I've been on the receiving end of that news so often; I've had a variety of lemons, even though I've always tried to prioritize safety as well. I feel for him and hope he can get the new tires soon--you never know what bills people are juggling, or even if they may just want to take the car for a second opinion.

I've just lived with problems in the past that I couldn't afford to fix, but I'll admit I too am lucky and have almost always been able to scrape up the money for stuff like brakes and alternators and spark plugs, oh my.