I decided to take the day off work and get some things done around the
house. About 11:00, the school calls to say that my step-daughter-to-
be is sick and needs to go home. Fiancee jumps into the SUV and it
won't start (I later determine that it is TOTALLY OUT OF GAS in the
driveway!!).
"Go ahead and take the Corvette, honey."
It's not like it's a terribly difficult car to drive. Unless you're
trying to get in trouble it's pretty docile. She can drive a stick
with no problem (uh-huh-huh-uhuh-uh) and she drove it to work a few
times when I needed the SUV.
Not 5 minutes later, the phone rings. Her cell number is on the
caller ID. Uh-oh.
"The car has a flat tire."
"Honey, the car has run-flats. It can't have a flat tire."
"Something happened and the car slid off the road."
AAAAARRRRRGH!!!
Now there's a dead SUV in the driveway, a truck in the garage with the
engine removed, and my 2000 C5 in a ditch a couple of miles out with
my fiancee in it. And the kid is still at school, sick. The only
thing left that ran at that point was a dirt bike so I fired it up and
took off. It's 10 below freezing.
She drove off the inside edge of the one and only corner between our
road the the school. The jagged asphalt edge ripped about 15" of
sidewall out of a nearly new Michelin Pilot S****t A/S ZP run-flat.
I've never seen a tire so completely destroyed. There didn't seem to
be any sign of impact to the wheel, suspension, floor pan, oil pan,
etc. Bad luck for the tire, but good luck for the car - I hope. It's
probably due for an alignment after that.
The Michelins were great performing tires but the rears balded in the
center with 75% tread left on the outsides. Even with 20PSI and a
constant annoyance of the tire pressure monitoring system, the center
tread wore down to the casing. They were on the car when I bought it
or else I'd demand compensation. On the plus side, they really will
work with no air pressure. We were able to limp the car to school,
pick up the kid, and limp back home. The extra $200-$500 for run
flats must have saved me $50 for the towing bill.
I decided on a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 All-Seasons for replacements.
Quiet and long lasting are all I really want. The Michelins lasted
20k miles so they cost $4.50 per day of commuting.
What's left of the old rears will be going up in a cloud of smoke very
soon. The video will go on Youtube for my 3 minutes of fame.
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