BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

Mr. Luddite

On 1/14/2016 10:57 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jan 2016 22:18:05 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 1/14/2016 9:28 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 6:05:30 PM UTC-5, Mr. Luddite wrote:
Mrs.E. came home from running down to the local store this afternoon
and told me she thought she was getting a flat tire. Said she heard
something and car felt funny after that.

Went out to check. Yup. Flat tire alright.

She should stick to riding horses.

http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy303/Eisboch/tire.jpg

Back when the whole fiasco over Explorers being unstable when a tire blew, I had one.

I was doing 75 or so and encountered a chunk of 18 wheeler brake drum on the interstate. There was nowhere to go, so I centered it and hoped for the best. It hit the front diff shield (4x4 Explorer), flipped around underneath, hit the gas tank shield, then cut a big gash in the rear left tire sidewall, producing an instant flat at 75mph. It wagged around in the road, but I just let off the gas and coasted over to the shoulder. 20 or so minutes, and I was on my way on the spare.

After that, I saw a show where they tested the Explorer in sudden flat situations. They experienced the same as me... it is no big deal when you have a sudden flat. It is just the bad drivers doing stupid things, like jerking the wheel when it starts wagging around.

Glad your wife made it hone safely.

Yeah, fortunately she was coming home from a store just a couple of
miles from the house and was driving at turtle speed (as she puts it)
due to recent snow and ice cover on roads. She heard a bang but didn't
put it together. Don't think she has ever had a tire go flat or
have a blow out before, so she just kept driving.

Mercury?

Yeah ... a "Mountaineer" or something like that.
Another example of a basically decent vehicle with too many
doo-dad things like hydraulically operated running boards with
a windshield wiper motor for the hydraulic pump that
crapped out, motor driven rear seats that she never uses because
the thing is basically a hay wagon, and a bunch of electronically
controlled operator controls that are nothing but confusing. I think
I've driven it once since she bought it. Runs good, rides good, has
plenty of "pep" but too complicated for it and the driver's own good, IMO.

I am a believer that the more crap you put in front of a driver, the
more the crap takes away from the driver's attention to what he or she
is doing. That's why, after owning several "exotic" cars, I am happy
driving my plain jane F-250. I rarely even use the radio.

The only one I had that was an exception was the Porsche. Simple, fast,
and handled like it was on rails.