Car Wars 7–Tired and Retired

My car, a 2002 PT Cruiser just crossed over 65,000 miles this last weekend.  If you're doing the math, that's under 5,000 miles a year.

It gave me fits last year as documented HERE.  But it's also been having flat tire issues.  CONSTANTLY.  I learned a long time ago the aluminum rims on it are hard to get a seal on and will leak air.  Right after New Year's, I ended up with two flat tires that my little Target air compressor just couldn't keep up with.

So, I got two new tires at Car-X.

And the next week, they were both flat in the garage.

So I pumped them up.

And the next week, they were both flat in the garage.

So I went back to Car-X, and they tried resealing them.

And it WORKED!    On one tire. 

So I put up with filling the tire once a week for while, because I can't take the car in constantly.

I took it in a few weeks back, and they warned me that they were going to try sending it our for grinding and polishing and if that didn't work, we may be in the "replace the rim" territory.

It didn't hold.  It was flat in a week.

So I took it in on Monday all ready to get the rim replaced.

So, they sent my old rim off, and the people found a crack in it that they guessed would leak out in a week, and were able to weld it.  We'll see if it holds.  If not, they are going to need to replace the rim.  But since they are so leaky, they are also hard to find, and it might take up to a week for them to get a replacement in.

But, for the fiddle-farting they've done with my car, they haven't charged me since replacing the tires.

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I just went and checked on it.  It's only been a few days, so the jury's still out.  Man I hope it holds, but I'm not holding my breath.

If my tire isn't going to hold it's air, why should I?