Pages

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

And now...a review of some tyres.


This is a sponsored post. And it's about tyres. Read on! 


Once upon a time I was a penniless student. I had no licence to drive and no car to drive if I did.

My Dad told me he would buy me a car but he gave me two conditions that I would need to meet before he would be handing over the keys.

First, I needed to get myself a job, I would be responsible for the petrol, services, insurances and tyres.

I also had to prove to him that I could change a tyre. On my own. This was so that if I needed to change a wheel in the middle of nowhere I could do it.

I ticked both of these boxes and became the proud new owner of a 1980 Datsun 200B. It was baby blue on the outside and baby poo on the inside. It had air conditioning. I was thrilled.

I wish I had a photo of me and the Datsun, I know somewhere there is one of me sitting on the car, spiral perm giving me the 2 minute noodle look of the early 90s. But someone else must have it, I can't find it.

I kept that car until it wouldn’t drive from A to B any longer and in all that time I never changed a tyre on it again. Those tyres never went flat the whole time I had it. This is possibly because Dad also had a thing about having good tyres.

Remember how Dad had just bought a new car the week he died? He loved that car, but had said to Mum, “the tyres are ok, but we will get new ones still”.  But that was just one of the things on his to do list that week that didn’t get done.

I, however, got an email asking if I wanted to check out some new tyres. Good ones.

Why yes, actually, I believe I do!

Mum and I headed to the tyre shop with strict instructions from my brother that we were to bring the old tyres home with us (Is this normal? Don't know, but we did as we were told.)  




A coffee and a few pieces of cake later and the new tyres were on.

They are black, they are rubber, they are round and guess what – they look just like the other tyres to Mum and me.

But looks can be deceiving, they looked the same, they felt the same, but they didn’t sound the same.

They are ever so quiet. Not like most SUV tyres. 

Mum doesn’t like driving in the city so I get to pretend I am not in our old rust bucket and to drive her car when she visits. I also drive her car around when we are in the country (best to get hers all dirty and not mine).



The Goodyear Efficient Grip tyres are good. I know this because the men folk stood around discussing how the heck Clairey got asked to review tyres like these, they touched them and rubbed them and made faces with their mouths as they nodded silently, mmm, not bad tyres. Mmmm, you'll get a good few years out of those...yep, you wont be needing to worry about tyres now... Mmmm, this blogging thing seems alright...

Black, round, rubber.
Goodyear tells me that the efficient grip actually does more than provide peace and calm regarding noise levels. They also say it shortens braking distances, offering lower rolling resistance, this is good to know, but I am not going to put it to the test when on the school run.

But if  you find yourself needing new tyres for your SUV and you are looking for something that allows you a peaceful ride – just tell them you want the Goodyear Efficient Grip, see if they will make them look as pretty as this one.







The fact remains though, that even though I was taught well the skills required to change my own tyre I have still never actually done it. 

Can you, have you, changed a tyre all on your own?


14 comments:

  1. Your dad and my dad - same rules. And yup, I can change a tyre. That's about it though! We recently had a ........ tight time..... and my beautiful BIL bought me new tyres as a Christmas / birthday present. Best. Present. Ever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow Alli, that is a really great present. When we had some tight times I asked my SIL asked what I wanted for Christmas I said Shampoo and Conditioner - from the hairdresser - the good stuff. Everyone was listening and I got heaps of it from people. I was so happy, that stuff costs about the same as tyres over a couple of years!

      Delete
    2. What was most wonderful about the tyres is that it wasn't asked for. He just went and organised it. Gave me a business card and told me to book the car in. Awwww.

      Delete
  2. Nope never changed a tyre in my life. I had a flat when I was about to send the kids to school late last year. You know the time when you're super busy, stressed out & have too much on the plate? The end of the year? Well, yes, that's when it happened. What did I do? Rang Mr. C. His reaction? "You want me to come home to change the tyre??" Umm..yes please. No, it didn't happen. Instead I rang road side assistance. It was embarassing for me as I should know how to do it. :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is never a good time to get a flat tyre - or a flat battery!

      I have also found, depending on the car, the tyres are just too heavy anyway. Good excuse for me to get a nice little sports car down the track some day.

      Delete
  3. We had tyre changing lessons at my all girls school and I've had to do it a couple of times. A year or so ago after kinder drop off I noticed another mum with a flat. Between the two of us we managed to get it changed and she wasn't horrendously late for work. Love a bit of teamwork!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My Dad had that rule, too - he showed me, and I never ever did it again. Twice I've had flat tyres: once I got a mechanic from my work at the time to fix it, the next time I called Steve. The 'how to change a tyre' lesson just never stuck in my head.

    Love that last photo!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Had never changed a tyre until once again I got a flat. At the bottom of my old drive way. My daughter jumps out of the car, and declares, c'mon mum WE can do this. And we did. :)

    At doesn't necessarily mean I will turn away some else from doing it for me though ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. that last photo sold me entirely LOL

    ReplyDelete
  7. Never changed a tyre; I called the RAA for assistance! I don't even know how to get the spare out of the back of our 4WD as it all looks quite complicated.

    But I DO know about new tyres, as last week, I just forked out truckloads of money for 4 new ones on our car (insert very sad face here).


    Annie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Annie - I know! The week before Christmas we had to replace just one blown out tyre, one was enough to cause sad faces too!

      Delete
  8. Well I know I was taught to change a tyre but no I never have..possibly fear of it falling off!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I did change tyres when i lived overseas... but since I moved to Perth they are too hard to undo, because the service men tighten them with machines!

    ReplyDelete
  10. The stopping distance chart is really interesting, I never knew that the tyre you used could make such a difference! It sounds like I'm lucky I already use Goodyear Tyres :)

    ReplyDelete

Commenting brings amazing luck, you must try it and see how you go!