I Left A Used Tire In Michigan So A Friend Checked It In As Luggage And Flew It To LA. What Is The Weirdest Car Part You’ve Brought Onto A Plane?

Screen Shot 2023 03 02 At 7.21.49 Am
ADVERTISEMENT

The one thing I left in Michigan during my move to LA was the $20 used tire you see above. Luckily, my friend Adam travels from Detroit to LA fairly regularly, and volunteered to check the tire into his luggage. He is currently in California, with the tire in the trunk of his car, ready to complete the 2,500 mile used-car-transportation process. This leads me to the question: What is the strangest car part you’ve ever brought onto a plane?

That’s a fairly heavy tire, too: It’s a 31-inch BFG All-Terrain, and likely filled with at least some amount of water, given that the tire sat outside, and that removing water from inside a tire is a fine art that I have yet to master (I usually just throw the tire down on the ground a few times to bring the water level down so I can transport it without splashing everywhere; I still end up getting water all over the place).

Screen Shot 2023 03 02 At 7.26.27 Am

I’m perfectly willing to admit that asking a friend to fly a $20 tire that I bought from a junkyard across the country is a little absurd, but don’t underestimate junkyard tires! I’ve gotten some great black rubber gems over the years — name brand stuff like these BFGs — and I prefer them to used no-name-brand tires. Plus, if you’re still hesitant, just understand that, if you’ve purchased a used car, you’re almost certainly driven a car with used tires whose history you don’t know. At least in the case of junkyard tires, you can inspect them thoroughly both inside and out (key things to look at are the date code, the outside (check for damage or dry rotting), and the inside carcass (make sure the structure hasn’t been compromised. Then make sure they can be easily balanced, and that they hold air. I’ve had great success, but your mileage may vary.

This tire will be a spare for my $350 manual transmission “Holy Grail” Jeep Grad Cherokee overlanding build, which I’m excited to start soon. I’m still getting my affairs in order in LA (I don’t like buying and assembling furniture nearly as much as I enjoy buying and assembling cars).

Screen Shot 2023 03 02 At 8.14.06 Am

Anyway, thank you Adam for indulging my ridiculous tire-hoarding tendencies (look at that stack above in my parking spot under my apartment). I bet lugging that thing around sucked.

It leads me to a question: What is the oddest car part or tool you’ve ever brought onto a plane? I once transported a Nissan Pao vent window from Hong Kong to North Carolina for Jason; I also brought him a Yugo steering wheel from Serbia. Plus, I flew a clutch disk (which I’d turned into a going-away gift for former Jalopnik EIC Patrick George) from Detroit to New York. Oh, and then there was this:

Tell us your strangest car part transport stories.

[Editor’s Note: I just want to note that David gave me the Yugo steering wheel in LA, and from there I took it to Denmark, and then back to North Carolina. So that wheel maybe ended up with more miles traveled than the rest of the car. Well, probably not, but it’s definitely been to more countries! – JT]

[Editor’s Note: The third (and final thus far) Jalopnik Film Festival occurred in Los Angeles. I lived in New York. Someone needed to bring the trophy, which was mostly just a big ol’ piston from (I think) a VM Motori 4.2-liter diesel motor with a base. I assumed, incorrectly, that I could bring it on the plane. The TSA immediately pulled my bag when they saw it and were like “what is this thing?” I tried to explain it, but I was told I was carrying a weapon and that I’d have to check it. And that, my friends, is why you always go to the airport early enough to go through security twice! – MH]

[Huibert’s Note: I can’t see WP files but I took a prototype steering wheel on a plane once when I worked at Jag. I walked up to the red line at the airport when I arrived and told them what I was carrying and they were all interested in it but let me through anyway. I could have had a suitcase full of coke but because I got their attention focused on the steering wheel, they let me through. -HM]

Relatedbar

121 thoughts on “I Left A Used Tire In Michigan So A Friend Checked It In As Luggage And Flew It To LA. What Is The Weirdest Car Part You’ve Brought Onto A Plane?

  1. OK somebody has to ask.

    I say this with love and gratitude, David: what the FFFF is the matter with you? From where does this bizarre hoarding cheapness originate?

    Paying luggage fees and annoying a friend to carry a $20 tire across the country is not the conduct of a healthy brain.

    That said it’s a badass tire.

    But this is demented, bro.

