$$$$$$$$ minus RECALL = $$$

After I posted yesterday’s blog, I got online to be sure that the Michelin Tires we were going to purchase would work on the motorhome…and what others thought of them.  During this search I see the word “Recall”, so on a hunch I do a search on the tires we had on the motorhome, Michelin LT 225/75R16, and recall.  BINGO, found out that our tires were on a recall because, “a small number of the tires being recalled experienced tread loss and/or rapid air loss.”

We arrived at Discount Tire in Canutillo, Texas.  This store was opened in 2011, and looks brand new.  At 8 am, we were the first and only customers….but others showed up soon after opening.  I explained about our blowout, about the recall, and the staff there (sorry, forgot names) were so great.  I think Andree was the name of the sales guy who took care of us.  He got the stuff together, talked to the manager, and went out to see if the inside duel tires, which were just being taken off, were also of the same batch as the other four.  The manager tells me that “if” they are, we would get six new tires compliments of Michelin, but we would need to pay for balancing….and had the option to buy a three year guarantee for all the tires for $22 per tire.  I asked him what would happen if we had a blow out in Canada or Alaska?  He said, “Provide us a receipt and we will reimburse you.”  So for right around $500, we have seven new tires.  Six provided by Michelin, the spare bought by us, lifetime rotation and balancing, and three year full guarantee on all seven tires.  Essentially we saved around $1,200 had we bought six new tires.  We were in at 8:00, out by 9:30.  ALL of the staff were just great.

Safercar.gov provides a search of tire recalls, investigations, and complaints.   Had we not known about the recall, chances are that the staff working at the tire dealership would not have known either.

Above is an example of a tire that blew similar to ours.  Andree looked at ours and said, “It is exactly like how the recall bulletin said how the tires were failing!”  Had we been going 70 mph, the tire probably would have come apart, perhaps doing damage to the inside tire too.  We were very fortunate.

  

So now we have a GREAT spare, seven new tires to drive on….

We did lose one lug-nut cover in the process……and

…..we won a slightly used car!  (ok, I threw that one in for my brother-in-law Arnie…..this is the type of car that he use to work on….but he would NEVER give it a paint job like this!)

Hit some winds today, blew up a bunch of dust to the east of us as we headed up to Silver City, New Mexico.

They are building some sort of reservoir at the foot of the mountains…and that also blew up a bunch of dust.  The picture does not catch it, but with the naked eye it looks like a steady flow of dirt blowing from west to east along the work area.

  

We are at the Rose Valley RV Ranch in Silver City.  It is a Passport America park, you get the 50% discount if you stay two nights, which means you buy one, get one free, which we call a BOGO in the grocery stores back home.  The park has around 70 sites, and they are somewhat spread out.  We got a pull-through for $38.00 total for the two nights.  Does not have cable TV, but there are over-the-air stations, and you don’t have to worry about large trees block your satellite signal if you are so inclined to use satellite.  The WiFi is not the best, but they are in the middle of doing upgrades….a week or so from now and it should be pretty good according to the lady in the office…..who was super nice.

We know one thing for sure, we are not going to have any noise coming from behind us because all those neighbors will still be fast asleep when we leave.  (if you can’t see it, it is a graveyard)