I hate myself for being one of those idiots, but I here I am. I know there is a problem with my car but I can't tell AAA what it is. My car is "off".
Traffic clears and I can walk around my car, a 12 year old Volvo, now stopped on the side of Lyndale, when I see what is wrong. The left rear tire is tilted. A lot. Tires that are properly attached to the wheel do not bend at this angle. I look closer: one lug nut is in, four are gone. The tire is hanging on by a thread (literally). I am very lucky not to have caused an accident, or gotten anyone killed. For that, I am relieved, but another question causes me greater concern:
How the hell could this have happened?
It will be a mystery I would ultimately can not solve, despite my best efforts.
Tuesday night:
I am meeting a friend out for a few beers. We picked Surly, but due to the long wait, we went with plan B, Urban Growler, only a short bit away. My car was driving fine at this point.
I got there a bit before 8pm, and we left about 10. The night passed without incident, aside from the car who parked next to me. Another Volvo, and SUV, backed into the spot to my right, parking within inches of my car. It is one of those dick moves that serves no purpose; very Minnesota Passive Aggressive, but as I saw no reason for it, I got in my car and started driving home.
That is when I noticed the bump.
There was no better way of describing it than a bump, that occurred at a regular intervals as I drove. As I sped up, the frequency increased. It was similar to a flat tire, but the car was not noticeably dipping. The car was driving fairly straight; there was a slight slide, but it had been raining today, after a long period of dry, so I figured it was just oil on the road. Urban Growler is located in a very industrial area.
I thought it might be a rock or something caught in the tire tread, that would work itself out. I got on the interstate; that made it worse. And scarier. What was just an annoyance suddenly sounded like something that was very wrong. I got off as soon as I could and took the slow road home. The tires looked fine; I went to bed thinking the air must be low.
Thursday afternoon:
I had driven the car briefly Wednesday, and the bump was still there, no better no worse. It was raining, so I skipped filling the tires with air. Today, it is sunny and the car already feels worse than yesterday, so no excuse. The tire pressure in all all is good, but I give them all a blast. I did not notice anything amiss with the rear wheel.
After a stop and a bad job of parallel parking, I head back home, this time the vibration is bad. Very bad. I know something is very, very wrong, but for the life of me, I don't know what. I decide I better pull over and call AAA. As I am looking for a place to pull over, a van pulls alongside me and honks politely. The driver looks at me and shakes his head "no". That is all I need to convince me something is wrong. If another driver can see something is off, then I am in bad shape.
I pull over and I have no idea what is wrong, so I call AAA, not knowing what I will say, but just knowing that I need help. Then I see it. As relieved as I am to now know why my car was off, it raises the uglier question:
How the hell could this have happened?
The Tow:
It doesn't take too long for the tow to show up. Frank gets out and shakes his head when he sees the tire. Frank looks to be in his 60s. He is covered in grease and grime, and it looks like he has seen and towed everything I liked him instantly.
He works quickly but carefully to get my car on the flatbed. I hold my breath as it is being pulled up, expecting that last bolt to give way. Miraculously, it holds. Frank is a very likable guy. He is a very talkative, happy guy, which is a shame, as he probably spends most of his day working alone, or when he does have a passenger, like me, they are typically in bad moods. I, however, was not. I wanted to figure out what happened.
There is a saying that everyone you meet knows something you don't, and this was the case with Frank. He knew more about cars and wheel mounting systems that I thought there was to know. He explains the difference in how the tires attach to the wheel. Volvo, VW and most of the European car makers have a bolt system, the tire casing must fit over, unlike the flush mount for US and Japanese cars. This makes the wheels for European cars extremely tough to remove (coincidentally, that is why I joined AAA. I got a flat in 0 degree weather, and I could not get the tire off on my own). Frank explained that bolt system provides extra security, in helping keep tires on the car. It probably saved me from having a wreck.
