About month ago. I ran over something on interstate 5 in LA and that dame thing broke my tire and chipped off my 17" rim with some body damage on the left side of my VW VR6. I was so pissed off and had to changed it on the freeway 5 @ 7 o'clock Monday morning. And the shoulder was so narrow and my butt was on the edge between the very right lane and the shoulder. Then I had to avoid the rigs and trucks while I was changing the tire. And it was so cold and almost froze my balls off!
During my break in the school, I called my insurance company and made a claim. The insureance lady was nice and felt so sorry for what has happened to me.(of curse, americans....) I was shocked after I got the estimate from my bocyshop. It will cost me 1500 for all the repair work plus the stock 17" rim(600 bucks), Michelin Pilot 17"tire(210 buks), paint job and alignment.(prices above are dealer price, hell with it!!!) My insurance deductable is 500 bucks and that doesn't do any good for me. Because of I don't have the "road hazard" in my insurance policy. My insurance fee might go up because of this. I decided to look for the rim myself and get the tire from
www.tirerack.com
Thanx to my car sales, KC......I got enough info to take on this endless project. First, I went toa shop called Hubcap in Canoga, California(some where is the San Fernando Valley, industrial area full of junkyard and auto repair shops, etc.) to see if they can locate a used exact same rim for me. I went there twice and finally got an offer from Montebello, California.(Another junkyear type of industrial area) They needed me to prepay frst ehn caom eback and get it. It took me two weeks for this process. After I return to the shop and the color of the rim doesn't match at all. And it took another week to send it back and repaint it to match the color without extra charge.(Great American way of dealing with valuable customer!)
In the mean time, I ordered the tire on line and it only took 2 mintues to finish the whole process. The website(www.tirerack.com) thoughtfully delivered the tire to the near-by tire shop for me. The day after I ordered the tire, the designated tire shop called me and confirmed they will have the tire within 3 days, wonderful services and God bless internet!!!
Finally I went pick up the rim and took it to the tire shop. They installed the rim and tire for me in 10 minutes and I'm good to go. Totally cost on my end is rim 260 bucks, tire 190 bucks, and installation 19 bucks. Insead of paying $500.00 and wait for my insurance goes up.....I'm happy with this!
