Planet Crimson

(Chapter 1)

Whenever there’s a story to tell that requires more words than Twitter will allow, I use this blog. Considering how rarely I post on here, obviously I am very good at telling a story in 140 characters or less. I’m going to be pretty detailed in case some other people with Nissan / PAX issues stumble on this entry.

The saga begins several months ago when I noticed my tires looked bald. I was barely at 30,000 miles, maybe less, on this van. If this was a base model minivan, I probably wouldn’t have been surprised. Factory tires don’t generally get you too far. But these were an upgrade from the base model. I bought the minivan with all the bells and whistles. The dual DVD screens, the navigation, the XM radio, leather seats, etc. I was excited when I bought the car that I would have these cool run-flat tires. Plus they’re made by Michelin so I assumed they would be a quality tire that would last a long time. I generally expect at least 50,000 miles from a set of tires, especially when I manage to avoid any damage from road hazards (which is luck, not skill).

So, I finally got my 30k maintenance done at around 33-34k miles and they mention to me that my tires are bald and they quoted me around $1500 for a new set. Here’s where I start to realize what I’m getting into. $1500 for another 30k miles… last time I bought tires (on my 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan) it was like $700 for 50k miles. (Of course, I traded it in for the Quest before I got to 50k)

So now, I’m torn. $1500 for another 30k miles (if that), or replace them with another set of tires and wheels for about the same price, but then I have no donut. I decided to sit on the problem for a while since in Phoenix where it rarely rains and never snows, traction isn’t really something you NEED. Not the best decision, but whatever… that’s how I roll.

Lo and behold, within a couple weeks, I get an envelope in the mail about a class action lawsuit for people who are stuck with this PAX system. I felt a lot better about my problem knowing that I wasn’t the only one in this mess. Some Google searches online find a LOT of people complaining to anyone who will listen about these problems. Several car forums, NHTSA, etc. The options for the class action settlement were pretty weak except for the option where you can be reimbursed up to $1000 to “de-PAX” your car.

So, considering all the other crap going on in my life, I procrastinated the issue, hoping the tires would last until I had time to deal with them. And of course that means it would go at an inconvenient time. On Friday, December 10th, I was driving with my dad to pick up my grandma from dialysis. All of a sudden, a loud beeping alarm went off and after a momentary confusion, I saw the blinking “tire pressure” light on my dashboard and knew my day of reckoning had arrived. I changed my all-purpose screen to the tire pressure display and we watched the PSI go from 18 down to 2 and the ride got progressively louder and rougher. All of sudden we could feel every bump and dip in the road and there was a loud, annoying humming sound. We limped to the dialysis center and loaded Grandma up and got her home, again very loud and uncomfortable, but alive and moving.

(Uh oh! Also, damn, my screen is dusty!)

I re-read the letters mailed to me and the settlement agreement posted on the website for the law firm representing the class action to make sure what my options were, but in the end, I decided to check my work by calling the number provided. I spoke to a Legal Assistant and she immediately recommended I “de-PAX” my car and she said the deadline to have the work done is January 24th, 2011, which is better than the December 20th that I thought it was. I was very glad to confirm that I hadn’t missed the deadline.

I went to the dealership where I bought the car and they first recommended a $3200 set of wheels and tires (in case I didn’t mention this before, the beautiful rims are specifically sized for PAX tires, so I can’t just put new ones on them). I, of course, said that was a ridiculous price and I’d have to shop around. I talked to the Parts department and they told me the lug pattern on my van (5×114.3 in case you care!), and that I could get wheels from almost any Nissan compact car in recent years and they would fit. I could get wheels as small as 16 inches, and any tires I get would be matched to give me the right circumference. I would just have to get tires that are rated for the weight of my minivan. They suggested Craigslist or eBay. I also went to Discount Tire and got a quote of $1300 for basic 16″ wheels and good tires.

Charles was not happy with this option. He doesn’t believe the quality of those entry-level wheels would be satisfactory and he felt the smaller wheels would look “cheap” or “dinky”. We resumed a Craigslist search for wheels and we found a few sets of wheels from Nissan Muranos. (Muranos, in case you don’t know, are an SUV, similar size to my Quest) They ranged in price from $150-$200 for all 4 wheels. Not only were these less expensive than the Discount Tire wheels, but they were factory (meaning better quality), and they’d have the Nissan logo. We arranged to pick up a set from a guy near the airport here in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon (the 18th).

