On Monday I drove my car into the city and noticed that my front right tyre was soft so I went to the petrol station and pumped it up.
While going out that evening I noticed the car pulling to the left and after I stopped for tea with a friend I noticed that the front left tyre was now soft, so I drove to a 24 hours petrol station and pumped it up, intending to go to the mechanic the next day to have it checked.
I was about to go out Tuesday afternoon and noticed that the front left tyre had gone almost flat, so I jacked the car up and replaced it with the spare and went straight to the mechanic and asked his workers to check both tyres to see what was wrong.
They later informed me that they had replaced the valve of the left front tyre but found nothing wrong with the right front tyre.
Yesterday (Wednesday) evening I got a call from the secretary of my school alumni association to inform me that we had a committee meeting which was about to start. I was confused by the exchange of e-mails that the meeting was this evening so I had a bath, got ready and when i got to my car, I found that my right front tyre was almost flat but short of time, I drove slowly to a petrol station and pumped it up and then went looking for a mechanic but all were closed as it was past 7 pm, so I proceeded to the meeting and kept my fingers crossed that the tyre would not go flat.
After the meeting, I pumped up the tyre again and decided to replace it with the spare when I got home and stopped by a coffee shop for a bite on the way back and parked my car under some trees.
When I got back to my car, I felt a plop on my left shoulder and a bird nestling in the tree for the night had shat on me, so I quickly drove the car out from under the tree. By then, there was bird shit on my windscreen and car as well but I decided to go to a petrol station to pump up the tyre again before I went home.
I parked at the air pump at the petrol station and as I unscrewed the cap of the inlet valve the whole valve assembly came out of its rubber sheath instead, the air cam gushing out and the tyre completely deflated. I drove the car slowly to a vacant spot on the concourse and replaced the tyre with the spare. Thank God this happened at a petrol station where there was plenty of light and space to replace the tyre and not whilst I was driving on the highway or busy road.
I decide to take a picture of the valve assembly which had come out of its rubber sheath which had apparently got old, hardened and loose.
I very rarely have had tyre problems with my car so I guess as they say when it rains it pours.
I then washed the bid shit off my car, my shirt and my shoulder.
Hopefully another tyre won't go flat on me later today, before I can go to the mechanic to have the valve assembly below replaced.
Moral of the story is seek immediate attention when you have tyres which go soft sooner than the others and even insist that the mechanic replace the whole valve assembly when you replace your worn tyres or every five years, whichever is sooner and save yourself much grief.
HAPPY MOTORING
Cheers
Charles
PS. I owe some of you replies to your e-mails to me. Apologies the delay.
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