  2. A rare, uncracked, MG “big valve” cylinder head (loaded) as carry-on from Kansas City to Raleigh, NC. I had to buy a cheap suitcase at Walmart to carry it in. Head did a good job on my Austin Powerless Marina 24 Hours of LeMons 1975Austin Marina 2-time class winner and I.O.E. Winner.

  3. I drive Camaro in China, and getting bolt on parts is pretty hard, plus its kind of “illegal” to modify cars and expensive if it is even available, so I buy most things in the US when I go home and take them back with me. If security checks my luggage in China it will most likely be confiscated, so to avoid that I put most of the parts in my carry on baggage.

    On two separate occasions I have taken a set of Brembo brake calipers. The second time they were second hand and leaked a bit of brake fluid. When by bag was checked by TSA in Chicago I got a raised eyebrow and a shrug but that was it.

    Over the years I’ve also taken modified throttle bodies, door sills, spacers and gaskets, air scoops and a bunch of other small stuff, especially cleaning products. The only thing that was ever taken out was a can MAF sensor cleaner because it was in a pressurized canister.

    Interestingly, I was able to find some parts for the BMW I have in the US cheaper in China. I replaced my ancient faux chrome kidney surround for a faux carbon fiber set and was able to get some ducting for brake ducts as well. This year when I go back I will probably get the BMW 50 year badges to replace my worn and faded 2003 spec BMW badges. Beats paying for shipping!

  4. No car parts, but I’m a very serious amatuer photographer. How serious? My camera bag now weighs about 35 pounds. In addition to my camera stuff, I put my diabetes meds in it and that’s my carry-on luggage. I take it anyplace I fly. Clothes? I check those because the camera stuff would be much more attractive to thieves than my clothes, and the clothes would be easier and cheaper to replace at any destination.

    Surprisingly, I’ve only had that bag carefully inspected once, on a flight from JFK to Heathrow. No problem at all bringing it back, or on any other departure from JFK.

  5. You moved from rusty Michigan to Cali?

    Whoa I must’ve missed a few posts… I should stop hanging around the ol Jalopshack…

  6. My mind went straight to the Bugs Bunny cartoon meme where he throws a baseball and it goes around the world and returns covered in tourist stickers.

  7. I quite often bring parts I’ve sourced from all over the world to my brother in Poland. Yet the stranger (less logical) ones were quite mundane. a) me flying an E38 heat shield plate awkwardly squished in my carry on from Berlin, via Munich to Poznan – a journey I prefer to make in a car, as is it turns out faster. And b) was me flying a suitcase of old BMW audio gear, including a spare well subwoofer, from Poland to the UK. It survived (I think?) despite my poor packing

  8. Flew with an OEM catalytic converter for my 6 liter powerstroke to california from Oregon. I had taken it off during the bulletproofing/upgrade process and was going to sell it for scrap/recycle at the metal yard but someone mentioned trying to sell it in California as they required OEM parts for visual inspections (no such requirement in Oregon). Listed it on Sacramento Craigslist and sold it for $600 in a few days. No idea what shipping would’ve been but I routinely flew down there for work and it came up in conversation. Offered me $50 to try and bring it. It was a bit of an unwieldy shape, but I fashioned a crude box and checked it on my way down. I had status with the airline so it didn’t cost me any extra. Win win for both of us.
    This was probably in 2012 or 13ish.
    https://www.oemford.parts/oem-parts/ford-catalytic-converter-5c3z5e212a?c=bD01Jm49U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHM%3D

  9. I once brought a knock-off ST-205 fibreglass hood scoop for my 88 Alltrac all the way from Kuching Malaysia. It was wrapped in cardboard and tape and garbage bags, not quite as proffessional as that tire.

    I subjected myself to a shady car ride with the vendor in his lowered pink civic , to investigate buying more carry-on goodies at another car accessory shop, just to avoid walking back to hotel during a sudden tropical downpour. Pretty sure car accessory salespeople never murder tourists, right?

    I also tried to arrange pickup of ST-205 LSD during stopover in Tokyo once, but that never materialized.

  10. Passenger side mirror for a 2012 Pathfinder. I’ve been splitting time between Minneapolis, MN and NC. Last month, someone I am very fond of introduced the Pathfinder’s original passenger side mirror to the driver side mirror of a stationary F150 on a narrow street in Asheville. The F150 mirror won, and I found an excellent, color-matched, used replacement nearby in Wisconsin that I carried on the plane when I flew down. Not too difficult.

