Change a tire- today Part 1

Have you ever had the chance to change a tire? Remember the time when you were a kid and your bike tire had some type of element lodged in the rubber? If you were like me, the natural tribal voice, would guide you to fix the tire yourself.

My most early times of changing a tire, I can recall, that I needed tools and I needed parts. But, the first few times, i would just put more air in the tire and ride the bike until I needed more air. Finally, one day me and my best friend Jordan started to hunt around in our parents toolboxes and start our inventory of tools. That way, the next time either one of us got a flat, we would have tools and eventually materials needed in order to fix our tires.

Just recently I had the huge job to change the tires on my mid-sized S.U.V. Now, if I was geared like the mainstream, I would have done the " civilized " thing and brought all three of my tires to a shop and pay for the costs of getting a tire changed. You have to pay for the disposal of the old tires(considered toxic waste), have the tires mounted, get the tires balanced( most of the time-not necessary) and wait for the tires to finished.

It takes quite a lot of energy to produce a tire. From the mixture of the plastics, rubber and mixture of synthetics to the actual forming process-all of this is a mega-carbon emission monster. Something we hardly ever stop to intellectualize upon. Not only does it takes huge amounts of energy to produce one tire, it also takes quite of human motivation, determination and energy to CHANGE TIRES BY YOURSELF. Of course I am referring to the basic philosophy, that we had when we were kids- that we don't need high tech. gear and gadgets to change our tires. All we need is good company, great motivation, patience, poles, screwdrivers, wrenches and whatever makeshift items that will maximize our experience.

This past weekend, I decided that procrastination was at an end and that I need to have my tires changed. I than decided to ask my brother in law. He was more than grateful to help me. Besides, he has a lot more muscle mass than myself, plus he changes tires by himself most of the time. If you know me and my history with working on cars, you will know than, that I tend to fall right into the worst days to work on a car or any of a cars many parts. on this particular day, it was raining and the temperature was a frost 33 degrees. Cold!

The task at hand required to take off the rubber off the two rear rims and replace them with some other plastic-rubber-non-environmentally friendly tires. When the wind tends to fluctuate with rain-the motivation to change the tires can be very slow at times. Not only was it raining, cold and wind, but I happened to park the S.U.V on the gravel as opposed to the blacktop. But, I decided that i wasn't going to move the car, BECAUSE this is where it was suppose to be.

To be CONT.