Tired

I usually feel like a huge idiot when it comes to car stuff. That's because when it comes to car stuff, I AM a huge idiot! Seriously, a mechanic could probably tell me I need to get work done on the flux capacitor, and I would believe him and pull out the credit card. This is why taking care of the cars is more Fred's thing than my thing.

Last time we bought tires for my van, Fred said, hey, let's buy them at Sears, where they will rotate them for free. Fred knew that the odds of me making the time to get to, say, Firestone--which is a very boring place--for tire maintenance are slim and none, but making a trip to the mall? Whip me, beat me . . . sure, I'm always happy to drop off the van for an oil change and tire rotation while I enjoy breakfast at Panera and then shop my way back to Sears.

So I took the van in for maintenance one day last week, and when I went to pick it up, the sales clerk said, "Just FYI: your tires are down to 3 [something that tires have--maybe it's a measurement? I shall call them thingies for my purposes here] thingies. Once they are down to 2 thingies, we can't do anymore work on them. So here, have an estimate for new tires!" Apparently new tires start out with 10 thingies--who knew? I pointed out I have put only 40,000 miles on my 60,000-miles-guaranteed tires, so it seems odd that my thingies should be so low. She went back out to check with the mechanic and came back with the news that I have 4 thingies, not 3, so never mind.

What do you think? Was she trying to sell me tires I don't really need? And if these tires ARE wearing out prematurely, do they have to explode out from under me in order for Sears to make good on their warranty? I hate car stuff.