The one thing I left in Michigan during my move to LA was the $20 used tire you see above. Luckily, my friend Adam travels from Detroit to LA fairly regularly, and volunteered to check the tire into his luggage. He is currently in California, with the tire in the trunk of his car, ready to complete the 2,500 mile used-car-transportation process. This leads me to the question: What is the strangest car part you’ve ever brought onto a plane?
That’s a fairly heavy tire, too: It’s a 31-inch BFG All-Terrain, and likely filled with at least some amount of water, given that the tire sat outside, and that removing water from inside a tire is a fine art that I have yet to master (I usually just throw the tire down on the ground a few times to bring the water level down so I can transport it without splashing everywhere; I still end up getting water all over the place).
I’m perfectly willing to admit that asking a friend to fly a $20 tire that I bought from a junkyard across the country is a little absurd, but don’t underestimate junkyard tires! I’ve gotten some great black rubber gems over the years — name brand stuff like these BFGs — and I prefer them to used no-name-brand tires. Plus, if you’re still hesitant, just understand that, if you’ve purchased a used car, you’re almost certainly driven a car with used tires whose history you don’t know. At least in the case of junkyard tires, you can inspect them thoroughly both inside and out (key things to look at are the date code, the outside (check for damage or dry rotting), and the inside carcass (make sure the structure hasn’t been compromised. Then make sure they can be easily balanced, and that they hold air. I’ve had great success, but your mileage may vary.
This tire will be a spare for my $350 manual transmission “Holy Grail” Jeep Grad Cherokee overlanding build, which I’m excited to start soon. I’m still getting my affairs in order in LA (I don’t like buying and assembling furniture nearly as much as I enjoy buying and assembling cars).
Anyway, thank you Adam for indulging my ridiculous tire-hoarding tendencies (look at that stack above in my parking spot under my apartment). I bet lugging that thing around sucked.
It leads me to a question: What is the oddest car part or tool you’ve ever brought onto a plane? I once transported a Nissan Pao vent window from Hong Kong to North Carolina for Jason; I also brought him a Yugo steering wheel from Serbia. Plus, I flew a clutch disk (which I’d turned into a going-away gift for former Jalopnik EIC Patrick George) from Detroit to New York. Oh, and then there was this:
Tell us your strangest car part transport stories.
[Editor’s Note: I just want to note that David gave me the Yugo steering wheel in LA, and from there I took it to Denmark, and then back to North Carolina. So that wheel maybe ended up with more miles traveled than the rest of the car. Well, probably not, but it’s definitely been to more countries! – JT]
[Editor’s Note: The third (and final thus far) Jalopnik Film Festival occurred in Los Angeles. I lived in New York. Someone needed to bring the trophy, which was mostly just a big ol’ piston from (I think) a VM Motori 4.2-liter diesel motor with a base. I assumed, incorrectly, that I could bring it on the plane. The TSA immediately pulled my bag when they saw it and were like “what is this thing?” I tried to explain it, but I was told I was carrying a weapon and that I’d have to check it. And that, my friends, is why you always go to the airport early enough to go through security twice! – MH]
[Huibert’s Note: I can’t see WP files but I took a prototype steering wheel on a plane once when I worked at Jag. I walked up to the red line at the airport when I arrived and told them what I was carrying and they were all interested in it but let me through anyway. I could have had a suitcase full of coke but because I got their attention focused on the steering wheel, they let me through. -HM]
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When traveling to Europe for a 10-country vintage car tour, my luggage contained alternator, brake booster, set of dual SU carbs with linkages, electric fuel pump, and a full set of tools, including Whitworth wrenches!
My friend used to pack her daughter’s partially disassembled BMX bike and wrapped in plastic, in her suitcase when flying to races around the country. Worked great.
No car parts, but I have brought several scientific equipment parts with me.
I flew from Europe to California bringing a suitcase with just the following:
-Hubcaps
-Seat covers
-All weather floor mats
It turns out that European sizes are a much better fit for captive imports like my good old Geo Spectrum.
