Just call it the pothole tire shop

At least for these folks there will be no debates about what to buy with those government-issued tax rebate checks -- new tires and rims to replace the ones ravaged by potholes.

"It's like a minefield out there," says one of the commute-weary drivers limping into the National Tire & Battery store in Arlington Heights on Friday in a car sporting one of those wimpy, temporary spare tires.

"Look, there comes another car driving on a doughnut," tire customer Ron Lignowski of Elk Grove Village says as he watches the parade of cars easing into the parking lot.

Potholes are good for the tire business.

"We usually get five to 10 flat tires a day, but it's double that," NTB service manager Dean Mavrianos says during a rare spare second between customers.

"This is just what's left over from last night," he says, pointing to seven rims waiting for new tires.

Working as a machinist from 5 p.m. until 3 a.m., Lignowski woke early to get the tire fixed for his daughter, Caiti Dominick, a Loyola University senior who hit a pothole on the Kennedy during her drive home from her student teaching assignment.

That pothole not only claimed her tire, but it flattened tires on the cars in front and behind her, Lignowski says.

"Luckily for her, the state police pulled up and changed the tire for her," Lignowski says, noting that he must get a tire to replace the temporary spare. "The officer told her, 'I'll probably do eight others later today.' "

Blowouts love company.

"In the last week, we had 30 to 40 pothole tires," says Edmon Enviya, manager of this NTB. "This is the worst I've ever seen it."

Technicians manage to salvage a slightly dented rim, so Lignowski spends only $161.32 on a new tire and all that goes with that.

Others aren't so lucky.

Since you can't put a new tire on a damaged rim, many customers shell out an additional $200, $300, $400 or more depending on the rim. Some discover they need to buy a second tire to match the new one they bought.

"I take pictures of all the rim damages and e-mail them to my vendors," Enviya says as he flips through seven sad, little photographs on his phone. "That Mercedes will probably cost him 600 bucks."

Costs from pothole damage average about $300, Enviya figures, but it varies. It's the stories that are the same.

"It just kind of shook the whole car," says Senad Bajramovic, 25, a Rolling Meadows salesman who hit a pothole not far from the tire store. "A half-mile later I heard the noise."

The dreaded whap, whap, whap of a flat tire was extra painful for Bajramovic, whose spare tire also was out of air. Looking at buying a $170 tire and a $270 rim, Bajramovic got the NTB folks to fill his spare tire, use it to replace his flat, and send him on his way with no charge.

"It's usually five or 10 bucks, but by the time I'd write up the ticket, I'd rather just do it," says Mavrianos, who has a lobby full of needy customers and a crew of eight mechanics working as fast as they can.

Part of the blame for all these flats falls on the stylish rims with the smaller "low profile" tires that can't take the pothole punishment that a larger tire might.

"Your low-riding tires -- they think it looks cool," Lignowski says. "Reality check."

The shop is so busy, Lignowski gets his new tire mounted on the old rim, and carts it to a less busy place to have it put back on the car in place of the spare. In the meantime, his 21-year-old daughter drives his Chevy Blazer to the school where she teaches.

"Please don't hit any more potholes," Lignowski begged his daughter. "Dad can't afford this anymore."

As a semitrailer truck from Mississippi maneuvers through the mounds of snow to unload dozens of new tires, pothole business shows no sign of letting up.

"What can you do?" Bajramovic says with a shrug. "They are huge, man. You can't escape them."