"When was the last time you had the car in?" Frank asked. Maybe five, six months ago. It is due to go in next week. Frank said lug nuts getting loose typically happens after servicing the car. If the lug nuts weren’t put on properly, they can loosen up as you drive and then fall out, but that would happens within a few days - a week max - after you have the service.
"What could cause a lug nut to loosen up like this?" I asked. Frank pauses for a moment, then looks me in the eye as we drive to the service station.
"Someone loosening them intentionally."
The Service Station:
I always worry about service stations where I don't have experience. When growing up, I had an overheating radiator and I went to the nearest service station, one I didn't know. I had a busted hose; they quoted a price of $100. I left and drove my overheating car to our regular place. They fixed it for $3.50 - parts and labor. Since then, I am paranoid about new service stations, but it was a AAA vendor, so I figured I wouldn't get totally screwed. Plus, my regular guy is in Hopkins. It would be worth $100 not to drive there at this time a day.
I get the car checked in and they ask me all the usual questions: name, address, milage (on the car, not me), what happened and when was the last time I got the car serviced (5-6 months ago).
"Humm. Have you recently changed a flat tire?" No, I haven't. Last time the tires were touched, was when they got rotated last servicing.
"That's unusual for lug nuts to come out on their own, especially so long after being serviced. That typically only happens immediately afterwards."
So I have been told.
Frank manages to get another lug nut in before he gets my car off the flatbed. As he was lowering the car, he stopped the car as the wheel rotated into a vertical position again, and then he takes a lug nut off another wheel, and puts it in the back one and he tightens the one remaining lug nut, to give it extra support as he lowers it down. He didn't want to see the wheel coming off just as we get to the service station.
I knew there was a reason to like him.
It takes about an hour, but they check out the car. The big concerns were did the wobbling tire do any damage to the actual wheel and did the bolts, when they were loosening up, cause any damage to the holes, widening them so you can't get a proper seal. In both cases, the answer was no. It hadn't been driven enough with the loose lug nuts to cause any damage. Had it not been the case, my service would have cost several thousand dollars. As it turns out, it only cost me about $95. More than I would have thought, but aren't all car repairs that way. The station seemed reputable, and they had that Minnesota Nice thing going full force. I asked the question again, how could this have happened? It wasn't after servicing, so how could they come out? Was this vandalism?
Sometimes Minnesota Nice can be a real burden. It prevents folks from saying anything bad directly. So in a classic Minnesota Nice answer, when I pushed him if this was vandalism, he says "It's hard to think of any reason how this could happen on its own."
My Mechanic:
I had a scheduled maintenance for my car today; the timing of this appointment was the only fortuitous thing that has happened to my car in a while. I went over the minor issues, then told them about the tire.
The mechanic has worked on my car for years. Previously, I was really frustrated with the service from the dealership I had been getting. Once I started going to Justin, it has been a new love affair with my car. He is very thorough, well versed and skilled with Volvos. He is taken back when I tell him what happened.
He gos through the usual list of questions: Did I have a flat? Have I gotten an oil change somewhere else (he asks with an eye, akin to one you might get from a girlfriend who thinks you are cheating on them might give you). No, no service since I was last here.
Nothing comes back wrong with the car, and they verify what the other service station had said: no damage to the wheel, just some scuffs. I ask again, what could have caused this to happen, only this time I don't give an out. I don't break eye contact, I don't suggest an alternative, I let the uncomfortable silence sit in. I know the silence will break the Minnesota Nice facade. It takes a while, but he breaks:
"There are some real jerks in this world".
The Investigation:
I have lunch with my good friend SeaBass. He is extremely sarcastic and a vicious dry sense of humor. He is well versed in the writings of Machiavelli and has put them into practice, for humorous results. I describe what happened, and his Sicilian streak jumps to the same conclusion: sabotage. Why, however, remains a mystery.
I go back to Urban Growler. There is a car parking where I was parked, but I look under it for clues, specifically, lug nuts. If someone wanted to steal the tire (I don't know why, but if they did), but they got spooked off, I think they would have dropped any of the lug nuts they had removed. I looked but nothing was found.