(Chapter 2)

Charles and I decided to limp my minivan to the guy with the wheels, pick them up, then hit up a Discount Tire closer to where we were picking them up. After all, my tires were supposed to go 125 miles at 55 MPH, and I’d only gone maybe 10 since it blew. Shortly after getting on the freeway (where I’d planned to go around 50 MPH and stay to the right), we started hearing a clunking noise in the wheel well. I pulled over and Charles noticed a small piece of rubber separating, which was hitting the wheel well. He thought it would just break off and we’d be fine. But as I started going again, the noise just got louder so I pulled off the road again and this time he checked the tire, it was completely disintegrating.

(This can’t be good!)

We had not even conceived of the possibility that the tire wouldn’t get us where we were going, albeit loud and uncomfortably, so we didn’t take two cars or anything. We called my dad, who we hoped could borrow my aunt’s minivan, to come and bail us out. While waiting for him I slowly limped the car over to a nearby on-ramp where traffic was much lighter and it felt safer to be out of the car in a major highway. My dad quickly arrived in my aunt’s Sienna and he gave us a ride to where we were meeting the guy from Craigslist. The wheels were in great shape and they still had tires on them (which was a great bonus). The tires were pretty bald, but we only needed them to get us to Discount Tire, so that was fine for our purposes.

The wheels were 18 inches (PAX wheels are 17) and the tire was a good couple of inches bigger in diameter than my existing tires, so after driving back to where my Quest was wounded on the side of the road, we put the new wheel on a back tire (where it wouldn’t have to turn and rub) and moved the back one up to the front to replace the shredded one. Charles rode in the Sienna so the extra weight of a passenger on the side of the car with the big tire wouldn’t cause unnecessary rubbing. The plan worked well, because rather than having to travel cautiously on the surface streets, the Quest handled well enough that I just took the freeway to the nearest Discount Tire. Other than pulling a bit because of the mismatched tire, there were no problems at all riding on it.

(Drive on this? Nope!)

Then came another bump in the road. The Discount Tire we went to was not the same one I got a quote and approval from. These guys refused to take the PAX system off my car. The concern being that the minivan was (allegedly) designed around this PAX system and that other tires could cause stability/handling/etc problems and Discount did not want to be responsible for any issues. However, in order to get my settlement check, I will be signing that I acknowledge the “risks” of driving with a non-PAX system. I’ve found a few reports online of people who de-PAXed and they’re happier with the new set. I don’t believe the car was designed around PAX other than removing my spare tire and adding a useless storage bin. I told them that the other location had gotten the OK and they recommended I go there. Fine — after all, the car was riding fine with the big tire. So, we went.

Once again, the Discount Tire that I had originally gotten the OK from was still OK with it, and they remembered me from the last time I was in there. However, they lacked the equipment to move the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) sensors from the PAX tires to the new ones. New TPMS sensors would cost $71 per tire, and they called the only Discount Tire location in Phoenix who had the special equipment and they could move the sensors for $20 per tire. That’s a savings of $200 overall, and therefore worth more hassle. Since, again, the van was driving fine on the big tire, we decided to make one more trip over to the other location that has PAX equipment and just get all the work done there. They kindly put the 3 Murano tires and the shredded PAX tire into bags to protect my interior and loaded them back up in my van and we made the trip to 18th Street and Camelback.

We left the house around 12:15pm and we rolled into the 3rd Discount Tire of the day at about 4pm (an hour before they closed). They were already familiar with our situation (since the guys at the 2nd one had called them about moving the sensors), we selected tires (Falken brand – thank goodness we didn’t have to get Michelins!) with a 50,000 mile warranty, added Discount’s replacement warranty for the life of the tire for about $95, and went to a Mexican restaurant next door for dinner, both because we hadn’t eaten all day, and to thank my dad for driving us all over the city. By about 5:30, my van was done, the old wheels in the back of the van until I decide what to do with them, all 8 bald tires I brought in disposed, and I’m happily de-PAXed! They calibrated the TPMS sensors and reset the system for the new tires and I was off!

