Tires need rubber, a story.

I have a 1994 Saab with 138,000 miles on it and balding tires, total worth about $600.  It sat in storage for 9 months and when I return it has a dead battery (forgot to disconnect it) and 3 flat tires.  I have it towed to Ted’s, a trusted mechanic in town, to get a new battery and the cheapest tires he could find on it.  It also needs to be inspected.  His daughter calls, who works the front desk, and she says the cheapest good tires she could find were $75 each and that it wouldn’t pass inspection without the tires (I know this).  I tell her the car is barely worth that, and that I’d drive illegally until I found another option.

The next week, I’m driving off the mountain into town and pass a yard sale with a stack of tires that says free on them.  They look big and I drive past, but figure they’re worth a look so I turn around.  When I pull in to look at them, the older woman on the porch screams,

“Take them, they’re yours”.

I say, “They’re the wrong size.”

She says, “We have another set of tires in the shed.”  I look up at the shed and she notices I’m checking out the ladder with a For Sale sign hanging on the side.  “Brand new ladder, 32’, selling it for $150.”

I’d been looking for ladders since I got up here.  I need a 32’ and a 40’.  I walk up to the shed with an older gentlemen.  He pulls the tires out, they’re in great shape, almost new but they’re snow tires, and the size is slightly off.  I tell them both I’ll check and come back.

I call a tire company in town, and give the guy the information.  He says, “You allowed a 3% size difference in tires, and it says here that you’d have a 3.09% increase in size, which means your speedometer will read 58 when you’re going 60.  It’s only a .09% more so I say, go ahead, do it.”

I drive back up there with $150 in one pocket and some more in the other.  The old man originally wanted $10/tire, and the ladder was $150.  I ask the lady what they’d want for both.  She looks in the air and says, $150.  The old man grimaces.  I say, “I was hoping you’d say that.”  I hand over the cash, throw the tires in, and the old man gets me some old rope and an old table cloth to strap the ladder on the roof.  He says, “Don’t mind bringing the rope back.”

Now I’m driving on snows in the summer.