Dumb vehicle-related mistakes?

OK, this story is all my own, back when I was a teenager with my first car, I received several tickets for driving on “bald” tires. I did not have the money to buy new tires and back then, there were no businesses that sold or rented used tires. In retrospect, I do not know why I did not try to scrounge up old tires from a gas station or hit up a junk yard for tires…

I knew I had to get some tires before going to court to pay the fines because the county judge had a reputation of asking if the problem had been fixed and he would stop court and go outside and take a look. He did that to me a month previously when I was ticketed for “inadequate” exhaust. I had replaced the stock muffler with a “resonator,” which is a shorty muffler that can really give your car a much “beefier” sound. To my dismay, too beefy… I put the old muffler back on and sure enough, Judge Tepedino (who I appeared before about 10-times over 4 years…) did ask if I had fixed the muffler and was the car outside, I said I did fix it and we went outside. Because my '54 was like a “quiet purring kitten”, he fined me only $5.00.

Interesting side note to the muffler story; a couple of guys I knew also had been ticketed for various violations (speeding and no brake lights) were there and I stayed until they were seen so we could all go out later. Another guy also was ticketed for a bad muffler, when he was asked if he fixed the muffler, he kind of sneered, “Yeah…” When asked if the car was outside, he said no. Judge T. fined him $25 and when he asked why he was fined so much when the “other guy” (me…) was only fined $5.00, Judge T. said, “He fixed his muffler, I do not believe you fixed yours…”

Any case, back on point – Bald Tires…

A neighbor had an old, really old pickup in his back yard. I seem to remember it being a late 1940s Studebaker. His kids played it, and it was there when he bought the house. He told me the tires still held some air and if I put it up on blocks so the kids could turn the steering wheel, I could have the tires. I took one look at them and my '54 used 14" on dodge rims, these were 16" and they were huge. My neighbor said don’t worry, maybe the bolt pattern will fit.

So, this is the first moment of “Stupid is as Stupid does…” I do not pull one tire and check to see if my spare with fit the truck, I jack up the truck, remove all four tires replaced the tires with cement blocks. I even blocked up the front end so the steering wheel would spin lock to lock…

The moment of truth comes when I try to fit the truck tires on the Dodge. The trucks bolt pattern is much wider than the Dodge’s. My neighbor looks at it and says he can fix it, he’s seen this done before. He goes home and comes back with a big chisel and hammer and starts cutting into the rim to make the lugholes oblong, so the rim will fit the smaller bolt pattern, after 5-minurtes of chopping into the steel, the rims fits my dodge.

We get some big washers and put the lug nuts on backwards and Wa-La. I’ve got “legal” tires for my court appearance. My Dodge originally had black rims, and these rims were red. I spray painted them black to match the back rims and the spray paint kind of concealed the washers and the backward lug nuts.

One particular note is that these tires on the front end stood a lot taller than the back tires, which was kinda cool. However, our chopping on the lug holes did not make for a symmetrical mounting of the tires. Both tires turned a bit off-center. When I drove real slow, the front end would slowly rise and lower like a boat does when you travel into small waves. When the tires were out of sync, the car sort of rocked with the left side rising as the right side lowered…

I could not drive the car over 40 as the off-balance tires really started to thump. But they were cheap…

So, how long did I drive on these, about three weeks. I was hot-dogging around a left turn when the right front rim rips through the washers and lug nuts. The wheel gets jammed into my wheel well, and we slide off the road. Luckily, other than denting the backside of the fender and deforming the wheel well, there is no other damage. I jack it up, put my bald spare on and limp home, not knowing if the left wheel would hold up.

I got my first charge account with Western Auto and bought five new tires.

OK, so Stupid is as Stupid does… As a teenager, I never thought about the consequences of making these “old, really old” tires fit a car they were not made for and in retrospect, I’ve got to wonder why my seemingly mature, intelligent adult neighbor thought this would be a good idea.

2 Likes

I had a tire blow out, but it was not on, but in the truck…

The tire was a Michelin LTS LT265/75 R16, with about 15,000 miles on it. It was mounted on the left rear of my 2001 Dodge Ram, 2500, 4x4, pickup truck. I was running it at 65-PSI, max tire pressure is 80-PSI.

My wife and I were on our way to Lowes to buy a pallet load of mulch to spread in our landscaping. While driving through the town, about 40 MPH, I noticed a thump coming from the rear of the truck. I stopped and I saw that the left rear tire had blistered and I immediately drove to a nearby tire dealer and had them change the tire with the spare. They threw the tire in the back of the truck and we went onto Lowes and bought the mulch.

On the way home, I was stopped at a stop light, second vehicle in the right lane with two vehicles in the adjacent lane waiting for the light to change.

Suddenly, there was a terrific explosion in the back of the truck and the truck windshield was covered with bits and pieces of mulch. Mulch also rained down onto the car in front of us and the two cars in the adjacent lane on my left.

When I had the tire changed, neither the tecnician nor I thought to let the air out of the tire in the back of the truck bed, and when I had the pallet put in the truck bed, I leaned the tire up against the pallet of mulch.

When the tire blew, the shredded steel belts and the sudden blast of air blew the ends off three of the bags of much and sent the mulch flying everywhere…

We all pulled over to the side of the road and luckily no one was injured and everyone thought it was ridiculously funny. I provided my insurance all with the promise that if the insurance did not cover cleaning their cars, I would. My State Farm Insurance Agent told me that only one of the folks made a claim for cleaning their car and the insurance paid for it under “road hazard.”

