Saw the truck at the tire shop in Falmouth, Maine after being pulled over on the Turnpike by a statie who noticed my inspection sticker was (4 years) out of date. (Difficult to book an inspection at the one garage on our peninsula, and the counties down south--Cumberland and York--impose stricter anti-pullution standards). The cop understood my Downeast-everything-is-different story and gave me a warning on the sticker, instead of mandatory $145 fine (Thank you, sir!) He mentioned that the rear driver side tire on my (1997 Volvo 850 wagon) was "wobbling". I'd felt a vibration but figured I was running the tires too hard and had stopped 10 miles earlier to let out air pressure. Anyway, the visible wobble got me worried, and I was on the road for Boston, lots of traffic, etc. So I pulled off at Falmouth ME where there was a
Sullivan Tire shop I'd used before and found to be relatively efficient. I ended up putting 4 new tires on the car and keeping the 2 best of the old (which were actually snows, recommended to me for the car year-round by Alan of
Alan's Auto in Portland, Maine, who is half very knowledgeable Volvo guy and half spinmeister-salesman--and I never know which half is talking.) The improvement in road feel was vast and a lesson in how, even if you are a car guy, it's very easy to become accustomed to, and therafter ignore, really bad driving/handling characteristics in everyday wheels.
The bonus of the day was this hardy little
Jeep truck which belongs to one of the techs at the shop.
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