1 bad tire needs replaced

[bork]

I kinda figure its not a good idea to mix tires because of the awd, but any tips on how to get by? Money a bit tight at moment.

I tried a search but seem to get everything else than what I want to find.

[1 Lucky Texan]

2-3 ideas

 

Automatic? you have a FWD fuse selection slot under the hood.Use that with mismatched tires.

check ebay, craigslist, etc. for a used tire the same model as your other 3 and near them in wear.

have a new tire shaved down to the average of the wear of the other 3

If you DO NOT have a viscous rear diff, buy 2 tires but run them on opposite corners of the car.

[heartless]

auto vs manual does make a difference...

automatic - you can use the FWD fuse thing, but the odd tire will need to be mounted on the REAR of the car.

with the 2 tires - they need to be diagonal from each other... ie: LF & RR or RF & LR - again this is for a car that DOES NOT have viscous rear diff.

check the circumference - ideally, all tires should all be within about a 1/4" of each other.

[bork]

Thank you all! If I do the FWD fuse, how long can I stay in that mode? indefinitely? Also in FWD, wouldn't it be better to install the 2 new tires up front? Viscous rear? Its for a 1996 Impreza wagon.

[Numbchux]

I've had pretty good luck getting individual used tires with partial wear on ebay. Just did it when my wife managed to find a nail with her car.

[bork]

Thanks, I found one on Ebay but has a lot of tread. If I find a local used tire with same circumference, but different brand, that is a no-no? What happens? clutch plates are slightly  constantly slipping to compensate, building heat and wearing out tranny & diff?

[heartless]

brand does not really matter that much, it is about the circumference

you want it to be as close as possible to the other tires

and no big deal running with FWD fuse in - just be aware that it WILL handle differently

in regards to doing the 2 tires - putting them on diagonal corners will allow you to run in AWD mode if you really need to... or, you can go FWD and put them both on front if you so choose.

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by heartless

[jonathan909]

Honestly, the best advice I can offer - especially for a brother who needs to jam econo - is to find a good local indy tire shop and buy a good used matched set from them.

Then stick with them.  The guy we go with here in Calgary, I think we've been dealing with him for 30 years.  Every ten years or so he moves his shop to try to get away from us, but we keep tracking him down.  He's almost always able to take care of us; we've only had to look elsewhere (the local buy+sell - kijiji) for the old '95 Legacy wagon with the small wheels because those sizes are getting rare.  Then we still take them to him for mounting+balancing.

 

[nvu]

Find a local used tire center.  Bring a tape roll measure or probably get by with string.  Measure the circumferences of the tires.  I think 1/4" difference is within specs for most cars.

[idosubaru]

13 hours ago, bork said:

I kinda figure its not a good idea to mix tires because of the awd, but any tips on how to get by? Money a bit tight at moment.

I tried a search but seem to get everything else than what I want to find.

I was right next to you yesterday in McHenry catching some yellow perch and pickerel.  

Replacing one tire is no big deal if you use your head.   

1. If they're not crazy different just put the new tire up front and rotate the other three consistently until the front wears down to match.  most of those 90's stuff around here in the mountains wear quicker in the front anyway so doing so will eventually mean the "new" tire will wear quicker and match the other three in time. 

in general the "driven" tire will be the smaller front tire - so the front "driven tire" will match the rears and the new, larger front tire won't matter.  That's a slight over simplification but it's reasonable for these purposes.  That's also why some tire shops will install one new front and one new rear and can get away with that on non-LSD vehicles.  But i don't recommend that as it's too complicated for rotational and long term use but it is a ghetto work around to some extent.  Oddly,, just replacing one like i said is simpler and works. 

2. Buy a used tire that's not quite new tread depth. 

3. FWD fuse can be left indefinitely.  It's a nonisssue no matter what some people like to say about it. 

Brand doesn't matter and slight clutch slippage doesn't matter - in some sense the clutches/differentials are providing and absorbing slippage all the time - every time you nudge the steering wheel, every time the ambient temps change tire pressures, any pressure loss in a tire over time that's more than the others - etc.   It's not as big of a deal as it's made out to be.  It is a big deal if you nonchalantly ignore it and take this as a excuse to be ignorant and not do anything.  But you're asking and open to options - you'll be fine if you pay attention. 

