Speeding Is Not A Sin
Front end alignment is a well-documented problem with 2003 Nissan 350Zs; I knew this when I bought my Z. This can be slightly exacerbated when you have a lowered suspension, like my Z has. I knew this too.
I have been intending to have an alignment done for months. Really.
Last Tuesday I was driving home from work at, uh, 66 miles per hour in that level of traffic that is just before it gets so heavy that it starts to back up. I had been noticing this slight vibration when driving over the past couple of days, and had been thinking, “I’m going to need to get that looked at pretty soon here.” I was coming through the chute into East Bay in Provo and this vibration started getting quite a bit worse. And worse. And worse. I had this feeling, “Maybe I’ll just pull off here in East Bay and take it to the Les Schwab dealer to have them take a look at it.”
So I started slowing down and pulling over into the exit lane. I kinda figured the vibration would mellow out as I slowed down, but it just kept getting worse even as I brought it down below 30 and even 20 miles per hour.
Having already taken the off-ramp and turned onto University Parkway, I felt a pretty solid thump as I crossed a tar strip and decided to just pull over and take a quick look. When I got out, I immediately noticed my driver’s side front tire was completely flat.
My Z has 19″ custom wheels so I really didn’t want to drive on the rims, even just the ½ mile down to the tire dealer. Changing the tire was a brutal ordeal, with me having had surgery on my right knee 2 months ago and surgery on my left knee less than two weeks ago.
When I pulled the wheel off, I saw the problem: Against the inside edge along the rolling surface of the tire, a two-inch-wide wear strip had worn right through the tire and threads around the entire circumference of the tire. There were several large holes, a half inch wide and up to three or four inches long, along the innermost edge of the tire.
Apparently, that is a large enough hole for the air to escape.
I put the spare on, tried to cram the wheel in the back with the subwoofer box (fail), and set out down the road toward the tire dealer. I hadn’t gone 100 yards when I heard a loud BOOOOM! in the front right corner. I pulled over again and took a look: The passenger side front tire had gone flat also. This one didn’t go flat gradually, though, like the driver’s side tire, but was a sudden burst.
I don’t carry two spares so I didn’t have much choice other than to limp in to the tire dealer on the flat front. The new 235/35ZR19 Toyo Proxes 4s will be installed tomorrow, only 220 bones apiece.
Novell Provo is right there in East Bay so I called one of my old Novell buddies who was still at work to give me a ride home. I’ve been driving the old Grand Prix in the meantime.
I dread to think what might have happened if that right front tire had blown out like that while I was still going 80-er, 66 on the freeway. With the traffic density I almost certainly would have wrecked into someone else, like the big semi that was riding along my right side at the time. I’m really grateful I listened to that prompting to slow down and pull off the freeway when I did. I’m convinced that the Holy Ghost was whispering that thought into my mind to keep me from becoming seriously injured.
Which is how I know that it is not a sin to speed. Since I was exceeding the posted limit at the time (by one mile per hour), if it were truly a sin there is no way I could have heard that still small voice.
Sweet.
