On the way to work this morning, I saw a girl driving on her rim. She had her hazards on, was going about 45, and seemed to be engrossed in her phone as she drove along, sparks and all. Person after person pulled up next to her, honked the horn, and pointed at the wheel with no tire. Did they really think she didn't notice?
I tried to pull an old woman over once who was doing that. She was clearly freaked out and white knuckling the wheel as she destroyed the rim. Completely unsafe to herself and everyone around her but she was on a mission and wouldn't stop.
A few years ago a coworker of mine pulled up next to me at a stoplight during lunch. She had a flat tire. My passenger rolled the window down and told her, and she said, "I know, but I want to wait until I go home tonight so I can get it fixed near home". smh
At our first auto x event this spring, there was a very beat up and ricey looking EG or EK Civic that pulled into the lot on a completely shredded tire as I was standing in line at registration. The guy had clearly driven some distance on it and the car looked like it may have also been in a minor collision. No idea if that had any connection to the shredded tire. The guy pulled up, spoke briefly with the person we had stationed at the entrance to the lot, then made a u-ee and drove back out and eventually back on to the main road.
I was totally baffled. Did he think he was going to be allowed to run like that? Was he even trying to? Why the hell would he not at least change the tire before continuing on his way? I mean FFS, you've got 100+ car guys there to help you with all the tools and jacks you could ever want. Even if he didn't have a spare, I'm sure someone had a 4x100 donut to donate!
slowride wrote: On the way to work this morning, I saw a girl driving on her rim. She had her hazards on, was going about 45, and seemed to be engrossed in her phone as she drove along, sparks and all. Person after person pulled up next to her, honked the horn, and pointed at the wheel with no tire. Did they really think she didn't notice?
Sounds like you saw my sister 
She'd blame it on the tire installer, for not installing the tire in such a way that it would hold its installation pressure indefinitely 
And then she'd call me to change the wheel instead of paying someone to do it, even though she and her hyper-rich boyfriend have no shortage of cash.
And then when I refuse she'd complain to our parents who would complain to me 
Yeah....I have personal experience with this. My wife blasted a curb at 40 MPH a mile away from the apartment, drove 3/4 miles then called me to ask me what she should do. There is nowhere to pull over safely so I told her to limp it home, it didn't do any damage besides a scuff on the rim and a shredded tire. Miraculously the TPMS sensor and alignment managed to escape unscathed.
I have done it.. when I got my 318ti, I did not know that the spare was completely flat. As anybody who has owned one of BMW's hatchbacks can tell you, it is difficult to access the spare to check (It is under the car and protected by a cover)
I very carefully drove 5 miles on the flat and by the time I had gotten where I was going, it had completely disintegrated, leaving just a bead of rubber over both edges of the rim. I got lucky, but I also had no place to stop and no way to change it if I did
I have told my wife and daughter never to change a tire on the side of the highway. Screw the rim. Drive very slowly to someplace safe. I can find another wheel.
In reply to Woody:
That's sound advice. I lost a friend on the side of the Long Island Expressway changing a tire.
I had an overnight dropoff Hyundai that had a rear tire on the rim, and rubber slap-marks on the side of the car that extended about 2-3 feet from the wheelwell. And the side skirt was missing. I bet that made a helluva noise.
Obligatory because this was so badass that it caused a rule change. Flat tire at the start of a special stage, no time to change tire, just go and beat the hell out of the suspension anyway, drag car 70km to service...
https://www.youtube.com/embed/2fJP1d2Fo-w
After that they made some silly rule that cars must transit on four wheels or some BS.
I remember reading about this incident in SCC, too: Makinen drags his car on three wheels
SCC was awesome because they actually did articles about stage rally. Not just WRC but also multi-page articles about SCCA ProRally. It's probably the REASON why I got interested in stage rally in the first place.
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