This weekend I needed to pick up an interesting restomod Power Wagon from Wilmington for a review, so I figured I’d take the kid and we’d make a fun day of it. The plan was to take a car there, drop it off, take the Power Wagon back, and then pick up the car later. The car I picked for the trip there was the remarkable $500 2005 Toyota Sienna we’ve written about before, because that car has the most reliable air conditioning out of all the cars in my ragtag fleet.What I didn’t pay much attention to were the tires, which were good, though one of them had one small issue: the sidewall disintegrated. But that was the only issue with it! Just one tiny problem!
Yes, as you can see from the top photo, that tire pretty dramatically ended its rich, engaging tire life on the side of the I-40 East. I thought, oh well, I’ll put on the spare and keep going, which is when I realized the AWD version of the Sienna has no spare, because they needed the room taken by the spare for the hardware to drive that rear axle. Well, crap.
So, my kid and I were pretty boned. I called AAA, who found a tire shop they could tow me to, at some expense, so arrangements were made and I waited. And waited. And waited.
One of the nice things about a minivan is that it’s a little mobile room, which is much better to wait around in by the side of the road, if you have to wait around by the side of a road. But after a couple hours, it’s still not great.
After checking in with AAA repeatedly, I learned that, guess what, ha ha, the tow truck wasn’t actually contacted, and no one was actually coming to help, and AAA is quite sorry and that’s not normally how they do business, except for this time, when yes, that’s how they did business. By not doing business.
That’s about when I realized I reached out to the wrong set of three initials. AAA isn’t the answer when SWG is right there, around Wilmington! Yes, SWG, Stephen Walter Gossin, our man who spends his time rescuing needy cars and, in more than one case, people. This time I was a very needy people in need of rescue, so I reached out to SWG and thankfully he realized he had some old Hyundai wheels sitting around that had the same bolt pattern as the Sienna.
He drove over an hour to get to my stranded ass by the side of the road, and within minutes we had the Korean wheel on the Japanese car and all was right again in the world. What a pal that SWG is!
By the way, this is the vehicle I’ll be reviewing. It’s gleefully bonkers:
More on that thing soon. But first, I should acknowledge the real victim of all, this, my kid Otto.
Otto told me that he sort of expected this, as things always seem to go wrong when he and I take some sort of road trip adventure. And I wish I could say he was wrong! Immediately I remembered the saga of the pickup truck David got for me, The Marshal, a 1989 Ford F-150 that proved to be a colossal ordeal to get home, thanks to some bad luck with alternators and batteries.
That was barely two years ago and Otto was so much smaller! Look at him:
Man, I don’t think parents get enough warning about just how dizzyingly fast kids grow up. It’s hard to wrap my mind around.
Then Otto reminded me of the time we went to the zoo in my Yugo, a drive of a couple hours that stretched to many hours on the way home because the shift linkage disintegrated, forcing me to fix it with two hose clamps and a rock:
(Two weeks from now)
"Oh good, the Yugo's parts are here."
(Opens box, takes out two hose clamps and a rock.)
— Peter (@Peter_M_V) November 27, 2021
So, okay, Otto has a point. My track record for not having something happen that causes us to be stuck places for hours isn’t great.
But that’s part of the adventure, right? Right?
Anyway, I’m very thankful for SWG and I’ll try and keep a better eye on my tires. I hope.
Watch your tires people, particularly at speed and high temps. I need to bite the bullet and replace the 2017 date code ones on the MDX. The sidewalls are getting crispy and the small siping is gone although the large tread blocks are still above the wear bars. You can’t escape sunlight and oxidation. Not sure I trust them another year, particularly if we get a fair amount of snowfall and I do make a few long (1000+ mile) runs a year in it.
Would love to read what you choose. My wife has a 2018 MDX with the original tires and I know were are close to needing a new set.
Before anyone asks, we bought it last year with 10k miles and it now has 25+k.
It is a 2005 and has Uniroyal Laredo’s on it. They were installed by the dealer when I bought it used, had no choice. Overall I’m satisfied – they are quiet and perform well in rain and snow. I live outside Pittsburgh and we do get significant snow falls at times, coupled with hilly terrain. I may just get another set, I’ll see what my regular tire shop has on offer. Mine do have more sidewall and are narrower than those on a 2018. I’ve put about 50,000 miles on them. Pushing 174000 miles.