  11. 2x Greddy intercoolers and a Whiteline swaybar from World Time Attack in Australia flying back to New Zealand. Purchased the Greddy intercoolers and had them sent to my sister in Geelong. Then got those sent to Sydney to where we were staying during World Time Attack. Picked up the Whiteline swaybar for my ST185 Celica GT-Four as I was talking to the chaps at the Whiteline stand who said they had them in stock at head office. Paid them on Friday and they brought the swaybar to the event on Saturday for me to collect. Walked around the event that day with the swaybar everywhere. Went as oversized luggage on the trip back home to Wellington, NZ. No issues travelling back and my friends were shaking their heads on why why go all this effort lol. When you get a good deal, as the intercoolers were 40-50% off, then you make the best of it 🙂

  12. Working in Kalispell, Montana, I found 2 blades for my riding mower on sale. So, in the suitcase for the return trip to Oregon. Checked the bag, as I’m walking thru security, the guy operating the x-ray machine says, ” Don’t they have any lawnmower blades in Oregon”. Yes they do, but these were on sale. How did you know, “I x-ray all the checked also”. Never did figure out how he knew they were mine.

  13. My grandparents gave me a car. Catch was I had to drive it home from Florida back to NC. So I flew down. I knew it had a crappy radio, so I brought one with me to install before the ride home. Unfortunately, this was just after 9/11/01, so me going through security with no checked bags, and a backpack containing a DIN radio with a bunch of wires apparently raised some eyebrows. I had to answer a bunch of questions at the main security, and not surprisingly, I was ‘randomly selected’ (along with a couple of Middle Eastern men) for additional security at the gate.

  14. Just want to say that this works because people know you would drop what you’re doing and help them out without thinking about it. You and Adam are good people, David.

  15. Unfortunately, I don’t have any car parts that I’ve brought on trips. The closest thing was I bought a Commodore Amiga (I collect vintage computers/gaming systems) from France (delivered to Spain) to take back with me to the states. I knew the suitcase weight limit was strictly enforced so I put the power supply in my carry on. So I’m going through security in Frankfurt and of course they search the bag, yada, yada. The security guy asks me what it is and I explain it to him. His eyes lit up and in his German accent “I grew up with one, I loved mine!” So, I got waived through and that’s it. I get more hassles carrying chocolate in my bags. 🙁

    1. I must have spent literally thousands of hours of my childhood on an Amiga.
      It was an incredible machine, astounding for the 80s, and it was such a huge influence in my life.
      My brother was and still is an Amiga enthusaist, and he still has a few of them which he uses today.
      Now I have to go find an Amiga emulator.

  16. Not me but: I work for a global organization and some co-workers were in from Ireland for an extended OJT trip. One of the guys was an avid dirt bike rider (can you see where this is going?) on seeing the prices of motorcycles here in the US, he bought one . Rode it a bit while here then, yes, disassembled it and as the guys rotated in and out (generally the Company flies you home every 2-3 weeks) they each checked an extra piece of luggage. The only hiccup was the engine, being overweight the guy had to pay the extra fee.
    The whole operation went off without a hitch and he reassembled the bike in Ireland.

  17. I have extremely limited experience in this area. I once brought a license plate in my carry-on out of state to put on the car I was buying. Which my tax collector told me I definitely could not do, since that plate was not registered to that vehicle. However, I found it the less risky option compared to driving 1,300 miles across ten states and D.C with no plate.

  18. Imused to work for a company that sold parts to the marine and RV industries. One year we released a shower handset. It looked very much like a personal massager.

    For over a year I had TSA pull what looked like a big ‘ol sex toy out of my carry on bag and slapping it down on the table in full view of the rest of the security line. I didn’t get the chance to explain to the spectators what it was.

  19. No car parts, but I had some time to kill before a flight out of Atlanta and decided to go to the local Sears that was liquidating inventory. I brought home two sets of c-clamps, vice grips and a foam tool chest drawer liner.

    My wife was confused but not surprised.

  20. Last time I schlepped car parts home, it was a set of biggie brake calipers and mounting brackets for a Saab 9-3. Nice, clean, shiny junkyard bits from Phoenix, plus my small junkyard toolbox (drove a car out, flew back). Free checked luggage on Southwest FTW.

Leave a Reply