tire question.

i wanted to see if someone could tell me about tires. i talked to someone earlier today and they said that having 2 snow tires on the rear but regular in the front is really bad for the car. i thought that if they were the same size then its fine. could someone clear this up for me?

that is not a good idea to mix tires. That means that your front could maintain traction while your rears are sliding around. You don't want the fronts or rears to break off before the other - you want each tire to lose traction at the same time... (to be pesimistic haha)

UGH!!! Dude! You have a SUBARU AWD!!! Put the same tires all the way around!!! Good all season tires. You are in Atlanta! I live in the Northwest. I have NEVER not been able to get around, with just common sense and all season tires, even the dreaded RE92s on my 2000 and 03 Legacy's. If you have snow tires on the rear and all season's on the front, I predict that you will have problems....use your brain and common sense, you will get around fine....

ok so let me get this straight. the mechanic i took it to said it would be fine. all tires are 205/65/15. use my brain and common sense? thats not a very straight friendly answer. a yes or no would do just fine.

 

so NO its not ok? it will mess up my center differential?

don't do it man, I think the diff will be confused by having different amounts of traction ALL THE TIME.

 

Plus the tires themselves will definitely wear at different rates.

I believe even the manual states that all four tyres should be changed/rotated at the same time because it is an AWD car.

+1 on all of the above

a: Running only 2 snows on ANY car is dangerious: Depending on the axle, it can cause massive dangerious under or overtseer. It is far more dangerious to be running around with 2 snows and 2 A/S tires than 4 all-seasons. Modern snows generate way too much traction on snow compared to all-seasons. This can create a dangerious condition.

b: Subaru requires you to run the same tires. One manufacturers 215/45/16 can be a bit different in size than 215/45/16. That plus some extra traction on one end will lead to a stressed diff.

 

Repeat after me: 4 matched tires.

Want to mix and match? This is why god made corollas.

In atlanta, you don't need snow tires. Ever. If you're all that concerned about it, get all-seasons, but honestly, summer tires should be just fine. Subaru says that there should not be more than a 2/32" difference in tread depth (radius) between any 2 tires, or you can risk melting your viscous-coupling center diff, especially on long highway drives. I would not trust that 2 different tire brands are within that tolerance, even if they claim to be the same diameter.

NO IT IS NOT OK!

 

I don't think it will kill you diff, its not like getting towed But it will put extra wear and tear on the diff because of the extra grip of the snows, the system will constantly send power to the snow tire wheels to take advantage of the grip which isn't a good thing

 

Also its possible that the tires are not exactly matched in size. I was taken off my Dunlops of my Mercedes 5 years ago and putting on Continentals. Let me tell you a 205/55/16 Dunlop is not even close to a Continental 205/55/16. I mean you can literally see the difference by just putting the two tires right next to each other and it wasn't because my Dunlops were worn. The Dunlop was a physically bigger tire than the Contis even when worn down, it was a real eye opener for me when I did it. The mismatch was so bad that I could see a center diff having a serious problem with it.

Get a set of 4 good IDENTICAL all-season tires, you cannot go wrong. You DO NOT need snow tires in Atlanta! Use of summer tires in Atlanta is a bit of a risk, as it DOES get cold there sometimes... I know, I lived there for 6 years.

 

By all means, DO NOT mix tires on your car!

ok so let me get this straight. the mechanic i took it to said it would be fine. all tires are 205/65/15. use my brain and common sense? thats not a very straight friendly answer. a yes or no would do just fine.

 

so NO its not ok? it will mess up my center differential?

He's wrong. Different tires will have different slip angles, wear rates, braking characteristics, and possibly different diameters even though they have the same size on the label.

 

Your center diff isn't the main issue - it's emergency handling and braking. Tires are way to cheap to mess with this.

Just stay out of the mountains in Atlanta and you'll be fine. You haven't had any rain in years, what makes you think it is gonna snow? Pay attention to the Nobel Peace Prize winnar.

ok so let me get this straight. the mechanic i took it to said it would be fine. all tires are 205/65/15. use my brain and common sense? thats not a very straight friendly answer. a yes or no would do just fine.

