We had gone to this half day trip last Sunday. A small recreation park 30+km from our house. I loaded all our bicycled ( Strida, F20W, 2 kid's BMX) into the back trunk. Amazing a 4.4m wagon could hold such a load.
I took the highway and 2km after we got down from the highway. I noticed the red "flat tyre" lamp was on. Darn, I grumbled. We were at the country side. Although the manual said the Z could do 80km with the speed of under 80km/h, I was still worried about getting to the nearest tyre shop. I took a quick glance and saw a tyre shop 50m away. I drove toward it and the gate was closed. I drove further and saw a tyre shop with it's gate half open. I approach the shop and a 60+ yrs(or maybe 70) old lady came out. I asked her if she could get me someone to check my tyre. She gave me a strange look while looking at my car. Yes, no flat tyre... I told her that the car alarmed me that one of the tyre had a leak. She was still confuse about the technology - if I knew one of the tyre had leaked than I should know which one. Unfortunately the Z did not have such high tech - its detect only the balancing of the suspension system. A leak means imbalance cause by one of the tyre (or maybe 3...). She finally took the pump cum gauge and checked my tyre. The left front(driver side) was 28psi compared to the others(33psi). A possible leak and I asked her if she wanted to call the SIFU(master or the expert). She told me if patch is needed, she would call for the SIFU. I had a big "?" in my brain for a moment until I saw her pushing the car jack towards my car.
similiar jack she used
She jacked my car up and I was in an embarass situation then - to help or not to help her ?. But within second the car was lifted. She used the air-powered drill and got all the nut out. While she was getting the nut out, I told her that my tyre was tubeless( Bridgestone Turanza ER 300) - another stupid move by me... she told me she knew in a polite way. By the time I should have known that she was the expert, still I played smart and embarass myself.
The rest of the drill was routine: she checked the tyre with some soap water and got the small puncture hole. No nail was noted and she called her son. While leaving the scenario to her son, she told me that the tyre need to be patched from inside and the cost was higher. Her son took over the job and removed the nail. A long and tiny one. My wheel was back onto my Z after 15 mins. The charge was NT 200( darn cheap, tyre patch from inside and filled with N2).
2 stupid move in a day, never judge a person (especially old lady) from her looks.....the old lady was Yoda type of person.....
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