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Back in high school, I drove my car into a curb and put a hole in the side of the tire. My dad was out of town and I wanted to prove that I could be the man of the house, so I replaced it. I broke the old tire off the rim, got a spare tire from the attic (don't ask) and proceeded to lubricate the bead with Palmolive dish soap. My dad and I had done this several times, so I felt like I knew what I was doing.
After succesfully mounting the tire on the rim, I needed to take it to the gas station to fill it up. Not wanting to to put a palmolive-soap covered tire in the trunk, I washed it off with the hose, drove to the gas station, filled it up with air to seal the bead, had it balanced at the tire shop, and mounted it back on the car.
Needless to say, I was very pleased with both my mechanical acumen and my ability to handle situations.
That lasted until I drove to school the next morning. Around towm, the car was fine. Get it on the highway, and the wheel would shimmy like crazy.
By now, Dad was home and was checking out my work. He took it back to the tire shop and had them rebalance it. On a fluke, he had them rebabalce it again. It was still out of balance, even though it was just balanced.
The tire shop guy took the tire off the rim and found a half-gallon of soapy water. When I had washed the soap off the tire, water had gotten in the tire. Around town, it would just roll down the inside of the tire. When you got going fast enough, the water would collect in one spot and make the tire out of balance.
My Dad still laughs about it today.
posted by 12.32.91...
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