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I woke up today, expecting to drive my car. It's wasn't too cold to ride this morning, but it was going to rain/snow by evening. I just didn't want to get caught in either at these temperatures.

So taking the car, I backed out of the driveway. The car felt funny, and heavy. As I backed it out, something definitely didn't feel right. So I stop and look, to my surprise, my front-right wheel was completely flat. Rats.

So I decided to change my wheel on my own for the first time. I mean, how hard is it to change a flat right? I got all the tools ready, and was marrily whistling a cheerful tune. I jacked up the car, pulled out my spare. When I went to unbolt my wheel, I noticed that there wasn't any visible nuts to unscrew. Okay, so it's no big deal, it's probably just hidden behind the big VW sign in the wheel. I gingerly pried at it with a screwdriver, but it didn't come off. I pried it harder, still no go. I gave a 2 handed tug with my screwdriver, and I bent the stupid VW sign hub, but it still didn't come off.

So I'm thinking to myself -> "It's a $30,000 (CAD) car. And the last thing I want is to mess with the wheels. I'm just not mechanically inclined. I can put your computer back together nearly blindfolded, but I just don't know anything about cars." I'm not ashamed to admit that I can't change a flat. I'm a product of the 20th century, where equality has made me into somewhat of a wuss. I don't know how to rebuild an engine using duct tape and colour dye #4. I'm sorry. I know that changing a flat is infinitely easier, and I was willing to do it by myself, but my initial attempts at getting the wheel cap off did nothing for me.

I take out my trusty owner's manual, looking for how to change a tire. I find it on page 65. It makes references to either the crappy 15 wheels (non alloys) that are standard on the TDI/Golf 2.0, and the 17 inchers which are upgraded wheels that I didn't have. However, it makes NO references to how to remove my 15 inch alloy wheels. Lookit, I just don't have enough guts to blindly try to fudge at my wheels w/o some kind of step-by-step. Call me a wimp. Don't bother, I already know.

To make an agonizingly long story short. I caved in and called RoadSide Assitance, which is free when I purchased my car for 2 years. When the buddy showed up, he took out this huge mother-screw driver, and pried my hub off. Voila. Brute force overcomes everything. Sick.

...The shame. I'm going to learn how to work on my car from now on. Note to self: buy life insurance.
posted by losir at 4:46 PM