I just got back from a 3,000 mile road trip (25mpg) and had three (3!) flat tires.

Twice, I ran over screws/nails. I'm obsessed enough to check my tire pressure every day while on a road trip, so I noticed the first screw before the TPMS lit up. I had the leak repaired at Sears.

The second screw (another tire) must have been used to hold up a building because it was HUGE. The whomp, whomp, whomp sound freaked me out, so I stopped and saw the giant screw. The TPMS still had not lit up, but I hustled to a Firestone store a couple of miles away. When I got there, the screw was gone and the tire pressure was 40psi, so I thought that by some miracle I had evaded a flat tire. I left Firestone, went to lunch and when I came out the tire pressure was 27. SO... I went to Wal Mart and they did a fairly lame job of fixing it (they used 4 tire weights).

Anyway, on the 2998th mile of my 3000 mile trip, the TPMS lights up and when I get home I see that the FIRST flat tire is flat again. The weird thing is that the valve stem won't close. I check the pressure (25ish) and then the air just keeps coming out of the valve. I have to poke it 8 or 9 times to get it to seat.

Does this happen to anyone else? I'm going to have the valve stem changed tomorrow. Hopefully, that was the leak. The drag is that the new tire warranty isn't in effect because the tire was repaired, which voids the warranty. Ah well.

Three flats in one trip. I don't think I've had 3 flats in my life.