It’s easy to escape sunlight. Oxidation is harder but not impossible. The only catch is you either need to unmount the tires, or store the entire car.
It is my poor weather ride and cargo hauler. Also our family vacation road tripper. Annual runs to Florida and the Carolinas.
What I enjoy most is that SWG’s mobile auto rescue service utilizes…a sport coupe.
So many autopians seem to have these bad-ass, zombie apocalypse-ready rigs with every possible tool in its rightful place. They make me feel envious of their seriousness and not a little inadequate running around with tools jammed into the trunk of my Focus. But now, I feel better!
Thank you for noticing that element of the rescue response, Jack!
Even funnier was that the Power Wagon that Jason ending up getting into about 90 minutes after the Stratus rescue is exactly the type of apocalypse-mobile you reference.
That Stratus Coupe carried it’s mini spare, a floor jack, bag of tools and 2 full-size wheels in its trunk for an almost 3hr round trip with aplomb! It had all the utility and size needed for the job.
You rule, Jack! Never change, my man.
It’s often under-appreciated that sport coupes of that era, usually b/c of their sharing a basic body with a sedan version, had similar overall space, just repurposed for trunk/hatch use vs. seating area.
My old Chevy Beretta (sibling to the Corsica sedan) could swallow a lot of ton of stuff, certainly more than I expected when I loaded up her up to drive cross-country to school.
I saw a beautiful teal 1990s Beretta GTS?* in my workplace parking lot a few weeks ago. I took a min. to get up close to check it out.
Living in MN seeing any car used in daily drive duties that is over 20 years old is pretty rare. So any car older than 20 years definitely gets a double take.
Those types of cars always garner my attention as much as any exotic. Perhaps more so…a C8 Corvette is just meh to me, but a good condition Geo Metro convertible like I saw the other week is entrancing.
100%.
More likely an enthusiast will keep a car that is either special or preceived as special likea corvette alive than a dd cheap car
Which makes seeing an old cheap car alive, well past a date when the vast majority of owners would give up a send it to a yard… all the more special 🙂
Apparently, You can lease a brandy new Leaf for less than the cost of tires.
AAA has pulled the same BS with me multiple times, leaving me by the side of the road for more than 5 hours each time before I just paid out of pocket. They are only good for hotel discounts, it seems.
I switched over to Hagerty Drivers Club. It covers all my vehicles, old or new, it is cheaper than AAA Gold, and they actually care about service. AAA has become a marketing company.
AAA hotel discounts are minimal & offered at far fewer places than just 10 years ago.
The discounts are generally the same as you get with being a member of that hotels club. The one key difference I’ve noticed it using the AAA discount usually gets me the same price as the ‘advance purchase/no refund rate’ but still allows me to cancel with a refund up to 2 days before the stay.
AAA has gotten a lot better for me in the past 10 years, I can remember 3-4 waits on the side of the road, but now I generally get service within the hour.
Here in CA, it’s worth just to be able to use their DMV services. Take my money!!!
AAA has been trash for many years now.
I just had a two-year-old Pirelli develop a bulge bigger than Barishnikov’s on the sidewall. Check those tires folks, DOT dates and all.
And keep those receipts for the road hazard warranty! My out-of-pocket was way less than it could have been thanks to having the document and knowing where it was.
There used to be a great tire shop around that gave me a warranty for a flat tire when only one of the tires had a warranty on it because it was a newer replacement for an old flat one and they gave me the prorated cost for that almost-new tire’s much lower mileage. And, of course, they’ve been bought out.
Mine is with (gulp) Canadian Tire. Most car folk.won’t go there for tires or service, but I was in a pinch (tires were bad enough that I refused to.out my kids in the car, and Costco wouldn’t have anything for for 6 weeks), so I got some Pirelli P8s there. Glad I have that warranty now.
And the new tires have the same 6-year warranty. Nice!
I replace the tires on my car trailer every 5-6 years no matter what they look like. I have seen too many pictures of fellow racers stranded on the side of the road with destroyed tires. Tread condition and visual inspection is a poor indicator of tire condition for tires that dont travel many miles.