I go in and talk to the manager. She was a very nice and pleasant woman. I thought there may have been some reason they didn't like me, but if there was, I could not see it on her face. I told her what happened and she was surprised. They have never had an incident in their parking lot before, and she was concerned this happened. She asked for the info on when I was here and she would look at the security tapes to see if she could find anything. She also said parking lot had not been swept since Tuesday, so if a lug nut had been removed, conceivably, it could still be in the parking lot.
On my way out, i looked again, but I couldn't find a lug nut anywhere. Granted the parking lot is crowded, and there are a lot of cars going in and out, that could easily knock it around if it was dropped. If. It might not have been removed, just loosened, a far more terrifying prospect. I also looked for the security cameras. I am not sure if I found them or not, but based on where I think they are located, they would not be able to see anyone at that angle.
I drove by Surly, too, just to double check. I had parked on the street, so I didn't go in to talk to the manager. Plus, I don't think anything happened here. The car was driving fine when I left. It was immediately after leaving Urban Growler that I noticed the thump. Still, I looked for a lost lug nut and finding none, I moved on. One last stop: Bob's Java - the last stop I made before it became un-drivable.
I remembered how disappointed I was in my parallel parking skill, that I figured my car had to be in bad shape by this point. Plus, the bumping got really bad as I left here, so maybe there was a stray lug nut to be found. There wasn't. There was a car parked where I had been parked, plus others driving by, too. A garbage truck was there, with folks emptying trash bins. All of these and more could knock a small object around, which in the end, would not prove anything.
I headed back up Lyndale, just as I had the day before. Every little bump was magnified, but the car was fine. All I am left with is a mystery - how could this happen and why would it happen to me?
Aftermath:
I like things to make sense. This is tough for me, personally, because people don't make sense to me. I don't understand why people do what they do, or why they react they way they do, which makes life very confusing. One thing I have, however, accepted is that there are a lot of people who do not like me. I don't know why, but they don't. I'm not looking for sympathy; it is just something I have noticed that I have come to accept. But my car?
I don't think anyone knew this car was mine at Urban Growler, so I assume it was directed to my car. I wasn't crossing the line of a parking spot, nor did I park illegally in a handicap spot, but for some reason, someone went after my car. As I said, I like thinks to make sense. Randomness, strangely makes sense to me. Randomness is part of evolution; it is necessary for survival and development. Randomness I can accept, but randomness combined with premeditative vandalism?
Many years ago, I was driving from Charlotte back to Washington DC. I was leaving the city limits, on a divided interstate, I-85, which has 4 lanes in each direction at this point. A car going the other direction lost a tire. It was one of the most frightening and horrific things I have ever seen. The car started skidding on the axel, sparks flying, the driver losing control, while the tire bounced and flew over the dividing wall - towards me.
I didn't have time to react, which was a blessing. The tire bounced right over my car. I didn't hit anyone behind me, immediately, but I shudder to think what that tire could have done to another driver. Or someone on a motorcycle. It was one of the most frightening things I have ever witnessed, up close and personal. I think it is one of the reasons I have been so bothered by this incident. I know how bad losing a wheel could be. If someone had seen what I had seen, they would not have loosened someone else's lug nuts, potentially causing a fatal wreck.
Not too long ago, I read a story about forgiveness. It is an amazing story, which I can not do justice (full story is here), but it stuck with me. It is a powerful lesson, that I am going to try to follow. I am going to try to forgive whoever did this; I don't think it was intentional against me and I don't think they realized the damage it could have done. I hope whoever did this will somehow read this story, and change their ways.
Right after I finished up writing this part, I went out back down Lyndale to another coffee shop, just down from Java Bob's. I parked on Lyndale, about 100 feet away from where I had pulled over. Against the curb I saw something shining. It was a lug nut. It looked like one of mine - you can't be sure - but how often do you find them on the street. It was a completely random occurrence magnified by the complete randomness in available street parking.
