Incident on the I-8

[Sim]

This is what happens when some idiot at the car rental company doesn't tighten the wheel nuts enough

We were driving east along the I-8 interstate out of San Diego, heading for Phoenix. About 5 miles past the El Centro turnoff, a loud bang was accompanied by a frightening loss of control, and a wheel was sighted continuing the journey towards Phoenix on it's own (ended up across the road against a fence about 100 yards away). At between 60 and 70 miles an hour, this can often be a lot more serious than it was for us.

Interestingly, we had driven the car from LAX to San Diego without any problems or any indications that there was something wrong.

You can read more about what happend on my blog

We're at the Grand Canyon now (snow bound ) with a new car - all wheels accounted for.

 

[geoffw]

You're in the US- do what they do over there.

Sue.

 

[Sultan of Swing]

You're in the US- do what they do over there.

Sue.

Sue??

I thought your name was Geoff


Hope you enjoy your break Sim

Cheers

 

[quiggles]

Same bloody thing happening to me on a freeway in Buffalo (Didn't actually lose the wheel, but the blowout was bad enough. trapped between two trucks at 60 mph, I couldn't get onto the verge for over a mile. Light rain, greasy roads - I sweated off about 40 lbs in a minute.

Then when I did stop to change the tyre, lots of folks screamed abuse at me as they drove past. Lovely. And the rental company wanted to charge me 100 bucks for a new tyre. I pointed out that I was driving their car and their equipment had put me in life threatening danger. We settled for no tyre charge and a free car upgrade.

 

[Sim]

This rental is 18 days, and I have another rental for a further 15 days when we get to Florida ... the weather over there is quite nice at the moment - I'm going to ask for a convertible Mustang or something similar for our troubles

 

[XBenX]

Got snow? =)

Glad to hear your AOK Sim

 

[Peter Noake]

Hey Sim', we must have been ships passing in the night. I just completed a 21 day tour of California with the family including San Diego (Christmas), San Francisco (New Year), Yosemite (unbelievable amount of snow) and LA. We're back home in Philadelphia now. Not as warm as Florida, but good to be home. Hope you have a great time there.

BTW, I hope you are making the most of the discount websites on your travels. Priceline is a wonderful tool, and to make the most of it, you shpuld check out this other website called Bid For Travel where you can get loads of priceless information on how to get the best deals from Priceline bids.

Pete Noake