Potholes 1 : Me 0

I'm not sure if it's true or not, but the potholes this year seem worse then ever. While driving on Big Beaver Rd by my house i hit a huge one. When i got home i went over to the tire and heard a hissing noise. I had hit the pothole so hard that it compressed the tire and put a slice in the tires sidewall. You can't really see it but there was a cut in the ribbed area.
So the next morning, the day i was leaving for Arizona, i changed the tire.


While changing the tire i noticed that the swing arm link was not attached to the shock. The pothole not only popped the tire but broke the rotating bolt that attaches to the link.
After putting on the spare tire i went to Goodyear, Firestone and Discount Tire. They all quoted a price of around $130 for the tire and $120 for the sway bar link.

I know that in about a year i will need to get 4 new tires so i was hoping that i could get them to put on a good conditioned used tire for me. None of them had the right size, but one guy suggested a Citgo gas station down the road.

I went in the garage there, told the guy what my problem was and he said, "So how much do you want to spend?" The part cost $30, the tire was $30, so i said $75. Also they didn't care if i stood there and watched them when the put the tire on the rim and bolted on the new link. I definitely wouldn't have gone there for anything more complicated than that.