Don't Tread On Me

We got new tires for the Outlander last January. We were only about 18,000 miles into their 70,000 mile warranty, so we weren't too worried this past week when we noticed one of the tires had a leak. Kristen stopped on her way home from work on Friday to have it patched since Firestone will do it for free for the life of the tire. Well, it turns out the tire's life was shorter than we thought.

Upon closer inspection, they found a wayward screw along the edge of the tread. Apparently this specific spot on the tire won't hold a patch, thus making it irreparable. No big deal, right? Firestone will still replace a tire if it gets ruined before the warranty is up.

But here's the hitch. Since our car is all-wheel drive, they couldn't replace just one tire since the tread had worn two millimeters past where the manufacturer says you can safely mix a new tire with the old ones. Doing so could cause damage to the transmission, or some such spook story.

So we were told we needed four new tires. The good news is they would give us the one tire that was damaged for free, plus they were having some big tire sale that weekend. Of course, for every discount they gave us, it seemed as if they tacked on some hidden fee to make up for it.

So there goes another $400 out the window. I told Kristen it feels like we are unwitting participants in some vast conspiracy bent on preventing us from ever saving any money. She grimly nodded in agreement.