I’ve only driven the on the new tires for about 10 miles, but that included freeway, and here are my immediate observations:
- The handling is much improved. I didn’t have a complaint before, but now the steering is noticeably easier. Feels like I’m gliding, but in a good way. The ride seems to be lighter and more comfortable.
- There was a very noticeable shudder when I applied the brakes which was especially noticeable at high speeds (like driving down a mountain grade at 70MPH). I didn’t even realize it shuddered when braking at lower speeds before (like going from 50 to 0) but when I got off the freeway and braked, I realized there was a difference. No shudder or shake at all!

The only bad part of this is that I really liked the appearance of the wheels on my PAX tires. They are a very attractive brushed chrome finish. These wheels from the Murano are more of a painted metallic. The design is similar. I’m sure in a couple days I will have completely forgotten the PAX tire saga and not even notice the wheels anymore.

(New Tires!)

So, that’s my story. I wanted to share it for any other PAX tire “victims” like me. The next phase will be filing my claim and hopefully being reimbursed for the cost of the tires. Having to drop $1200 on wheels and tires right before Christmas was not what we had in mind.

Haha, I have your captive attention for a few minutes while I update you on my CPAP experiences.

So, the week of n00bparty was a terrible time to evaluate the effectiveness of sleeping with a CPAP device. It seemed, though, that I could stay up more hours than I should have been able to, but I’ve been known to do that while having fun.

But, now I’ve had a full two weeks since n00bparty ended (though it feels like a lot longer for some reason). I’ve noticed that I am waking up naturally after about 6 hours of sleep. Usually at this point, I would pee and go back to bed. But, once I’m up and walking to the potty and I get to relieve my pressured ears (more on that in a sec), I can’t motivate myself to go back to sleep. Please take your jaw off your desk. (Flashback to a month ago, pre-CPAP, when I would get up 3-6 times a night, pee, and go back to bed and fall asleep within 2-3 nanoseconds.)

Since I work long hours on the weekends and usually end up with not enough sleep, Sundays used to be my sleep days where I would do a 16+ hour sleep marathon. Today, it was still a marathon, but it was more like 10 hours. Which is like, normal… for someone who didn’t get much sleep the day or two before that. I wanted to sleep longer than that, but I got up to pee, and that was the end of that nap.

So, the pressure thing. The last P in CPAP stands for “Pressure”. You are inhaling pressurized (and humidified) room air. So, when you swallow, yawn, etc… it gives you that pressure difference in your ears like when you travel into higher or lower elevation. Charles is good at swallowing in such a way that doesn’t let the pressure change, but I am not yet so talented. I’m getting there. So for now, when I remove my mask, I have pop my ears. It’s very refreshing.

Back in the days of always being tired, if I got bored and felt I had been awake long enough, I would go to bed. Now, I am hitting that wall and not tired. So, it’s going to take time to get used to having more time to do stuff.

Things are changing pretty rapidly in improving my quality of life now. I think more waking hours are skewing my sense of time, but I wouldn’t trade it. The changes are subtle and gradual, not earth-shattering or life changing like getting a new pair of glasses (or how I imagine getting LASIK done on your eyes would feel), but great nonetheless.

OK, so I just woke up from my first nap and I figured I’d just post the whole “story” here to answer everyone’s questions.

So, I was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea with an average of 35 awakenings per hour. I had an appointment on Tuesday at 1pm to pick up my equipment. Ironically, I overslept and woke up at 1:15. I called the main center and they were able to get me in at 2 instead, so I got dressed and headed over to the same place where I had my studies done.

The lady there went through every part of the machine (which costs $3000 – thank you insurance for picking up most of the tab!). I was originally going to use the mask that I selected in my study which is almost the same as Charles’ mask, but in a size larger because the one I wore then was so small that my mouth barely fit in the damn thing. She convinced me to try a mask that went over my nose and mouth and I was surprised that I actually didn’t mind it. Since they have a 30-day trial period on any mask, I decided to try it out for 2 weeks and if I don’t like it, I can use the other one. I remembered that the “pillows” that go into my nostrils were kind of annoying and slightly irritating to my stupidly-sensitive noseskins. (inside joke)

The tech at the sleep center was very patient and I never felt rushed as she made sure I was completely happy with my choice. She also patiently described how to use the machine and take care of it. I’m just remembering that now because usually I would tend to rush through something like this because I usually treat all employees as if they hate their job when I’m a customer… so I don’t know what she did to actually stop me from doing that and remembering it now, it’s pretty neat that she did that. Our doctor is the same way… he doesn’t mind spending time with you and making sure everything is taken care of. Sometimes it means a longer wait before he comes in but it’s worth it when you know he’s going to do the same with you.

