A while ago, I had an incident with the snowy roads and the sharp turn into my driveway. I ended up missing the drive and sliding into the ditch. With a bit of luck, I managed to straddle the edges of the ditch and contrived to get myself down the hill to a smoother spot and got my car out and back onto the road. Ironically, that was the day where I had earlier complained about bad drivers in the wintertime in Ohio on Facebook.
I was pleased with myself that I had gotten out without a tow-truck – but there were consequences. I had somehow messed up the alignment and now had to pull the wheel to the right in order to go straight ahead.
I drove like that for a while, but realized that the terrible Ohio potholes weren’t going to knock things back in place. Also, I needed two new front tires as they were going bald.
So, the day before the latest huge snowstorm, I headed up to National Tire and Brake. I told the guy that I needed two new tires and to have my alignment… re-aligned. He asked what kind of tires and I told him that I didn’t need anything fancy – just round, made of rubber, less bald than my current ones. Taking it in stride, he asked if I wanted those in black or yellow. I smiled and said black would match my car. He gave me an estimate that seemed reasonable and said it would be about an hour. I walked over to Best Buy and got the new Adele CD – then over to Burger King for a snack.
Back at NTB, I sat in the waiting room while they finished up the alignment. The guy at the desk called me over in a bit and explained what they did and other services they could offer. I politely declined and paid the very reasonable bill.
I actually had a little trouble driving home on the highway – it seemed that I’d gotten used to the mis-alignment and it took me a bit to get used to the new steering – and the new tires.
My car is riding fine now and I’m pleased with the results. It’s got 113,000 miles on it, but I’m glad I can hang onto it a bit longer.
