I’m sure most of us have had to face the frustration of a flat tire. One time while I was a relatively new driver, I was on the interstate doing 70 mph when all of a sudden the right front of my car dropped. It is no fun trying to steer a car going 70 mph with one of the front tires completely flat. That was the day I got the first hand education on what to do when you get a blowout.

I took hold the wheel as hard as I could and just kept the car as strait as I could. I had been through driver’s ed and I remembered that I should not slam on the breaks so I didn’t. I took my foot off the gas and waited until the car slowed and pulled it off onto the shoulder.

By the way, this was the first time I changed a flat. What an education I got that day. The car was just a few months old, so I was totally confused as to why the tire went flat… so fast.

I put the spare on, which was a real wheel, and took the flat one to the dealer. He inspected the tire and wheel and found nothing abnormal. Well, I want you to know, that one remained the spare until I traded the car in four years later. In all that time, it was never again on the road.

Well, I have had flats since, and one thing never changed. They are no fun. That is especially true when they occur in pairs. I didn’t like that one at all. I only had one spare and it was about a mile to the nearest station.

One time, I had a flat in a real down poor. I didn’t like that one any more than the blowout. Maybe it wasn’t as dangerous but I got a lot more wet. Incidentally, a person can only get so wet. Once a certain point is reached, the water just falls off.

Why all the complaining about flat tires? I was browsing the web the other day and came upon an article about tires with no air. Now that caught my attention. It was just a short article and I am not sure if it is legitimate.

It might be. I hope it is. I don’t like it when I get flats and the tire they were speaking of did not go flat. I kind of like that idea.

Well, at any rate, they say they need a little more research and they still need them to be approved. They said 3 or 4 more years before they put them on new cars. Better they put them on mine.