A new set of tires

I love new tires. The fact that I can go in and pony up for a set of 4 nice new tires is such a change for the better. Yes, I know Mr. Salesman, you are ripping me off with your tire disposal fees, your valve stem replacement fees, your balance the tire fees, your roadside assistance fees. Blah. Just take my old tires off, and put the new ones on.

Do I want the super deluxe whisper quiet tires? How about the super duper traction tires? Are they H rated? T rated? Do I care?

Just give me some good tires, I do not want their life's story. If those tires will last 80,000 miles, great, put them on. That is probably longer than I will have the car. If they actually manage to provide traction in the snow, all the better.

It did not used to be this way. I can remember delivering pizzas for a living. Gas was much cheaper then, frankly I do not know how drivers make much money doing that these days.

I was in a VW Bug and I had no money. I found a tire shop that would sell pre owned tires for $5. It was great. Except pre owned meant that all the life had already been sucked out of them. They were someone else's trash.

These tires did not last very long, so pretty soon I had spent $5 here, and $5 there, and before you know it, I could have easily paid for a brand new tire. Thus began the lesson, don't pay less for junk that will wear out, pay more for stuff that will last a while. It can be painful up front, but it pays for itself in the long run.

Eventually I did graduate to being able to afford a set of 4 brand new tires at the same time. It was a grand feeling.

But then the curse of the new tires began. I had a minivan. I put new tires on it. The transmission went out and it turned out that it was more economical to just sell the thing and buy another car. My new tires went with it. (This was another lesson, I bought an old used junker, and I got what I paid for..)

I had another car where the tires were brand new and I needed to sell it as the children and car seats would not fit in the stupid thing. Bye bye new tires. (It was a case of having a sporty car when I was single and newly married not being a good fit for an old married couple with children.)

Same with my 79 Chevy Blazer, the tires on it had very low miles, but the gas prices kept going up and the miles per gallon stayed the same. It had to go as well. But not before the neighborhood hooligans came by and sliced the sidewalls of many cars that were parked in the street, mine included.

That was how I quit using an insurance company. They tried to tell me that these tires had a bunch of wear on them, and they would be prorating them to a much lower value than they should have had. Whatever they saved on that claim, they have lost on a ton of vehicle and home insurance premiums that have since gone to another insurance company.

Now that I have new tires on both of my cars, I guess it is time to go buy two new ones. But at least I can enjoy the new tires for a while...