At 11 AM on Friday morning, I was buying gas to head out of town, beginning a 650-mile drive through Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to get from school back home... starter died, right there at the gas pump.

I had to get it towed to a local shop, which replaced the starter fairly quickly; at 5:00 PM I hit the highway to get going.

It was about 10 at night, a little over halfway through the trip.. I was going a little under 80, making good time and happy, when my right front tire blew.

I rolled it over to the shoulder to see what had happened, and immediately wished I hadn't looked. Some random piece of steel, about a foot long, apparently bounced up from the road somehow (?), got stuck in the tire, and spun around in there, cutting the brake line in half, smashing the strut, and taking out the washer fluid reservoir, in addition to tearing the hell out of the inner fender.

Looks like the rim survived with only a few scratches (!) and the guy who towed me out of there said that the CV axle and steering all looked like it survived, so it really wasn't as bad as it could have been... but still, my poor baby doesn't deserve this

Sorry about the poor quality of the pic, but here's the tire.

Unlucky coincidences...how did you finally get home?

THIS SUCKS BIG TIME, we should all donate to the college school guy going home fund!

really sorry to hear that dude, dont worry its reparable damage and as long as ur VQ is alright thats all that matters

ahh man that sucks. sorry for the tough luck...just be glad you weren't hurt and the damage is fixable.

Yeah, it could've been a lot worse than it was, really... I'm lucky in that I was out of traffic when it happened, and that my comprehensive insurance covers "road hazard" damage with a $200 deductible or so.

My dad came out from Harrisburg and picked me up, which was not a short drive.

ummmm.....im sure as long as ur vq is ok all is fine. dont worry about swerving off the road into a ditch or into oncoming traffic. As long as your VQ is ok.....thats all that matters.....

on a serious note....good to kno ur alrite.

That is some serious bad luck! Sounds like someone/something didn't like you that day. One hell of a coincidence.

daaamn them tires are gone... at least ur safe it would have been really unlucky if u spun out and hit something

dude, that sucks, glad you're alright

Atleast your ok, could have been MUCH worse especially on a highway.

Yeah, not only am I unhurt, the car will be back in shape in a few weeks at most... As unlucky as the timing was, I was fortunate in a number of ways.

You still don't feel too fortunate when you're watching your car bleed all over the shoulder, though...

Yeah i know what you mean...but may I dare say that bad things usually happen in 3's......

wow, that just wasn't your day.

Yeah, I had to wait in rain for four hours before Dad got out there. I hope that one counted.