I once flew with a Citroen LNA half shaft and a Fuldamobil turn signal lens in the same bag. Not the weirdest looking parts, but I bet I’m the only one to ever commercial fly with that particular car spares combo.
I don’t have a problem with David employing used tires, assuming they are properly inspected. I have a major problem with his habit of wrecking tires in under 1000 or so miles by virtue of not spending the time and money to do front end alignments (ref. Project Cactus, Mustang). A proper alignment also makes a vehicle much less fatiguing to drive for long distances. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it genuinely concerns me.
Gosh, my Lancer is so much worse with even the stock alignment Mitsubishi gave it. Pulls to the left. I always get a local shop here to dial that out. A good alignment really is a game-changer.
(My sin is forgetting to rotate tires, so heck, I can’t talk too much here. Also, the same Lancer currently needs some brake and wheel bearing work, but it’s been sitting so I can review and fix other cars.)
I hope Adam got to see them unload the tire. Did they just roll it down the ramp from the plane? What shape was it in when it finally showed up in baggage claim?
Round
Not me (I wish! Those cars are mighty cool!) but somebody actually carried a whole-ass windshield by hand on the plane, complete with its own seat, from Paris to the US:
https://youtu.be/GQT94wgjgoo
Last time I was in England I brought home a pair of hard-to-find side marker lights for my GT6. Not that weird, I guess, but I thought Torch might be interested.
I had a full exhaust shipped by Greyhound one time. I took a long time to arrive, but it was cheap!
Two big totes of Mini Baja parts heading to competition in Brazil. I think it included a couple sets of CVTs, master cylinders, brake calipers, a few CVs, and possibly a chain reduction transmission?
Amazingly no questions getting that through checked bags.
Oh, I’ve left .de with a concerning amount of wine in my checked bags only to remember that airport staff have absolutely seen much, much weirder stuff. The TSA’s Instagram—regardless of whether you like that agency or not—is absolute gold when it comes to “you tried bringing what on a plane?”
I usually seem to get the “we rifled through your stuff, ma’am” note when I pack weird bulky things, though. Probably someone who’s disappointed that the American didn’t have his preferred flavor of Boone’s Farm in there. (Look, man, the radioactive blue isn’t where it’s at. Mountain Berry all the way.)
I flew to a small island off of Washington state to drive my late uncle’s 2003 Ford Ranger cross-country. That’s a long drive and the truck had the standard Ford 6-disc changer of the era. Packed a new head unit, pre-made wiring harness and Ford radio removal tools/dash kit in my carry-on and installed the whole thing in a parking lot in about five minutes. Bluetooth for music/phone calls made the trip that much more tolerable.
Christ on a cracker, DT! It’s nice that you have a photo of the tire stack in your parking spot for memory’s sake. There is no way that’s gonna fly in LA for very long, ha.
Why the heck do you need 11 spare tires at your apartment anyway?
Not myself but its a regular thing for motocross riders to carry cylinders, pipes and suspension when doing one-off races overseas.Ok,maybe not pipes anymore.That’s a two stroke thing.
They bolt the parts to a borrowed stock bike and end up with something close ish to their usual works ride
I was testing the new anodizing system I had installed in Juarez for my old company, I did bring some aluminum trim from an old C10 to try it out on. It was not so easy to safely get the long pieces home, but I did get the amazon special “AN” fittings turned into a burnt orange or bronze color. they leaked though from the acid part of the process.
“…removing water from inside a tire is a fine art…”
Shop vac.
And/or shop rags.
An old towel works well.
Nah, towels are reserved for shower spaghetti.
“Plus, if you’re still hesitant, just understand that, if you’ve purchased a used car, you’re almost certainly driven a car with used tires whose history you don’t know.”
