Tired

I took my car in for its regular oil change and check up maintenance thing last week and they told me my back tires were done.

Like... "you shouldn't drive on these especially not in rain"  Which, ok, you know where I live right?

I'm *slightly* annoyed that they didn't give me a "your tires are getting low-ish" last tune up and I have told Jason "you were right" because he mentioned, a few months back, that he didn't feel my tires were up for snow driving this year.  Apparently they weren't. 

Part of the reason only my back tires were done is that I got two new tires a few years ago (I think I got a nail in one kind of thing) and so the wear was uneven.  The dealership also didn't rotate the tires at all (since I don't drive much?) which made the wear even more uneven.  (They also suggested I needed a tire alignment which then sent me off on a line of questioning with Jason of wait, my tires have what?  weights?  and they're at slight angles?  who?)

When I was getting the van ready for Burning Man, we got a solid set of tires at a place here in town and so we went back there to talk about tires for my sweet little car.

I really appreciated how they listened (asked what my driving style was, distance, regularity, etc, and what I was looking for - SAFETY!) and then found me a set of tires that are apparently super cool (and three of the other guys in the shop have on their vehicles year round, so cool!)

They are absolutely a stretch for my budget right now but after my tires failed to grip in the rain on an uphill start a couple of times, I realized that a stretched budget or an over-extended VISA bill is far better than an accident or uncomfortable driving.

So I got the tires that are the brand of that puffy marshmallow guy and they're Winter rated but I'm going to leave them on all year (not a big issue, and also, means I don't have to find a place to store, and buy! a set of Summer tires)  This is a huge upgrade (as I understand it) safety wise from my "all weather" good tires that I had on before and Jason is already happy to see me in safer tires.

They also checked the tire pressure on my spare, which isn't something I'd thought about before.  (Not that I know how to put on a spare, particularly, but it would be miserable to try to get it on and find out it wasn't even usable, eh?)

So, yeah, my baby's got some brand new shoes.  And yes, I did literally kick one of them when no one was looking just so I could say "I kicked the tires!"

Now both my vehicles have super cool, super safe, really good tires.  I've been told this is a heck of a lot more important for driving than most people realize.  *The more you know!*