I am taking this random sign that it was a random case of vandalism. That makes enough sense to me.
Traffic clears and I can walk around my car, a 12 year old Volvo, now stopped on the side of Lyndale, when I see what is wrong. The left rear tire is tilted. A lot. Tires that are properly attached to the wheel do not bend at this angle. I look closer: one lug nut is in, four are gone. The tire is hanging on by a thread (literally). I am very lucky not to have caused an accident, or gotten anyone killed. For that, I am relieved, but another question causes me greater concern:
How the hell could this have happened?
It will be a mystery I would ultimately can not solve, despite my best efforts.
Tuesday night:
I am meeting a friend out for a few beers. We picked Surly, but due to the long wait, we went with plan B, Urban Growler, only a short bit away. My car was driving fine at this point.
I got there a bit before 8pm, and we left about 10. The night passed without incident, aside from the car who parked next to me. Another Volvo, and SUV, backed into the spot to my right, parking within inches of my car. It is one of those dick moves that serves no purpose; very Minnesota Passive Aggressive, but as I saw no reason for it, I got in my car and started driving home.
That is when I noticed the bump.
There was no better way of describing it than a bump, that occurred at a regular intervals as I drove. As I sped up, the frequency increased. It was similar to a flat tire, but the car was not noticeably dipping. The car was driving fairly straight; there was a slight slide, but it had been raining today, after a long period of dry, so I figured it was just oil on the road. Urban Growler is located in a very industrial area.
I thought it might be a rock or something caught in the tire tread, that would work itself out. I got on the interstate; that made it worse. And scarier. What was just an annoyance suddenly sounded like something that was very wrong. I got off as soon as I could and took the slow road home. The tires looked fine; I went to bed thinking the air must be low.
Thursday afternoon:
I had driven the car briefly Wednesday, and the bump was still there, no better no worse. It was raining, so I skipped filling the tires with air. Today, it is sunny and the car already feels worse than yesterday, so no excuse. The tire pressure in all all is good, but I give them all a blast. I did not notice anything amiss with the rear wheel.
After a stop and a bad job of parallel parking, I head back home, this time the vibration is bad. Very bad. I know something is very, very wrong, but for the life of me, I don't know what. I decide I better pull over and call AAA. As I am looking for a place to pull over, a van pulls alongside me and honks politely. The driver looks at me and shakes his head "no". That is all I need to convince me something is wrong. If another driver can see something is off, then I am in bad shape.
I pull over and I have no idea what is wrong, so I call AAA, not knowing what I will say, but just knowing that I need help. Then I see it. As relieved as I am to now know why my car was off, it raises the uglier question:
How the hell could this have happened?
The Tow:
It doesn't take too long for the tow to show up. Frank gets out and shakes his head when he sees the tire. Frank looks to be in his 60s. He is covered in grease and grime, and it looks like he has seen and towed everything I liked him instantly.
He works quickly but carefully to get my car on the flatbed. I hold my breath as it is being pulled up, expecting that last bolt to give way. Miraculously, it holds. Frank is a very likable guy. He is a very talkative, happy guy, which is a shame, as he probably spends most of his day working alone, or when he does have a passenger, like me, they are typically in bad moods. I, however, was not. I wanted to figure out what happened.
There is a saying that everyone you meet knows something you don't, and this was the case with Frank. He knew more about cars and wheel mounting systems that I thought there was to know. He explains the difference in how the tires attach to the wheel. Volvo, VW and most of the European car makers have a bolt system, the tire casing must fit over, unlike the flush mount for US and Japanese cars. This makes the wheels for European cars extremely tough to remove (coincidentally, that is why I joined AAA. I got a flat in 0 degree weather, and I could not get the tire off on my own). Frank explained that bolt system provides extra security, in helping keep tires on the car. It probably saved me from having a wreck.
"When was the last time you had the car in?" Frank asked. Maybe five, six months ago. It is due to go in next week. Frank said lug nuts getting loose typically happens after servicing the car. If the lug nuts weren’t put on properly, they can loosen up as you drive and then fall out, but that would happens within a few days - a week max - after you have the service.