Nope, nope, nope. I’m all for reducing, reusing and recycling, but I draw the line at used tires in any form. My family’s safety is far more important than the amount I spend on tires. Every single used car I’ve ever bought (99% of all the cars I’ve ever owned) get new tires as soon as I buy them. And don’t try the semantic argument that as soon as I’ve driven on a tire it becomes used. I know where it came from, it has a warranty, and I know how it’s been treated from day 1, and that makes a difference for safety and confidence.
Don’t cheap out on tires, folks. It ain’t worth it.
“They’re good tires…he thought to himself…..”
As he careened towards the river.
I think the date code and weather check…..checks are important, but used can be fine as long as you are diligent.
The best deal I ever got was 1 year old KO2’s on Hutchinson Beadlocks. 5 wheels, 2000 dollars. They were used by a mobile tire repair company for a show truck and still had the Tits on them.
> still had the Tits on them
Say what now?
The little rubber mold bits that come on a tire when they’re new.
This is the first time I’ve heard them called “tits,” though, and not gonna lie, I lol’d.
That’s totally fine if you put brand new tires on a used car, even if the used car’s tires are just a year old.
But you’re not in the majority.
And “don’t cheap out on tires” is only useful advice to people who have the means. If you have a strict budget of $200, and you need to get a set of tires, you can either get some cheap no-name tires from the store, or you can get excellent condition Michelin Defenders a year used.
I’d go with the Defenders every time, and have the tire shop inspect them if it would give me more peace of mind.
Maybe not, but I’d be interested to know how many others feel the same.
To me, used tires are in the same class as used underwear. No matter how much money you save, it’s just not worth it.
I understand your point, too, and you’re definitely not the only one who feels that way about used tires, especially ones from the junkyard!
My point is that there are instances where a set of tires from a junkyard might be the best/safest option for someone whose finances are tight.
Sure, with enough caveats, that might be true. In the rare case that you find a good brand with a < 1 year old date code, that you can guarantee hasn’t been abused, etc. that might be OK. But I still think new is a better idea in general.
Let’s take the case of someone who is likely to have a hard limit of $200 for a set of tires. That person probably drives a 20 year old Ford Escort or Chevy Cavalier or Toyota Corolla, etc. You can find new tires like the GT Radial Champiro Touring A/S starting at $66 each on SimpleTire.com. IMHO, it’s worth splurging the extra bit to have new tires with a warranty.
Dude, no offense, but at one point in my life I was so poor that any tire, even a $15 used maypop special was better than no tire. Definitely speaking for yourself here.
Same here, that $50 set of used snow tires probably saved my life more than once over the ancient tires I had on it before. Used or not, I’d rather take a better tire over a worse one even if the worse one was newer.
Yep. Carried a plug kit for years. Finally started putting a set amount week & half my side-wrenching money in an envelope toward buying good Michelins for my old diesel Mercedes. Made an incredible difference and I haven’t looked back.
But there were times I couldn’t afford to stuff that envelope (and times when I couldn’t not dip into it), so I’m not giving anyone crap. Most of us have been there
It’s actually really easy to find 1 year-old name-brand tires at junkyards.
Many of the cars there were just on the road prior to a breakdown/crash, and had decent rubber on them.
I avoid used but once in a bind i came across tires that still had the nibs and a recent manufacturing date. The story i was given at the yard was the car got hit leaving the tire story and was totalled. These were my 1st set of Michelins. They were still on the car when i totalled it. Maybe used isnt a good idea?
Oh man – you get to edit your posts! I hope we get the same opportunity soon.
I get your point, but most junkyard tires are probably not almost new Michelin Defenders. And there are lots of decent new tires available for reasonable prices.
Also, there are so many other great uses for used tires!
– planters
– rubber surfaces for playgrounds
– shoe soles
– Earthships, man, frickin’ Earthships! https://www.earthshipglobal.com/we-build-earthships
When I was in high school I absolutely ran used tires on my jetta. Got a set of used snow tires too. All said and done I’d rather have 2 sets of good used tires than 1 set of crappy new ones, not to mention the fact that the car came with used tires already on it from god knows when.
