I have an 05 Forester with 21k miles. I blew out the front passenger tire by being careless and hitting a curb while parking. The stock tires (Yokohama Geolandar OEM) are not highly regarded like most OEM tires. The tires have never been rotated, and the fronts have more wear than the rear. I have a few options: a) Replace all 4 tires. b) Mount the brand new full size spare on the front and rotate a rear tire to the front and buy a used cheapo tire for use as a spare. My concern with scenario b is that I will have 4 identical tires with three different tread depths. The Suby is an AWD drive car and I don't know if that is optimal. I live in Arizona, and it does not rain here often and the tires are not exposed to snow, so it is safe to run them down to 2/32nds and I think I can get anotehr 20k miles out of them. A new set of aftermarket Yokohamas costs about 500 bux, but it will be a superior tire. What do you guys think?
Need comments on my Subaru tire situation
- Thread starter Joe1
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All tires should be within 0.25" circumference at all times. You should either a) buy four new tires or b) find a place that can shave the replacement tire to the circumference of the others or c) buy a used tire with the same circumference.
http://www.subaru.com/common/faq/tech_info.jsp#4
Failure to rotate such that the manufacturers circumference specs are met can and will damage the clutch pack or viscous coupler for auto or manual transmission respectively.
http://www.subaru.com/common/faq/tech_info.jsp#4
Failure to rotate such that the manufacturers circumference specs are met can and will damage the clutch pack or viscous coupler for auto or manual transmission respectively.
FWIW, we have a set of Yokohama Avid TRZ on our subaru for summer tires, and we're really happy with them. Before that we had a set of Avid Touring. I think Yokohama makes a great tire for the money, but you're right, the Geolanders don't get great reviews.
I just replaced the OEM Geolanders on my 05 Forester with Kumho Solus KH16 tires, and the difference is quite remarkable. I didn't get as much noise reduction as I had espected but the handling is dramatically improved. The cost was $250 total from TireRack and the local cooperating dealer.
I removed the Geolanders at 5,000 miles, despite my wifes thinking I was crazy, and would do it again. The problem now is what to do with the old tires, they are too good to throw away and not worth keeping except for emergencies like needing a large bonfire.
I removed the Geolanders at 5,000 miles, despite my wifes thinking I was crazy, and would do it again. The problem now is what to do with the old tires, they are too good to throw away and not worth keeping except for emergencies like needing a large bonfire.
gfcrane,
Try to find someone who really needs them and make them a gift.Or try an add in your local shopper type paper.
Bob
Try to find someone who really needs them and make them a gift.Or try an add in your local shopper type paper.
Bob
The viscous coupling in many of the manual transmission models is probably more robust than the more complex, electronically controlled clutch packs (4EAT for example). Don't some of the auto tranny models come with a full-size spare with recommendations for a five-tire rotation pattern? Most of the other AT models are supposed to come with a 2WD fuse that should be inserted when the compact spare is used. At least in my 2004 WRX owner's manual, it says that this is needed for using the compact spare with an automatic transmission, except for "Turbo models". Much of my owner's manual seems to be written generically for all Impreza models.
My 2004 WRX has the 5-sp. Even the WRX 4-sp manual doesn't come with a 2WD fuse (it's a "Turbo model"). I've suffered a flat and installed the compact spare with no problem. I think the only caveat was that I needed to keep it under 50 MPH, probably to prevent damage to the front or rear diff. I think the claims that the manual tranny models will suffer damage from unequal tire sizes is probably exaggerated. Personally I like the keep all my tires the same for optimum performance.
The VC's will eventually fail, though they will take a lot of abuse. The subaru fora seem to have periodic posts regarding torque bind due to owner abuse in the form of tire circumference differences. The VC's seem to fail in a locked state, causing drivetrain binding when turning sharply. The Jeep 249 transfer case is known for this failure as well.
In a VC the internal fluid heats up when there is a difference in speed between the front and back, this causes it to get thicker, transferring more power to the other axle. If it is always doing this it will cause premature VC failure, more wear and tear to the rest of the drivetrain, and some loss in fuel economy. I doubt the 50MPH limit is to protect the diff unless it is LSD, I suspect it's more to protect the VC from overheating.
On the autos the computer senses the difference in front/rear speeds and increases the application of the clutch pack, bad news. I'm a bit disappointed that their firmware can't detect the consistently ratiometric VSS signals due to an unacceptable circumference match and disable AWD and turn on a warning light, that would protect some owners from themselves. I've always thought that Subaru's AWD algorithms on the autos were rather unrefined. In really deep snow ours will constantly cycle traction to and from the rear, as if it can't learn that the road is really slippery. I think it needs to be more intelligent about characterizing the context of AWD application. Perhaps they've improved some since they built our '99.
Our auto has the FWD fuse and a small spare. I don't know about the full-size spare, though that's a great idea. I have a 15A fuse taped to the top of the spare tire, and I try to remind my wife periodically.
I always run four identical tires on all of my vehicles for a number of reasons, mostly circumferential and tractional parity.
In a VC the internal fluid heats up when there is a difference in speed between the front and back, this causes it to get thicker, transferring more power to the other axle. If it is always doing this it will cause premature VC failure, more wear and tear to the rest of the drivetrain, and some loss in fuel economy. I doubt the 50MPH limit is to protect the diff unless it is LSD, I suspect it's more to protect the VC from overheating.
On the autos the computer senses the difference in front/rear speeds and increases the application of the clutch pack, bad news. I'm a bit disappointed that their firmware can't detect the consistently ratiometric VSS signals due to an unacceptable circumference match and disable AWD and turn on a warning light, that would protect some owners from themselves. I've always thought that Subaru's AWD algorithms on the autos were rather unrefined. In really deep snow ours will constantly cycle traction to and from the rear, as if it can't learn that the road is really slippery. I think it needs to be more intelligent about characterizing the context of AWD application. Perhaps they've improved some since they built our '99.
Our auto has the FWD fuse and a small spare. I don't know about the full-size spare, though that's a great idea. I have a 15A fuse taped to the top of the spare tire, and I try to remind my wife periodically.
I always run four identical tires on all of my vehicles for a number of reasons, mostly circumferential and tractional parity.
I was at Discount tire today and was surprised to find out the Kumho's were made in China. I looked up the tire plant manufacturing codes and found out they have a plant in Korea and one in China. Discount tire had a model of Yokohama that only they sell, I looked on the sidewall and couldn't find a country of origin, so I made a call and had someone look up the DOT code and found out they were made in Phillipines. I know their AVID line is made in USA.
Certainly I wasn't willing to take the chance when my front tires were worn prematurely. However - there are a lot of indications that the electronically controlled versions will wear down rather quickly.
I heard some of the older Forester models came with a full-size spare. The Tribeca supposedly has one.
Oh - I meant that the WRX 4-sp auto doesn't have a 2WD fuse slot. In my car, the slot is there, but there's no connector. The WRX has a limited slip diff.
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