If you need a tow, my local version of AAA seems to now operate on the philosophy of ‘leave your keys under the mat, tell us where you want it delivered, and we’ll probably have it there within 24 hours’. It’s not a very helpful version of ‘roadside assistance’.
Also, my son has commented a couple times that he’s likely the only one of his friends who knows what coolant smells like.
I just sold my pickup with tires of indeterminate age…I’m really hoping I didn’t cause someone else to have this issue.
Just Wow that SWG knew they are the same bolt pattern. Amazing.
As for the tires, there is a truck version of those run-flats that is less expensive and more durable. Strongly recommended.
It was one of those rare situations where yo can comb through the volumes of useless knowledge in your head and find one item that has one moment of surprise usefulness. Cheers, bud!
Jason probably told you that you are a mensch. I think that’s Yiddish for cool guy with bad taste in cars.
Uber-Mensch in this case. Tuber-Mensch?
Otto-Mench 🙂
Meshugawagenmensch.
Not useless on that particular day. I love otherwise useless knowledge. It so often saves the day. Cheers to you too!
Otto is the definition of cool. I’m sure he’s secretly laughing with your automotive mishaps.
I’ll bet it’s not so secret.
Exactly. Spent 40 years entertaining the boss with many stories about the stupid crap my old man did, especially when it came to things of an automotive nature.
After a time she became convinced that my real father might have been the milk man…Yeah back then the milk man, and home delivery, was a real thing. YMMV
Was Randy Jefferies your milkman?
This is exactly why, back when an AWD minivan was my holy grail family truckster, I scratched the Sienna off the list. The lack of a spare and Toyota’s obscenely expensive solution, runflats. So Torch, your ordeal was my validation for the day. I know that makes you and Otto feel better. You’re welcome.
I think this means Jason needs to buy one of the $500 early-20th-century cars from the elderly gentleman from whom SWG and Mercedes got theirs.
It can be Otto’s first car. 🙂
That sidewall didn’t disintegrate, it was ground up by driving the tire with no air in it for some distance.
I am surprised that it doesn’t have tire pressure sensors, yes they weren’t required by law at that point but other cars had them as a option by then. If any vehicle should have them it is one w/o a spare and I’m sure that they could have rolled that extra cost into the AWD package.
The problem is that the Sienna in question was a 2005; three whole years before Direct TPMS systems (with the sensors inside the tires) became mandatory via the TREAD Act (Thank You Ford and Firestone for that headache!) reading up on it, Toyota had an indirect TPMS system on the Sienna, which uses the ABS system to count wheel revolutions and will alert the driver if a wheel is turning faster because of a low tire.
Of my 3 cars, 2 have pressure monitors in the wheel, the VW GTI relies on the wheel speed sensors. There have been others who claim that wheel speed sensors are more reliable, they certainly are cheaper.
The TREAD act has nothing to do with this, systems were available and being installed before 2005, my 2003 for example has it.
FTM>TPMS
My 2004 sienna also has tpms sensors w/in the wheels I have held the old ones in my hands from 3 of the 4 tires when they were replaced
Just about every vehicle I’ve ever driven with TPS:
it is *always* in alarm/says tires need attention. 99% of the time they are fine. Thus this alert gets ignored. Almost useless feature IMHO
Well on the direct systems the batteries do eventually fail but that doesn’t make the systems worthless.
Even if it had them, most of the systems are there to meet the bare legal minimum (which was later than this car’s production). Some of the systems only tell you a tire is low, not which one, nor by how much, and on some vehicles, the sensors seem to constantly fail, so it will only tell you that there’s a bad sensor, not which one, nor anything about what any of the active sensors might be reading. Basically, if you have a serious problem, you’ll know by traditional means and if you have a minor problem, the system won’t help, but it will annoy you with a stupid alert. [rant redacted]
It all depends on the system and IF the vehicle had said that a tire was low it is possible that Jason may just have had a look and saw that this tire was low before he shredded it. Or maybe not knowing Jason.
But the fact still remains that Toyota should have had a system, even though it wasn’t required by law, on a vehicle that didn’t have a spare tire.
That IS odd, seeing as I daily a 2004 Toyota Sienna XLS (front drive) and it Does have tpms…
Weird since I’m presuming you have a spare being FWD so it makes no sense that the AWD version doesn’t have it.
