a set of all-weather tires. The ones I had on there were built for speed, and grip. While I was going to miss them, I priced out a pair of Continentals which sounded promising. Better handling for the upcoming winter, and we have a few out-of-state trips planned for the end of this year. I walked in and explained that I was looking for a set of 60,000-mile highway tires. "For that?" He asked, pointing at my car. When he finished laughing, he explained that no low-profile tire is rated for that distance. The best, he said, run for half that. I told him I saw some Continental's which I was considering, and he agreed they were - at fully a third more than the listed price for my size. ($900!) My next choice was Bridgestone, but again, at a price I was unwilling to pay if I have to replace them once a year.

We settled on some Goodyear GT's. Z-rated, but all-weather highway. $740 installed + TPMS replacement + Road Hazard Warranty. When he asked if I was going to leave the car, and I discovered that it was going to take an hour, I told him I would just walk to work and come back for it later. This started a line of questioning in which I assumed would end with my being ferried to work. I was wrong, and the outcome was much more advantageous than my guess: They give a discount to my employer - my total was now $680.

But with those highway tires...I felt like I was driving a Buick home.

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I rec'd an update on my search for the yet-to-be-released Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles score. The publicist commented in my blog that the release date would be November 18th. Awesome!