Tuesday:
The night it all started. I had been cramming all day for my very large (and scary) research test coming up the next day… Leo got home from classes around 9pm and informed me that he had a flat tire. While I was concerned, my response was something like: “I have a test tomorrow. We can deal with this after.” And that’s exactly what we did.
And my first question via text to Leo: "What did you hit?!" I feared the tire was dead and could not be revived. It had been through an ordeal for sure and had come in contact with something fairly large and destructive. We never did determine exactly what.
4 hours later...
And since it was now OUT of the parking garage, I called the tow truck to come back. He was there within two hours (during which I seriously considered making margaritas), and I thought for sure this would be the end of it.
But no.
The driver was as nice as could be, and simply asked: "Who put the tire on in the first place?" And then a little lightbulb went off over my head and I had a brilliant idea: call the dealership! We have been taking it back for oil changes and tire rotations and they were most definitely the people responsible for those ridiculously tightened lugnuts! So I called them up.
At first, they transferred me around and were a bit wishy-washy. But as soon as I got the head honcho of the service department on the phone: I laid it out for him. Basically, his guys had put the tire on too tight and caused this situation. All I wanted was for them to pay for the tow to the nearest Discount Tire. He tried to convince me to tow it all the way back to them, and I said absolutely not. First off, they are nowhere close to us. Second, they did this and were no longer trustworthy in my opinion. And third, I knew we'd be replacing the tire and didn't want to pay dealer prices. In the end he agreed, and I called my tow truck friend for a THIRD TIME.
A flat tire that took 3 1/2 days to fix. That's normal, right?
The night it all started. I had been cramming all day for my very large (and scary) research test coming up the next day… Leo got home from classes around 9pm and informed me that he had a flat tire. While I was concerned, my response was something like: “I have a test tomorrow. We can deal with this after.” And that’s exactly what we did.
While I had only a slight idea of how to change a tire, I knew Leo was much more experienced. I've personally seen him change two in the bush in the middle of Africa. (Much rougher conditions than our apartment parking garage.) It's just this was a new car and neither of us was prepared...
Wednesday:
After dropping Leo at work and before leaving for class, I snuck a peak at the damage.
4 hours later...
I got home from my test (which I was pretty sure I had failed), and got to work... We had no idea if all the necessary tools were in the car, so that was priority #1. I basically tore apart the trunk and struck gold! We had nearly everything- including the coveted lugnut key and a full-sized spare! Just no actual tire iron, and the one for my car was too big. So I picked Leo up from work and we headed to Auto Zone.
We couldn't decide, so we ended up getting a full ratchet set and also a 4-way wrench. We figured between the two, something was bound to work! And off we went back to the apartment.
With the lugnut key in place and all of them exposed, Leo excitedly got to work with the 4-way. We had no doubt whatsoever that we would be victorious, but alas- he could only get one to even BUDGE. He tried turning it hard, then turning it even harder, then jumping up and down on one end, then turning it with one eye closed.. (ok, I made up that last one). The point is: our new tools didn't stand a chance against the tire. The lugnuts were CRAZY tight.
So I went in search of help, and found one of our faithful maintenance guys not too far away. He followed me back to the garage and tried with an even bigger 4-way. But the holes on his wrench were too big as well and just slipped over the lugnuts. And again, the tire won. His advice: call a tow truck and get them to come over with an air wrench.
By this point it was about 6pm and I had been up since 6:30am (since I took Leo to work). I was still cranky from the test I surely failed, Leo hadn't even changed out of his work clothes, and we were both ready to cry. So I headed back to the apartment to google local tow trucks... I honestly didn't care how much it cost. We just needed that tire OFF. I got in touch with one in the area, confirmed they had air wrenches on the trucks and set it up. They were coming! Help was on the way!
So I left for the grocery store. I was scheduled to work the next three days and we had zero food in the house. And that was not good.
I got a few necessities at the fancy and expensive grocery store just down the street (I didn't have the strength to make it to our usual place) and was in the check-out when the tow truck driver called. He was at the gate and needed to be buzzed in. It was a glorious moment and I nearly squealed with delight! He had arrived and we were saved! But when I told him that the car was parked on the 3rd floor of our apartment parking garage (still not sure how Leo got in up there in the first place!), he suddenly became very quiet on the other end of the line... "Um, ma'am- I'm in a flatbed truck. There's no way it will fit inside the garage." Well crud. He was very polite and apologetic, but it was true. The tire had won again.
I ventured back into the fancy and expensive grocery store to find ice cream and headed home. After entering the apartment (at now 8pm), I announced to Leo that we had no choice but to sell the car.
Thursday:
I had to work, and was kept busy enough to not think about the devil tire. It was lovely. As Leo picked me up after work, he informed me that through extreme physical exertion, he did manage to get one lugnut off, but had to forgo further efforts due to the inside of the tire wrench chipping away. He had turned it so incredibly hard that the hole was now more round than hexagonal... Yes- crazy. The tire had won yet again, and now our only tool to conquer it was dead as well. (It will be returned to Auto Zone ASAP.)
Friday:
In a last-ditch effort, I ran to the store and got a can of Fix-a-Flat. And while I was highly skeptical, it did actually work! It inflated just long enough to get the car off the third floor and back onto solid ground OUTSIDE the garage. A small victory for the humans!
I'm guessing the leaking goo is a bad sign?
The driver was as nice as could be, and simply asked: "Who put the tire on in the first place?" And then a little lightbulb went off over my head and I had a brilliant idea: call the dealership! We have been taking it back for oil changes and tire rotations and they were most definitely the people responsible for those ridiculously tightened lugnuts! So I called them up.
At first, they transferred me around and were a bit wishy-washy. But as soon as I got the head honcho of the service department on the phone: I laid it out for him. Basically, his guys had put the tire on too tight and caused this situation. All I wanted was for them to pay for the tow to the nearest Discount Tire. He tried to convince me to tow it all the way back to them, and I said absolutely not. First off, they are nowhere close to us. Second, they did this and were no longer trustworthy in my opinion. And third, I knew we'd be replacing the tire and didn't want to pay dealer prices. In the end he agreed, and I called my tow truck friend for a THIRD TIME.
The GTI looked so sad. With all the flashing lights, it was like a car ambulance. :(
But once secured, it took all of five minutes to drive the 1.1 miles to Discount Tire. (Yes- it was THAT CLOSE.)
I climbed down from the tow truck (yes! I got to ride along!), nearly hugged every single one of the employees, warned them that the tire contained fix-a-flat, and then watched as they easily removed it within about three seconds... As suspected, it could not be saved. So we ended up paying for a new tire, BUT we will get that $85 back for the tow. Score.
Though it was an ordeal, I have found multiple “silver linings” that occurred throughout. I like to think of them as the cherry on top:
1) He got the car home and wasn’t stranded on the side of the road.
2) No one was hurt.
3) We have a second car and were only slightly inconvenienced in the grand scheme of things.
4) We learned that all the tools we need ARE inside the car.
5) The weather has been amazing! Dealing with this during ice, snow or even rain would have been much worse.
6) While chauffeuring Leo to and from work, I got to see some super duper cute private school kids in their super duper cute private school uniforms.
7) I ended up not only passing my scary research test, but actually doing pretty well!
8) I was cancelled on Friday, which gave me time to deal with this.
9) I got to ride in a tow truck.