And let's assume worst case scenario and you do damage the clutches - you have zero dollar repair options.  use the FWD fuse or wire in a switch to control it so you can flip between FWD and "locked" AWD in the winter.  I do it to my 4EAT Subaru transmissions like yours just for increased functionality.  It's easy - one wire - and gives you more control - and is incidentally a "free" work around for torque bind.  That won't happen - but I'm just saying if it did - you'd still have zero cost options!

 

[idosubaru]

Used tires are tricky - there's too many cheap people in some areas willing to pay insane prices for used tires.  And around here I've seen numerous used tires with tons of tread be dangerously old - like 10+ years.  Those are prone to leak, blow out, and are HORRENDOUS in the snow. 

I'd favor a new tire unless you can get a decent deal locally on a tire and it's a decent brand and not too old.  Each tire has a 4 digit date stamp on it - learn how to find it (first two digits are the week and last two the year - it was manufactured).  So a 1017 is a tire that was manufactured in October of 2017.  I wouldn't buy anything more than 2 years old.  I'd like to get at least 2 years out of it - so it's pushing 5 years which is old unless it's a top shelf Michellin or Nokian which I doubt is what you'll end up with when bargain hunting.  I've seen cheap brands and the inexpensive wal mart tires cause winter wrecks and show signs of materials degradation after 2 years - not worth buying used. 

[bork]

Tired of calling around & wasting time. Just got back from junk yard & found 4 decent looking used tires. $20 each but the must have them  installed. After thinking about it , & possible age of them, (should have noted the DOT stamp) Probably spending approx $200 on questionable tires, I decided to scrap the idea. Then I just remembered we have a beat up winter car with studs on it, & the summer tires are in the shed. ! doh! But they are 15" not the 14" on car. But I compared ratios & I cant see why they wont work .(difference is .4" wider on the 15"). 

Here is the handy chart  for someone elses use. & thank you all for your input!! https://tiresize.com/tiresizes/

[bork]

1 hour ago, idosubaru said:

I was right next to you yesterday in McHenry catching some yellow perch and pickerel.  

 

Hahaha Thats great! I too just got some perch  but in Wisconsin. Fridays = fish in WI.  Yum !

[Numbchux]

18 hours ago, bork said:

Tired of calling around & wasting time. Just got back from junk yard & found 4 decent looking used tires. $20 each but the must have them  installed. After thinking about it , & possible age of them, (should have noted the DOT stamp) Probably spending approx $200 on questionable tires, I decided to scrap the idea. Then I just remembered we have a beat up winter car with studs on it, & the summer tires are in the shed. ! doh! But they are 15" not the 14" on car. But I compared ratios & I cant see why they wont work .(difference is .4" wider on the 15"). 

Here is the handy chart  for someone elses use. & thank you all for your input!! https://tiresize.com/tiresizes/

The important part, is that the outer diameter (technically, circumference) of all 4 tires match. Changing wheel size is no big deal.

 

 

For anyone's future reference. Tire sizes can vary from one manufacturer to another, so it's very difficult to match the circumference from one to another. It would be possible to measure the circumference (not the diameter, 3/32 difference in tread depth can translate to ~1/2" circumference). BUT, to be accurate it should be mounted on the same-width wheel and inflated when measuring. By the time you mount and measure enough tires to find a good match, you could have just bought the right one (or a new set).

 

[idosubaru]

20 hours ago, bork said:

Tired of calling around & wasting time. Just got back from junk yard & found 4 decent looking used tires. $20 each but the must have them  installed. After thinking about it , & possible age of them, (should have noted the DOT stamp) Probably spending approx $200 on questionable tires, I decided to scrap the idea. Then I just remembered we have a beat up winter car with studs on it, & the summer tires are in the shed. ! doh! But they are 15" not the 14" on car. But I compared ratios & I cant see why they wont work .(difference is .4" wider on the 15"). 

Here is the handy chart  for someone elses use. & thank you all for your input!! https://tiresize.com/tiresizes/

That’s fine people interchange different Subaru wheel and tires sizes all the time.  Just ensure the set of wheels and tires are the right size. 

[dameson]

I was in the same situation last year. For peace of mind,  I ended up getting a set of ironman tires for my Outback. They are not pricey, and their road performance is just fine.