Need six (6) new (street/mtn-road) tires

[Hank Roberts]

For the 1988 GL 4wd wagon --

 

Well, the transmission's supposedly on its way from the mechanic to CCR in Colorad for a rebuild. One of the wrong trannies we suffered -- wrong gear ratio -- while in 4wd, ate the rear tires --tire slipping scuffed and gouged the heck out of them.

 

So I need new ones. (forest service (sharp rock/hard dirt) roads, steep, first gear in low range much of the time at 7-10 miles an hour, for some hundred or so miles. Botany can be tough on a car ...)

 

Recommendations NOT particularly for Off Road tires, please -- I"ve read through all those excellent threads, but people repeatedly ask about street/stock tires and are warned those aren't about this subject.

 

Our standard trip is some 120 miles of California freeway (at about 75), 20 miles of asphalt at about 45, and 40 miles of 8 to 10 percent steep rocky-gravel forest road in low 4wd, at 7 to 10 mph, maybe 15-20 on some stretches til my wife tells me to slow down and quit scaring her.

 

On the forest roads, it's a LONG way down to the Eel River, no guard rails, and we see 4wd trucks flipped on the slope down to the river every year along that stretch.

 

So -- good tires.

 

That's one way, doing that twice on a long weekend several times a month.

 

 

 

So -- radials for sure; best sidewall toughness possible is ideal. Biggest diameter that will fit the stock GL 1988 body.

 

Don't need mud tread.

 

Don't have the car lifted and its fenders are and will remain stock.

 

Good shocks, replaced recently.

 

What's out there that's good? I won't be putting a lot of total mileage on these, I'll be doing alignment and balancing fairly often.

 

But I might break one, if I miss avoiding a really big rock somewhere.

 

I keep two spare wheels -- so I'll be buying six tires.

 

Advice, current experience, welcome.

[Phizinza]

I think you may like A/T's (all terrain) There men't for the road and off the road. I'd say some where around the 24" diameter? So if ur on 13" wheels you would be looking for something about 175/80R13's? As for brand.... Try checking out the top brands websites. They sometimes give detailed description of the sidewall and all that.

I'm now running new Kuhmo 27x8.5x14's on my 2" lifted brat. I had to do some fender trimming and they rub a little when I turn full lock. I still haven't wrote of a article about this (redesigning my site) So I'd say 24" fit no worries...

That's all I can say really. (oh and these Kuhmo 27" M/T's rock! Still slip around in the mud, but they grip and its fun when they do!)

[Tin Soldier]

For the 1988 GL 4wd wagon --

 

Well, the transmission's supposedly on its way from the mechanic to CCR in Colorad for a rebuild. One of the wrong trannies we suffered -- wrong gear ratio -- while in 4wd, ate the rear tires --tire slipping scuffed and gouged the heck out of them.

 

So I need new ones. (forest service (sharp rock/hard dirt) roads, steep, first gear in low range much of the time at 7-10 miles an hour, for some hundred or so miles. Botany can be tough on a car ...)

 

Recommendations NOT particularly for Off Road tires, please -- I"ve read through all those excellent threads, but people repeatedly ask about street/stock tires and are warned those aren't about this subject.

 

Our standard trip is some 120 miles of California freeway (at about 75), 20 miles of asphalt at about 45, and 40 miles of 8 to 10 percent steep rocky-gravel forest road in low 4wd, at 7 to 10 mph, maybe 15-20 on some stretches til my wife tells me to slow down and quit scaring her.

 

On the forest roads, it's a LONG way down to the Eel River, no guard rails, and we see 4wd trucks flipped on the slope down to the river every year along that stretch.

 

So -- good tires.

 

That's one way, doing that twice on a long weekend several times a month.

 

 

 

So -- radials for sure; best sidewall toughness possible is ideal. Biggest diameter that will fit the stock GL 1988 body.

 

Don't need mud tread.

 

Don't have the car lifted and its fenders are and will remain stock.

 

Good shocks, replaced recently.

 

What's out there that's good? I won't be putting a lot of total mileage on these, I'll be doing alignment and balancing fairly often.

 

But I might break one, if I miss avoiding a really big rock somewhere.

 

I keep two spare wheels -- so I'll be buying six tires.

 

Advice, current experience, welcome.

 

I use Douglas Performance GT's from Wally world. They are 26.5 so I had to trim my fender just a tough and they are 14" so you need a wheel upgrade. I have some awesome winter treads that work great on and off road, but I don't know what they are called. Ask TRogdor on that one.

[TahoeFerrari]

For the all around driving you've described, I'd say get a good set of 185/70 R13 snow tires - not "all-season", but tires actually designed for snow. Pretty much everyone up here runs that tire size on EA81s and EA82s so there is generally a large selection in Reno/Sparks if not locally.

 

Modern snow tires wear much better and don't make nearly as much road noise (singing) as those of 20 years ago did. They are generally more available than off-road / AT tires in the size you'll be looking for.

 

I don't know that you'll find much in the Bay Area anyhow. I used to live in Marin and always bought my tires up here or in Reno. A good tire shop in Truckee is Stone's TIre.

BTW none of the tire shops have much in the way of snow tires on hand right now. They will be stocking up about October with winter tires.