If 16-year-old Otto’s style is like it is now, him emerging from behind the wheel of The Marshal in the high-school parking lot would be almost a cinematic rejection of earlier stereotyping.
I am not a religious man. I don’t know what happens after my time on this rapidly declining planet has ended. I don’t know if there’s a god, some quantum milkshake or absolutely nothing after this. However, when our dear Mr. Torchinsky passes (hopefully not for a long time), I will absolutely sign-up for some kind of religion if his hearse breaks down in some bizarre manner during his funeral procession.
Carma
I can only imagine there will be a few hundred Autopians ready to fix (push) said hearse.
Torch will be transported to the cemetery in a manual brown diesel wagon.
Does a rusty jeep wagoneer with a diesel swap count?
Only if David Tracy is driving it.
David’s trusty J10 carried him, Jason, and the Changli once before.
For that cemetary trip, Jason rides in the Changli instead of up front with David.
The photo of the tire reminded me of a winter in central Saskatchewan when a rear tire on my pickup went flat during the night. It had been about -40° (which, by the way, is where the F and C scales match) and it wasn’t much warmer that morning. So there was no way non-polar-bear me was going to try changing the tire. And SWG probably hadn’t been born yet, so he couldn’t rescue me. But there was a service station at the end of the block and I figured I could drive that far on the flat and have them replace the tire in the relative warmth of their service bay. Well, the first problem was the tire was frozen to the ground. Some back-and-forth rocking eventually broke it free. The second problem was the tire’s flat spot was frozen in place — looking similar to your misshapen tire. It was a very bumpy drive to the corner. Balump-uh-balump-uh-balumpa-uh…
Another flat tire story: I was rushing to SFO to catch a flight when just short of the exit I ran over something that blew a rear tire on my GTI. I saw a chunk of tread flying off. I’ve done freeway-side tire changes before and didn’t want to do it again, so I continued up the exit ramp. Well, I thought, I might as well keep driving. I don’t really have time to mess with it anyway. So I continued on to the parking building, drove to the top, parked, and went to the terminal. I changed the tire when I returned four days later.
OK short serendipitous tire failure story… Many years ago I was in Michigan driving south from Detroit area to Muncie, IN in a 1990 VW Jetta GLI
I heard what sounded like something small hit the car. Then a few min. later I heard it again. Few min. later a 3rd time…
Then the left rear tire let loose.
Luckily I was close enough to a rest stop I was able to coast in to a parking spot and I changed the tire with the spare.
Turns out the sound of those small things hitting my car was the tire disintegrating. I had to have been in and out of that rest stop in under 15 min..
Are those some type of run flat tires?
Apparently not.
The run flat had flat run out.
For such an affable mensch, you shock me when you cross the line from cheap ass to dumbass. That sucked AAA dropped the ball like that, the longest I’ve waited was an hour and half.
I’ll give Torch a pass for not looking at the tires’ production dates due to health reasons.
They were <10 YO IIRC.
Sadly, I’ve seen dry rot/cracking on 6-7 yo tires in some places. I’m cheap with a lot of stuff, but not tires. Too many bad things can happen.
Side note – props to SWG for finishing things off with a torque wrench. That’s some attention to detail, especially with an emergency tire change!
Had AAA for years, was OK 20 years ago when we lived in a large metro area.
We moved to a less urban setting; Then when we needed AAA, we waited 3-4 hours for a simple jump start before giving up and subsequently cancelling our subscription.
Advice: unless you live in a medium to large city, go with someone else ( or better yet prepare yourself to handle the common roadside issues)
I’m pretty sure all the other providers are going to have the same problems outside of urban areas. There just aren’t many tow places available. Also, they will refund your expense if they can’t find a provider (up to a limit.)
I will not be surprised if Otto ends up with a beige Camry as his first car.
“At least mine’s reliable, dad!”
name it “teen-beige rebellion”
I like it.
SWG to the rescue!
Am I the only one who saw the top shot and thought the vehicle being tested had those fancy airless tires?
Just me?
Okay…
Nope, that was my first idea too, and I thought “they could have done a better job so that it look less like the tire disintegrated” lol
My first idea as well. At least we were partially right: that tire was definitely airless.