Anyway, I went off track… I had only had a short nap before my appointment (which is why I overslept it) but I had been up for enough hours before the nap to need a full night’s sleep (which for me is 12 hours – see why I need this CPAP?)… so Charles dealt with getting my oil changed so that I could get to sleep. OK, so I didn’t learn my lesson I guess and my oil hadn’t been changed in a little too long so I didn’t want it to be in bad shape before I take it to the dealership to get maintenance done and some things fixed under warranty so I had it changed ahead of time. But that’s another story.

Unfortunately, going to sleep at 5pm is about the dumbest thing I could do because that’s during the prime time of Poker Nation stuff. So basically from 5pm-9pm I received like 5-6 calls and several texts from 3 different people, and had to call a customer to answer a question. Needless to say, my sleep was VERY interrupted.

Charles came to bed around midnight and that pretty much always wakes me up at least for a minute or two. But this time the bridge of my nose was really sore because I probably adjusted that part a little too tight. The rest of my mask fit really well all night but obviously I’m going to have to adjust the top of it. I loosened it in bed but it was already bruised so I decided to just get up and take advantage of the quiet house to get some work done before n00bparty which is in 3 days (OMG).

I can’t say I feel very different at this point but all I really achieved was a nap anyway so I’m not disappointed or anything. Charles hurt his hip on the Stairmaster at the gym, so he’s skipping out until it stops hurting but I’m probably gonna go by myself and get my workout in. I need to catch up to his strength anyway (haha). I am at a new low on my weight tonight (324.0 – 15 pounds of loss) but that might dip a few more fractions since I need to pee (haha).

Oh – I almost forgot to talk about my machine. So, the machine has a “ramp up” feature which starts the pressure low and comfortable and slowly increases for 45 minutes up to your prescribed pressure. I remember when Charles first got his, he was having trouble psyching himself to use this thing and the ramp feature helped him get accustomed to falling asleep with (his words) a giant sucking octopus attached to your face. For the record, I completely understand why he prefers falling asleep naturally instead of on the mask. I just hate when he does it because he feels like dog shit when he wakes up that way.

Now, my machine actually lets me set the start pressure for the ramp-up. Charles’ machine does not. (I have the newer model of his same brand) This is GREAT because the default is the lowest setting of 4 which doesn’t give me enough air so I already changed it to 6 which is what we started with in my sleep study.

This machine also has a feature called “CFLEX” which reduces the pressure when you exhale… this feature is AWESOME. The thing I hated most about wearing Charles’ mask and the ones in the sleep study was that it was hard to exhale against the incoming pressure and it made me feel a bit panicky like I couldn’t breathe. This feature reduces the pressure significantly when it detects you exhaling and it feels a lot more natural to breathe with it than any other CPAP I’ve used. There are three levels of CFLEX… I moved it to the highest setting which is such a drastic decrease that it actually feels like the mask is being sucked back off my face. Not literally, of course. I may go down to 2 when I get used to sleeping with this thing.

Since when my face is sweaty, it itches, any mask is going to be terrible for my eczema. I figured out (during my second study) that if I put my prescription cream on my face before I go to sleep, it does its job and suppresses my immune system reaction and my skin doesn’t itch or break out in a rash. When I did a trial sleep on Charles’ equipment, I had a terrible itchy rash on my face for a few hours until the cream could clear it up. My (awesome) doctor didn’t even blink an eye when I handed him my nearly empty tube and asked him to write me a new prescription. One tube lasts me about two years (seriously, though that may change now since I have to use it every time I go to sleep instead of once or twice a week) so I didn’t have a refill available. He had already said “sure” before he even read to see what the tube was.

So, I have an appointment in 2 weeks to follow up. I can trade masks if I decide I don’t like this one, completely free, and they’re going to check the SD card in my machine to make sure that I’m using it. If I don’t use it, my insurance won’t pay for it. Makes sense.