Another Set of Tires?

To say I go through tires quickly is an understatement. I'm worse than NASCAR teams Hendrick or Petty. Maybe I ought to give those guys a call and see if they've got some extras laying around.

My "easily" accessible records only go back to 2011, so I don't have data from earlier than that, but since 2012, I have bought a new set of tires annually for one vehicle or another.

• July 2012 - tires for my truck
• August 2013 - tires for my car
• January 2014 - tires for my horse trailer
• July 2015 - tires for my car (again?!?!)
• March 2016 - tires for my truck (again)

I had my truck's tires rotated in December when I had new brakes installed. At the time, the tires looked great. I drove Speedy to Expo in February and everything felt fine. In Early March, I took both horses to the vet and noticed a worrisome roughness on the way home. It was a sensation I felt the last time my tires needed to be replaced. I checked all eight tires (including the trailer's) and couldn't find anything that looked suspicious.

Since we're heading to Simi Valley this morning for a lesson, a trek of about 125 miles over California's busiest highway, I gave my tires another visual inspection yesterday morning. Thank goodness I did. The problem finally showed up - blown out sidewall.

This looks like trouble.

I keep my vehicles a long time which means I do a lot of regular maintenance and replacement of parts. The one thing that I can't prevent is weather damage. The sunny side of the trailer and truck have wheel covers to protect the tires, but when you drive less than 5,000 miles a year, weathering happens as the truck and trailer sit. 

Plenty of tread left ...

I called my trusty tire guy and asked him to get some tires ready for me as I was headed his way. The truck rode so roughly that I drove the entire ten or so miles at no more than 30 miles an hour. It was only slightly embarrassing to wave drivers past me as my hazards flashed on and off and on again. I didn't care though as I've driven behind slower drivers who didn't have the decency to move over like I did.

New tread and no holes in the sidewalls.

Once my new tires were installed, I took advantage of Blue Truck's freedom and zipped into the corner gas station and drive through car wash. These things are not easy to do with a trailer following wherever we go. 

Blue Truck loves a good shower.

I hooked Blue Truck back up to the trailer, "fixed" another little thing that's busted on my trailer (I have got to get that fixed sooner rather than later), and loaded some hay and tack. We're leaving fairly early today as long as the weather holds. Here's to solid tires with no blowouts!

Spit-shined and once again road worthy.

See you all tomorrow!