Not a car part per se, but I was DEEPLY disappointed when Delta wouldn’t let me check a single can of beer en route to a bunch of us meeting up at the Nürburgring. I think I’d just covered or read about an Australian pulling the same stunt, and I wanted to see if I could do the same. Best of all, I was staying with a friend who didn’t like beer. If it got lost, it would get mailed to his address on the can.
The can got put into my normal luggage, was kinda forgotten about, and was eventually drank at home: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17924243710314717/
I almost got arrested trying to carry (cough smuggle cough) a 40 of bad Chinese beer back home from Beijing many years ago. Turns out no exports on alcohol was allowed at that point.
Oops!
Where in the ‘burgh? Go Pens!
I found the best way to get water out of a stored tire was let it freeze, bounce the tire on the ground to free the ice up, then just pick it out.
In Michigan this generally works November – February. Sometimes March. You have to plan ahead.
I have done that as well, but that ice block is sometimes VERY hard to remove.
Dudes! Employ gravity: stand the tire up and drill a hole through the lowest point. (Works on my boat, too.)
Or cut a 4×6″ piece off the tire tread and pull the ice through.
Hopefully Adam either has elite frequent flier status that provides for free checked bags or flew Southwest who includes 2 checked bags with every ticket. Otherwise, he’d be paying at least $40 to transport a $20 used tire.
This same thought was running through my head as I was reading. Maybe used tired in California can’t be had for $20. Maybe the state of California pays Elon and Space X to shoot them into the sun as proper disposal.
That’s true. If used tires in SoCal junkyards are going for >$60 he’s still coming out ahead… minus the hassle of having to schlep a tire to the airport.
You got it. Frequent flier on Delta = at least 1 free checked bag.
….and free labor 😀
The transmission from a Renault Caravelle- it weighed 30kg or so I put it in a suitcase
Now THAT is cool!
Pondered the question for a few, and realized that I have never actually flown anywhere with any sort of mechanical parts.
What have I been doing with my life?? 🙂
There is time.
I’d like to think so. *knocks on wood* 🙂
The only mildly interesting transportation-related thing happened when I drove a couple of hours to pick up a project bike rolling frame (with title!). There was no hitch receiver on the DD at the time, which meant I couldn’t use the motorcycle carrier.
I arrived at the seller’s house – nice kid – and we struck a deal. Now that the frame was mine, while we chatted I began pulling the front end off the bike. Speedo cable, brake cable (baller drum brake, awww yeah), and four pinch bolts later the front end was off and set aside. The seller then helped me put the frame + back wheel in the back of the Jaaag. Put the front end on top of it, loaded the boxes of stuff, and job done! 🙂
At home I borrowed a nephew to “help me unload some parts”. He came over to the house and when I opened the rear hatch he nearly wet himself laughing. 😀
If I ever do that again, I may try to wrap whatever-it-is in the clear packing film that was on your tire (pallet wrap or similar). That seems like a great way to minimize errant crud during transport. I used an all-weather commercial floor mat from Lowes that covered nearly the whole cargo area – pretty effective but not 100%.
So, uh…you goin’ between any junkyard with VW 411s in it and Austin anytime soon?
I junkyards with a old friend down south- would fly back with parts. Some trip highlights-
License plates, a set of 14″ brake rotors, and brake caliper. TSA was more concerned with a water bottle I forgot. I’m sure I could bean some people with rotors…
Radiator caps, coolant overflow, toolkit, and headrests from a mustang cobra. TSA didn’t care, nor care about the large water bottle, contact solution, or scissors.
A throttle body from a Renix jeep, factory under hood lamp, and a bag full of bolts. No care.
Just when I thought EV-loving, BMW-wanting, David 2.0 had replaced our fearless and rusty leader……we get refreshing dose of peak David Tracy.
Ford checked an Ecoboost engine as a carry on as a marketing stunt. I wonder if anyone here has heard about that…
https://jalopnik.com/ford-built-an-engine-so-small-they-were-able-to-send-it-5961187
I remember that!