I am betting that those folks who got plastered with the mulch are still telling the story years later…

tire

1 Like

I recall another. Parked the truck for the day at a ski resort. A big snow storm with lots of wind started, from about 10 am. When it was time to leave, I opened the door to get inside & discovered the accel pedal and brake pedal were gone. Turned out they were both covered with 6 inches of snow. The snow was blown into the cab through a fresh air vent door. Made a point to remember to keep that door closed when snow is expected.

3 Likes

I inherited Dad’s 1964 90 HP Evinrude two stroke and wood boat after this incident. Dad was a fisherman and used this boat trolling for trout. Did this for decades since the boat and engine were brand new. One day he tells me that it kept stalling and wouldn’t go full speed back to the dock. My thought was that the plugs were fouled with low speed trolling, so I removed the plugs. They were clean… very, very, very clean. Looking at the glass fuel filter I suddenly realized that the gas looked wrong… it was clear, no color at all. He’d forgotten to add oil to the gas when he’d filled the tanks. After I added the proper oil it ran ok, but smoked way too much. Our neighbor, who ran an Evinrude shop, took pity on him and did the power head rebuild, charging him for parts only. Dad realized that he was getting more than forgetful and gave the boat to me.

2 Likes

the guy that lives in my mirror found out that a perfectly good International 7.3L IDI engine will last approximately 3/4 of a mile with no oil in it…

Hardest talk I … errrr… he ever had to have with his boss.

2 Likes

Yes and be sure to double clamp transmission cooler lines or you’ll have to tow it the last half mile home.

2 Likes

A great number of those Youtube videos are STAGGED.

3 Likes

Or just put a small flare at the end of the cut tube, doesn’t have to be prefect or pretty, just enough to keep the clamp from sliding off…

Security camera catches car flying into Cape Coral canal - YouTube

1 Like

And on Long Island:

Dumb car related mistake: leaving your engine running while going back inside to get your coffee! Should the Veloster owner be partially liable for this?

1 Like

That’s a tough one. A leaner, could be argued both ways, (1) that the criminal is the car thief, so the thief should take 100% of the blame; or (2) that the car owner is the criminal, by leaving the car running and going into the store. The theft was just an impromptu crime of opportunity.

The basic consensus is if you have Comprehensive Coverage it will pay to replace your car if it’s stolen, even if you leave the car running or leave the keys in it… But they will not pay off a car whose loan is “upside-down” nor will they pay “what you think your car is worth…”

However, the insurance company may not renew your coverage when it is time to renew…

I had asked this of my agent a while back when my area had a spat of cars being stolen in quicky marts parking lots and at gas stations… Where the owners left their cars running (Just for a minute…") and my agent had process a couple of these claims and all were paid. However, none of the folks were happy with the pay outs… Probably most of the cars had loans that were “upside down…” or they thought their cars were worth “Top of the Line” Blue Book. Except State Farm does not use the Blue Book, they have a “Red Book…” And in one case, the claimant came back wanting to know why State Farm would not renew and my agent referred them back to the home office rather than tell them they were consider too great a risk… and there may have been other factors…

I wasn’t even thinking about the car. You make a good point about that aspect. I was thinking about the damage to the house.

Or perhaps one-third liability to car owner/operator, two thirds to the car thief.

You weren’t thinking about the car? I was not thinking about the house…

I imagine that the car owner’s insurance will pay up to the policy’s limits for property damage. And the home owner, if insured will have their home owner’s policy pay the rest and there may be a deductible in that coverage. Who would pay that is anyone’s guess, I imagine that the thief has no resources and in a civil case, the car owner probably would be held responsible for all of the shortfall, under the legal theory that if not for leaving the car running, the car would not have been stolen.

My own experience with State Farm Insurance was great about 20-years ago. I carry full coverage with high limits and I also have an umbrella policy to enhance it… However, back then, I had a camper on the back of my truck. While traveling cross-country, I pulled into a gas station and I was real careful to ensure that the A/C unit on the camper roof cleared the overhang. I fueled up and pulled out, what I did not realize was that the overhang was lower on the far end than it was where I pulled in. The A/C Unit was severally damaged and I brought the camper to a RV repair business and dropped the camper off. The Roof was also damaged and they had to order a new A/C Unit.

State Farm put us up in a hotel and gave us per-diem for our meals for the 3-weeks of our stay. They paid for the repair of the camper 100% and the repair to the overhang (scraps and scuffs) and when the trip was over, they sent us a check for almost $3,000 for the loss use of the vehicle… (say What?)

I contacted State Farm right away, it did not make sense and I did not want to lose my insurance for fraud… I told State Farm the truck was fine and we had the use of the truck the entire time of the repair, but State Farm considered that truck/camper a unit and a single vehicle and if I could not use the truck with the camper, I “lost” the use of my vehicle and they paid this under coverage “R” – Transportation Expenses, lost use of the “covered vehicle.” Gotta love it…

Yeah I’ve had good luck with State Farm too but depends on agent and state I think. When we had roof hail damage, the inspector wrote us a check fir 75% on the spot. I never needed more. When I hit a deer and the car was totaled, until I fixed it they paid off more than I thought. They said they use three different valuations and then average for the final pay off. Fixed the car myself and went to Europe on the difference. When the kids car was sandwiched with front and rear damage, there was no problem paying it out. When it was stolen, they wanted to pay more than I wanted. Hail damage on the car no problem. Hit a few deer, never a problem, act of God.

1 Like