 

The last 3 sets of this type of tire I've bought are Firestone WinterFire, (Lee, I think) Wintermark Steel Radial HT, and Cooper Weathermaster. I only sometimes go offroad and then generally only on fire roads (none as challenging as what you've described), but these tires all worked well in those condition. I think these tires are all out of production now, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy whatever follow-on models of these brands are being made now. There are at least a half dozen other brands that my friends are using that are probably just as good (some were mentioned in previous posts).

 

I've read most of your posts about your tranny and recall that you said not all of your current tires are shot, so you may be going overboard by buying 6 tires. If a couple of your current tires are in reasonable condition, why not use them as spares??

 

It's not that big a deal to have different brand / slightly mis-matched tires on part time (d/r 4spd and d/r 5spd) trannied cars as it is on FT4WD/AWD cars - as long as they are all the same size - particularly in height (the 70 part of 185/70). I've been driving 4 Subarus for about 750K miles now and have often mixed tires but have always kept a pretty well matched pair on each axle (differential). I use 4WD quite a bit - mostly in winter or on unpaved roads, but also in the summer when its raining and when hydorplaning might be a problem - and I haven't ruined a differential or transmission yet.

[Hank Roberts]

I have a couple of decent tires remaining -- once I see what I can find new I can see what their actual diameter is, measured after mounting, and compare them and see.

 

The risk I discovered with a mismatched transmission and rear differential during that episode was that the rear tires would break loose when they did that little extra spin/scuff catching up, and this was during a heavy rare June storm on forest roads (with my wife driving and 3 kids in the car).

 

I suppose just mismatched tire diameter wouldn't be as bad a mismatch -- but what I learned is that a mismatch that makes the rear tires have to slip/spin means the rear end of the car can break loose at the worst possible time and go sideways.

 

I want to make sure I have tires close enough to do a six-tire rotation, basically.

 

This was a worst-case situation (rare spring 'winter storm' on worst roads and lives at risk from unexpected behavior of the vehicle -- 4wd was a lot less safe than 2wd!). It happens. Life's too short to economize, at least when it's other people's kids' lives I'm balancing against expense.

 

The whole point of getting a Subaru was to be safer in exactly this kind of situation.

 

So thank you, good advice, more welcome -- it'll be a while yet before I have the car back on the road.

[NV Zeno]

For the all around driving you've described, I'd say get a good set of 185/70 R13 snow tires - not "all-season", but tires actually designed for snow. Pretty much everyone up here runs that tire size on EA81s and EA82s so there is generally a large selection in Reno/Sparks if not locally.

 

Modern snow tires wear much better and don't make nearly as much road noise (singing) as those of 20 years ago did. They are generally more available than off-road / AT tires in the size you'll be looking for.

 

I don't know that you'll find much in the Bay Area anyhow. I used to live in Marin and always bought my tires up here or in Reno. A good tire shop in Truckee is Stone's TIre.

BTW none of the tire shops have much in the way of snow tires on hand right now. They will be stocking up about October with winter tires.

 

The last 3 sets of this type of tire I've bought are Firestone WinterFire, (Lee, I think) Wintermark Steel Radial HT, and Cooper Weathermaster. I only sometimes go offroad and then generally only on fire roads (none as challenging as what you've described), but these tires all worked well in those condition. I think these tires are all out of production now, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy whatever follow-on models of these brands are being made now. There are at least a half dozen other brands that my friends are using that are probably just as good (some were mentioned in previous posts).

 

I've read most of your posts about your tranny and recall that you said not all of your current tires are shot, so you may be going overboard by buying 6 tires. If a couple of your current tires are in reasonable condition, why not use them as spares??

 

It's not that big a deal to have different brand / slightly mis-matched tires on part time (d/r 4spd and d/r 5spd) trannied cars as it is on FT4WD/AWD cars - as long as they are all the same size - particularly in height (the 70 part of 185/70). I've been driving 4 Subarus for about 750K miles now and have often mixed tires but have always kept a pretty well matched pair on each axle (differential). I use 4WD quite a bit - mostly in winter or on unpaved roads, but also in the summer when its raining and when hydorplaning might be a problem - and I haven't ruined a differential or transmission yet.

 

Yup, I agree with my neighbor here almost word for word, even down to the brands mentioned:lol: . I usually get my snows at Ken's Tire in South Shore, he has a great sale around Labor Day.

 

I have run two different degrees of wear front to back (for varying reasons) for many years on my '83, and have had absolutely no problems caused by that "setup".

 

I really miss the Power Kings, and especially miss the Firestone WinterFires..both types out of "print".

 

Just my 2 bucks

[FirstSubaruGLwagon]

For the 1988 GL 4wd wagon --

Recommendations NOT particularly for Off Road tires, please -- I"ve read through all those excellent threads, but people repeatedly ask about street/stock tires and are warned those aren't about this subject.

 

I saw at WAL-MART. Douglas XTRA-TRAK 185/75-13 for $39.00 each monted and balanced. it's a 40,000 mile All-Weather tire with a good agressive tread.

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/74/13/17/08/0074131708770_500X500.jpg

[FirstSubaruGLwagon]

Now,,, I really like this tire.

The GoodYear ULTRA-GRIP

185/70R13 for around $70.00

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/69/76/62/03/0069766203456_500X500.jpg