I had the strangest flat tire last night. I whacked a curbstone while
parallel parking last night. When I came
back to the car, I discovered that I had a flat tire. I then
discovered that Tevas are worthless for jumping on a lug wrench with;
the three-and-a-half pound dead-blow sledge hammer I found in the
trunk[1] was much more useful. I then realized
that parking next to the curb means it's very difficult to use the
god-awful jack that comes with the car, because you can't get the
right angle on the jack handle to put force on the jack-screw. The
whole process took nearly 45 minutes; I ought to be able to do it in
five. Today, inspecting the flat tire, I discovered that what had
happened was I'd hit the valve stem cap on the curb, deforming it. It
pressed down on the Schrader valve, letting the air out of the tire.
I've never seen that; it's actually repeatable, screw the cap on a
stem, and it starts leaking. I've seen lots valve stems ripped off
by curbs,
as well as remarkably improbable punctures, like a corkscrew, or an
unfired .30-06
shell.
No lasting damage to the tire, other than a valve cap.
[1] I have no memory of buying this hammer. Clearly, it's worth what
I paid for it.
--
David Scheidt
dmscheidt@gmail.com
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