"What could cause a lug nut to loosen up like this?" I asked. Frank pauses for a moment, then looks me in the eye as we drive to the service station.
"Someone loosening them intentionally."
The Service Station:
I always worry about service stations where I don't have experience. When growing up, I had an overheating radiator and I went to the nearest service station, one I didn't know. I had a busted hose; they quoted a price of $100. I left and drove my overheating car to our regular place. They fixed it for $3.50 - parts and labor. Since then, I am paranoid about new service stations, but it was a AAA vendor, so I figured I wouldn't get totally screwed. Plus, my regular guy is in Hopkins. It would be worth $100 not to drive there at this time a day.
I get the car checked in and they ask me all the usual questions: name, address, milage (on the car, not me), what happened and when was the last time I got the car serviced (5-6 months ago).
"Humm. Have you recently changed a flat tire?" No, I haven't. Last time the tires were touched, was when they got rotated last servicing.
"That's unusual for lug nuts to come out on their own, especially so long after being serviced. That typically only happens immediately afterwards."
So I have been told.
Frank manages to get another lug nut in before he gets my car off the flatbed. As he was lowering the car, he stopped the car as the wheel rotated into a vertical position again, and then he takes a lug nut off another wheel, and puts it in the back one and he tightens the one remaining lug nut, to give it extra support as he lowers it down. He didn't want to see the wheel coming off just as we get to the service station.
I knew there was a reason to like him.
It takes about an hour, but they check out the car. The big concerns were did the wobbling tire do any damage to the actual wheel and did the bolts, when they were loosening up, cause any damage to the holes, widening them so you can't get a proper seal. In both cases, the answer was no. It hadn't been driven enough with the loose lug nuts to cause any damage. Had it not been the case, my service would have cost several thousand dollars. As it turns out, it only cost me about $95. More than I would have thought, but aren't all car repairs that way. The station seemed reputable, and they had that Minnesota Nice thing going full force. I asked the question again, how could this have happened? It wasn't after servicing, so how could they come out? Was this vandalism?
Sometimes Minnesota Nice can be a real burden. It prevents folks from saying anything bad directly. So in a classic Minnesota Nice answer, when I pushed him if this was vandalism, he says "It's hard to think of any reason how this could happen on its own."
My Mechanic:
I had a scheduled maintenance for my car today; the timing of this appointment was the only fortuitous thing that has happened to my car in a while. I went over the minor issues, then told them about the tire.
The mechanic has worked on my car for years. Previously, I was really frustrated with the service from the dealership I had been getting. Once I started going to Justin, it has been a new love affair with my car. He is very thorough, well versed and skilled with Volvos. He is taken back when I tell him what happened.
He gos through the usual list of questions: Did I have a flat? Have I gotten an oil change somewhere else (he asks with an eye, akin to one you might get from a girlfriend who thinks you are cheating on them might give you). No, no service since I was last here.
Nothing comes back wrong with the car, and they verify what the other service station had said: no damage to the wheel, just some scuffs. I ask again, what could have caused this to happen, only this time I don't give an out. I don't break eye contact, I don't suggest an alternative, I let the uncomfortable silence sit in. I know the silence will break the Minnesota Nice facade. It takes a while, but he breaks:
"There are some real jerks in this world".
The Investigation:
I have lunch with my good friend SeaBass. He is extremely sarcastic and a vicious dry sense of humor. He is well versed in the writings of Machiavelli and has put them into practice, for humorous results. I describe what happened, and his Sicilian streak jumps to the same conclusion: sabotage. Why, however, remains a mystery.
I go back to Urban Growler. There is a car parking where I was parked, but I look under it for clues, specifically, lug nuts. If someone wanted to steal the tire (I don't know why, but if they did), but they got spooked off, I think they would have dropped any of the lug nuts they had removed. I looked but nothing was found.