 

so NO its not ok? it will mess up my center differential?

 

The answer is possibly. The size 205/65/15 is the size to fit on the rim. However what counts is if you take a measuring tape around the tire the circumference (distance around) must match on all four tires. Otherwise you risk damaging your differentials. This typically means buying four matched tires in size/brand/model/wear.

So sorry if I sounded "unfriendly". BUT! I do think you get the message here. I believe you need to find a mechanic that is more knowledgable of AWD systems. His answer could end up costing you $ and maybe even an accident!!!

 

Please trust the overall consensus of the guys on this forum. They know what they are talking about, mostly because they love their cars and are very familiar with what they are all about.

 

When/if you do get your chance to drive your Subie in the snow, take it easy. Get used to how it handles, what it's capable of. Even with just all season tires on (all being the same brand, etc) you will be amazed at what it can do!!!

 

Happy winter driving!!!

Hell, with global warming - none of us are going to need snow tires.

 

However, anyone got links to the actual differences in traction between snows and all seasons?

 

I have 92A's with only 1,500 miles on my new OBW, and I am thinking of living with them until they wear out. I have never had snows on my prior FWD cars. The last time I had snows was over 40 years ago on my '68 MGB but that was RWD.

There was a test in a magazine last year between goodyear(?) tires. The braking difference was something like 1/2 as long with winters v. A/S.

Wish i could find it.

FWIW....http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=120#y4

 

I'm sure lots of guys will have their "best" tire opinion for snow, no doubt with anecdotal evidence to boot!!!

 

Yeah, it makes a difference if you have snow's on all corners. But unless you live somewhere where you drive in snow from November to April, I just don't think the expense is justified.

 

Like I said before, decent all season tires on a Subaru will get you where you need to go. Has for me anyway...

I just put these on my car for my move up to Upstate NY soon...

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Winter+240+Sottozero

 

:-)

You DO NOT need snow tires in Atlanta! Use of summer tires in Atlanta is a bit of a risk, as it DOES get cold there sometimes...

 

Yeah, I'm in Atlanta, and I have run a set of summer tires and a set of winter tires for the past couple of years. My summer ones are Goodyear F1 GS-D3s. I absolutely love those tires, but when the temperature falls below 50 degrees, they start to lose a lot of their grip. So, for wintertime I run a set of Conti Extreme Contacts. I haven't been able to see how they perform in snow yet, but they handle the colder temperatures just great.

 

I know it's probably overkill, and I'm sure any good set of high performance all seasons would do just fine. But I feel this combination lets me take full advantage of the LGTs great handling and traction.

This thread got me to thinking what would happen if I had to put my spare on which I know can only be used for a short time and at lower speeds - but I was wondering about the effect on the AWD system since it obviously is a different tire than the other three. This is my first AWD - although my live at home son has an A4.

 

Anyway I am one of those (few) people who read the efing manual. It says that you have to put the spare tire on, then you also have to disable the AWD system by pulling a fuse. I didn't know that.

 

I guess that's way BMW has gone to run flats

It says that you have to put the spare tire on, then you also have to disable the AWD system by pulling a fuse. I didn't know that.

 

 

what?? I didn't know that either. Um, is there any particular reason I don't have a full-size spare?

Ummmm, maybe because it wouldn't fit in the tire well under the cargo compartment?

Ummmm, maybe because it wouldn't fit in the tire well under the cargo compartment?

No.

 

Like most manufacturers, Subaru has gone to a lower cost, lighter mini-spare.

You can replace it with a full-size if you wish, but will have to forego the foam tray.

No.

 

Like most manufacturers, Subaru has gone to a lower cost, lighter mini-spare.

You can replace it with a full-size if you wish, but will have to forego the foam tray.

 

no, i know all of this. it was supposed to be a rhetorical question