Tire changin' in the rain

Yesterday, I had the tread fly off one of the tires on my car. I was on Highway 49, going north, between Magee and Mendenhall. At first, I thought I had a flat, but, upon closer inspection, I realized that the tread had started to peel off. Flapping up underneath the car, it made a heck of a noise!

While I was changing the tire, to put on the spare, it started to rain. By the time I had finished, it had almost stopped raining.

When I got back to Jackson, I went to see Frank Holman. There, they repaired a slow leak in the right front tire, and I purchased a nice, used tire to take the place of the one that had come apart. Also, Frank tightened up the wire that is holding up the tail pipe. All for twenty dollars, including tax. Not a bad deal.

I asked Frank what the squeaking sound was, which was coming from under the hood on the left front side of the car. He said that it was the ball joint. While the car was up on the rack, he showed me where the rubber part had split open. Because of that, the joint can no longer hold lubricant. He said that it would cost eighty dollars per ball joint (there are two), and the car would need to have a front-end alignment after the ball joints were replaced. I believe that the alignment would be about forty dollars.

Also, he showed me a "bubble" on the left rear tire. He said that indicated that the tread would soon come off that tire, as well. He said that I could buy a set of four tires for $215.00 to $220.00.

Tomorrow morning, I plan to go in to have the ball joints repaired. Then, I'll see about buying some new tires, or, maybe, just have the "bad" tire replaced with another used one.