I go in and talk to the manager. She was a very nice and pleasant woman. I thought there may have been some reason they didn't like me, but if there was, I could not see it on her face. I told her what happened and she was surprised. They have never had an incident in their parking lot before, and she was concerned this happened. She asked for the info on when I was here and she would look at the security tapes to see if she could find anything. She also said parking lot had not been swept since Tuesday, so if a lug nut had been removed, conceivably, it could still be in the parking lot.
On my way out, i looked again, but I couldn't find a lug nut anywhere. Granted the parking lot is crowded, and there are a lot of cars going in and out, that could easily knock it around if it was dropped. If. It might not have been removed, just loosened, a far more terrifying prospect. I also looked for the security cameras. I am not sure if I found them or not, but based on where I think they are located, they would not be able to see anyone at that angle.
I drove by Surly, too, just to double check. I had parked on the street, so I didn't go in to talk to the manager. Plus, I don't think anything happened here. The car was driving fine when I left. It was immediately after leaving Urban Growler that I noticed the thump. Still, I looked for a lost lug nut and finding none, I moved on. One last stop: Bob's Java - the last stop I made before it became un-drivable.
I remembered how disappointed I was in my parallel parking skill, that I figured my car had to be in bad shape by this point. Plus, the bumping got really bad as I left here, so maybe there was a stray lug nut to be found. There wasn't. There was a car parked where I had been parked, plus others driving by, too. A garbage truck was there, with folks emptying trash bins. All of these and more could knock a small object around, which in the end, would not prove anything.
I headed back up Lyndale, just as I had the day before. Every little bump was magnified, but the car was fine. All I am left with is a mystery - how could this happen and why would it happen to me?
Aftermath:
I like things to make sense. This is tough for me, personally, because people don't make sense to me. I don't understand why people do what they do, or why they react they way they do, which makes life very confusing. One thing I have, however, accepted is that there are a lot of people who do not like me. I don't know why, but they don't. I'm not looking for sympathy; it is just something I have noticed that I have come to accept. But my car?
I don't think anyone knew this car was mine at Urban Growler, so I assume it was directed to my car. I wasn't crossing the line of a parking spot, nor did I park illegally in a handicap spot, but for some reason, someone went after my car. As I said, I like thinks to make sense. Randomness, strangely makes sense to me. Randomness is part of evolution; it is necessary for survival and development. Randomness I can accept, but randomness combined with premeditative vandalism?
Many years ago, I was driving from Charlotte back to Washington DC. I was leaving the city limits, on a divided interstate, I-85, which has 4 lanes in each direction at this point. A car going the other direction lost a tire. It was one of the most frightening and horrific things I have ever seen. The car started skidding on the axel, sparks flying, the driver losing control, while the tire bounced and flew over the dividing wall - towards me.
I didn't have time to react, which was a blessing. The tire bounced right over my car. I didn't hit anyone behind me, immediately, but I shudder to think what that tire could have done to another driver. Or someone on a motorcycle. It was one of the most frightening things I have ever witnessed, up close and personal. I think it is one of the reasons I have been so bothered by this incident. I know how bad losing a wheel could be. If someone had seen what I had seen, they would not have loosened someone else's lug nuts, potentially causing a fatal wreck.
Not too long ago, I read a story about forgiveness. It is an amazing story, which I can not do justice (full story is here), but it stuck with me. It is a powerful lesson, that I am going to try to follow. I am going to try to forgive whoever did this; I don't think it was intentional against me and I don't think they realized the damage it could have done. I hope whoever did this will somehow read this story, and change their ways.
Right after I finished up writing this part, I went out back down Lyndale to another coffee shop, just down from Java Bob's. I parked on Lyndale, about 100 feet away from where I had pulled over. Against the curb I saw something shining. It was a lug nut. It looked like one of mine - you can't be sure - but how often do you find them on the street. It was a completely random occurrence magnified by the complete randomness in available street parking.
I am taking this random sign that it was a random case of vandalism. That makes enough sense to me.
