Driving across the Texas Panhandle Friday, my tire alarm went off.

I've had it go off before when driving long distances in the heat, but it was only in the 70s. Didn't notice anything, so blamed the sensor.

20 seconds or so after the alarm went off, I thought I heard a flapping sound. Pulled over to the luckily wide shoulder, and looked around. Right rear tire was completely flat.

It appears I had a nail or something that must have come out, with the air going out very quickly. Otherwise, I would have had more warning from the sensor.

Luckily, the car handled this VERY well. I had no drivebility issues as the tire went down, much better than the time years ago in college when I had a tire go out catastrophically.

Also, luckily, the G35 came with a full sized spare. After 15 frustrating minutes getting the stupid jack out of the car (yet another example of an unuser friendly jack system), I was able to put the spare on and continue on my weekend, driving nearly another 550 miles before getting home. With a donut spare, I might have had to drive back to Lubbock Texas in the hope of finding a replacement tire that fit my car. The little towns I drove through on to my trip would likely not have had the right size tire to buy. And would I have wanted to buy a new tire anyway, with just 5000 miles on my current set and a road hazard warranty from my tire vendor?