Definitely, I saw the “Tweel” in the top shot too
I also thought Tweel. I actually saw one for the first time not long ago! It was on a ride-on mower some landscapers had.
I don’t think I’ve seen (nor expected to see) a Stratus with hood pins, guessing it’s a saavy solution to a crunched hood latch judging from the wavy hood edge?
That car is Autopian royalty! Seriously good eye/spotting also, my dude.
https://www.theautopian.com/how-i-got-six-years-of-service-out-of-a-220-car/
Hooray for SWG! Bet you learned a valuable lesson. Hmm, looking back over many years of Torchinsky posts, I’m thinking no, no, you did not learn a valuable lesson. Therefore, we shall have many more years of JT misadventures to read about. Yay! BTW, is that a Legacy Power Wagon?
I look forward to Otto learning to drive with three pedals and a vague action shifter.
Ok, Not the Sienna’s fault! Since it came from the unknown, a new set of tires probably would’ve been a good idea.
But what with aortas exploding and all, I can see how Torch didn’t get to it.
Don’t drive an AWD vehicle on mismatched rims/tires!
I realize there are mitigating factors here like being stranded on the highway and the general shitbox nature of the vehicle, but in general one should not do this!
It’s called content creation man. Just don’t harsh the buzz.
You’re also not supposed to extract lead acid batteries with a chainsaw, but here we are.
I think most people would know better than that, but this is a non-obvious rule, even for car people, so I think it bears mentioning.
There wouldn’t be a huge issue with putting a 215/45/17 (OD 24.6″) on with three 225/60/17s (OD 27.6″) for a short drive in a FWD van, but manufacturers start warning of potential drivetrain damage at 2-3/32″ difference in diameter, let alone 3 full inches.
Again, I get it if you want to get off the road safely and don’t care about potential damage to a $500 vehicle.
This was my first reaction. Little concerned there with that one.
At Subaru, we tell technicians that the variance in tire circumference of AWD cars should not exceed 1/4.” The Tire Rack will tell you that they recommend all four tires on an AWD be the same size/brand/model and the tread depth should not vary by more than 2/32.” So yeah – there could be some angry AWD parts here.
What’s the fastest way to cook an AWD system?
/Rhetorical
Jason and I had this conversation quickly, with traffic blowing by us at 80MPH just feet away from his most-precious possession, his kid. I was reminded of all those horror-videos you see of side-of-Interstate crashes and was working as fast as possible to get us the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
The AWD concerns on that old Toyota van were a distant 2nd to the above concerns, but we both agreed that going about 80 miles on it to get to Wilmington (on a Sunday afternoon; no tire shops open in the middle of hog farm country) wouldn’t destroy the van and was the right (and only) move.
Jason is going to get a replacement tire of the correct size before driving it back to his homestead.
Solid call-out though, since as Autopians this is important AWD info. Cheers, and thanks!
SWG. You are truly a good guy, and a life saver in times of need.
One could even say that you are a noble guy.
As such, I hearby nominate you for a Nobel Prize in 2024.
Thanks for the rescue of Chain Saw boy and his offspring.
I agree with you and Jason. Family first, car, who cares. I’ve had a similar situation. My wife and daughter went to Phoenix during the week earlier this summer while I was on the road trucking. Her car broke down in Phoenix in a rather sketchy area, and no shop could get to it that day. She tried a hotel, but it was super terrible and had a broken lock on the door. I proposed that she just get it towed all the way to Tucson just so she could be home safe, damn the cost. My super frugal wife agreed because she didn’t feel safe. $800 later she was home, and what we thought was a bad alternator was just bad battery cables. Did it suck to spend $800 because of that? Yes. Do we regret spending that $800? No.
My how times have changed.
My co-workers and I used to swap stories of casual familial child endangerment. My favorite was the one where “dad” loved to collect hats and when he’d see one lying on the road he’d pull over and send one of the kids out to get it. That included out onto a busy freeway!
What’s changed? Back in the day families were bigger so there was usually a spare kid or five.
Came here for this.
I mean, Volvo equipped my AWD XC70 with a space-saver spare so when I got a flat (twice in two years), mismatched tires and rims were basically my only choice. Only drove a few miles and my indie hasn’t told me that it caused any damage, so I guess it’s fine for spares.