car, re-tired

My puny Honda Fit has new front tires. 60,000-mile Goodyears, to be exact. They cost me $65 apiece at the local Wal-mart, plus labor and 5% sales tax-- a total of $164.

The difference in ride quality is amazing. I'd been living with weird vibrations for most of the past year, and had been told by the tire center specialists of a different Wal-mart, one in Winchester, that my tires were the likely culprits. Now, the ride is almost perfectly smooth-- no vibrations at all. Incroyable.

My traction is a thousand times better as well: I can zoom around curves without any embarrassing screeching. This gives me more confidence in my car's handling ability, but there is one unfortunate side effect: the temptation to speed even more than I already do. Hitting 90 mph is a regular occurrence for me; while it's rare for me to push it to 95, I might be inclined to do so more often.

The lank-haired dude at the Wal-mart tire center told me that my right front tire was almost dead as well: "Worn down to the metal," he observed. I looked at where he was pointing and saw the telltale glitter of the tire's exposed steel belts through the chewed-up rubber.

I guess the next step will be to get the rear tires replaced, but I'm in no hurry: the tracks on those tires still seem healthy, and the rear tires don't bear the majority of the car's weight, anyway-- there's no engine in the back.

Simple minds, simple pleasures. I'm just glad my car has two new front feet.


_