Tired

A few weeks ago on a Monday morning, I climbed into my car to head to work.  As I turned on the key, I noticed that I had a warning light on the console.  Tire low, add air.  I checked the PSI monitor, which informed me that my left rear tire had a total of 0 PSI.  I got out of the car to ensure it wasn't a problem with the sensor.  Sure enough, the tire was flat.  It happens, and I wasn't all that stressed out about it.  I was actually pretty thankful that it was something that I had to deal with in my garage, rather than out on the road.  I took the tire off and sent it to work with my mom, who is the receptionist at my brother's garage.  They replaced the stem on the tire, as that's where they determined it was leaking.  Things seemed fine after that for a few days.

A few days later, the low pressure light came on again as I was driving to work.  It seemed to be a slower leak than before, so I stopped and put some air in it, and then took it back to the garage.  They examined the tire, but could not find a puncture in it anywhere.  They had a used tire in stock, so they put that on to see if that would solve the problem.  Amazingly enough, it didn't.  Even with a different tire, I was still losing air.  It was getting to the point where I was having to stop and put air in the tire at three different points in my drive to work:  Before leaving my house, half-way to the office, and at the office.  This was pretty irritating to say the least.  The people who work at my brother's shop aren't idiots, and they know what they're doing.  They checked both the tire and the wheel rim thoroughly.  They submerged it in water to look for punctures.  They inspected the wheel rim for any damage or warping.  They replaced the stem again.  But still, the tire was losing air.

Finally, I purchased a new wheel rim.  This was pretty much the last straw for me.  The car is eight years old, fully paid off, and it's starting to develop a bunch of other problems.  It has a leak in the exhaust that will be quite a costly issue in another year or two.  The transmission sometimes catches.  I know that a new car is on the horizon for me within the next 1-3 years.  I figured if this new rim didn't solve my problem, then the time was now.  But, fortunately for my current finances, the new rim solved the problem.  The tire pressure has been steady ever since, and it's been over a week now.

For me, it's now become a meme.  A flat tire is probably the most common, easiest-to-fix issue you can have with a car, and no one could figure mine out.