New Tires for the Honda

The tires on the Honda were showing their age. It's not at all surprising; they've been rolling along for over 80,000 miles. They've served us well and got us safely across the country. But with the prospect of driving to Virginia and Ohio in a few weeks, we decided it would be wise to have a little more tread between us and the pavement/snow/ice.

On two separate occasions, I researched the current tire market. Consumer Reports listed four tires as their best buys, but none of them are available in my size. I was on my own. So I started looking for local tire stores to see what they carry in my size, then working backwards to get reviews for those tires. I eventually widdled the choice down to two tires, both by Goodyear. One has excellent traction qualities and good comfort and noise characteristics. The other was just the opposite. I was leaning towards the latter, but it wasn't in stock. The salesman offered a pretty good deal on the tires in stock and we went for it. The deal included a 30 day, no questions asked return policy, so if the new tires are too rough or noisy, we can return them for the quieter tires.

As the old tires came off and the new ones were installed, Andrew and I watched from the sidelines. We were both quite impressed with the hardware involved with mounting and balancing tires. Then the owner offered Andrew some Mega Blocks and a cabinet full of toys, including jet planes and Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel. Andrew started playing with Thomas, but soon switched to the planes and setup a nice airport at the end of the runway (black runner carpet).

The alignment of a BMW was taking longer than expected, so the owner offered to show Andrew the store room. We walked into a small room with tires on shelves from the floor to the 20 foot high ceiling. A worker showed how he reached the tires on the top shelf by climbing the racks. Andrew was impressed. Andrew played in the tires for a while, then it was back to the airplanes.

Finally the Honda was put on the alignment machine. Unfortunately, Honda does not provide adjustments in all three dimensions on the CR-V. They adjusted what they could and we were finally cleared to leave. Andrew was not in any hurry to leave. He was having a great time. The owner offered to let Andrew take two planes home with us. Andrew picked the F-16, but couldn't decide between the B-29 and the F-111. The owner graciously let Andrew have both. What a great guy. Given a choice, I'll repay the kindness by giving him some more work in the future. In tough times, and times are pretty tough here, it's nice to see great customer service.