# Bad Karma! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 6, 1999, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747 "1999-11-06T22:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/1 "1999-11-06T22:14:00Z")
Everyone must have suffered from a really ironic turn of events. This last week I was working in Tustin, Orange County, CA, some 35 miles from where I live; I commuted in my car, and was concerned–unnecessarily, about the car’s operation, all week. No trouble. Then today, Saturday, November 6, I drove a few miles to a local mall and got a flat! And the _spare_ was flat!! I had to get towed home! (I had one of those stupid temporary rims.) What would have happened if I had had a flat on I-5 in Santa Ana, 30 miles from home, on a crowded freeway? That’s the only part that I lucked out in. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/2 "1999-11-06T22:20:00Z")
dougie, carry a can of flat fixer w/you - it beats the hell out of changing a tire and allows you a mess free way to aid damsels in distress. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/3 "1999-11-06T22:22:00Z")
I wish it were that easy, Beatle. The right-rear tire picked up a three-inch nail (which I have with me right now). Granted I _could_ have pulled the nail out with pliers and used a can of aerosol flatfix… 🙂 Your point is well taken. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/4 "1999-11-06T23:50:00Z")
In the farm truck I keep a small portable air compressor and a tire fix kit. The kit I bought for $12 at Sprawlmart and includes everything you need to plug a nail hole, special plug ineserting tool and the plugs that look way too similar to beef jerky. The flat fix aerosol will make a mess of the rim and tire, so I’m told. ---
**Author:** ![CanadianSue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@CanadianSue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanadianSue)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 1999, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/5 "1999-11-06T23:51:00Z")
I just call AMA * * * “Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.” ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/6 "1999-11-07T00:04:00Z")
American Medical Association? Only if the jack slips and the car lands on your big toe. 😉 * * * You say “cheesy” like that’s a **BAD** thing. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/7 "1999-11-08T20:34:00Z")
You are so right, Funneefarmer! And I have a compressor I didn’t keep in the car! Mea culpa!! :o ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/8 "1999-11-08T22:45:00Z")
beatle: Don’t use that stuff. It will only work for small punctures, and the service folks will charge you $25+ to clean it our, turning a simply patch or plug into a relatively costly measure. Just make sure your spare is in servicable shape, and change it! * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![putrid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@putrid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/putrid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/9 "1999-11-09T00:48:00Z")
Gosh, I guess it depends on who you deal with. I carry a can of Fix-a-Flat (or whatever) always, just in case changing to the spare would be incovenient. I used it once and it didn’t bother the repair guy. That was a puncture _too far up the sidewall to repair_, too. The third guy I asked agreed to patch it and it _worked_ fine for the rest of its normal _life_. (The tire was brand new, which is why I wasn’t anxious to simply throw it out.) ---
**Author:** ![putrid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@putrid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/putrid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-karma/10747/10 "1999-11-09T00:50:00Z")
I paid ten bucks or less. Perhaps my mentioning that I’d already been to two other shops is why the guy didn’t try to hold me up for $25? Or he was in a good mood?