Help!! Emergency tire advice needed!

Mods: Apologies for putting this under general forums, I wanted as many eyes as possible on this, I need some feedback ASAP.

 

Last night, I picked up a nail in my rt. rear tire, which of course went flat. I don't know how long I drove on it flat, probably a mile or so once I realized it was flat (while looking for a safe place to change it). Put the spare on, and went to Discount Tire this AM (close to my place, been there before, they seem to know their stuff). Guy there told me the tire could not be repaired, the sidewall was noticeably scuffed from having driven on it while flat. I do not know if the tire was damaged enough on the sidewall such that the tire can't be repaired or if he just wants to sell me a tire. Furthermore, a tread depth guage revealed that the tire has between 8 and 9 32nd of tread remaining, apparantly 10/32nd is new (yes, I'm easy on tires, I'm at 22k). So what should I do? My options seem to be:

 

1) Buy 1 new RE92 tire to replace the ruined one - the tire dude seemed to think I would be OK doing this since my tires aren't worn much. Is this really an option?

 

2) Buy a pair of tires - these would need to be RE92's apparantly, it seems that putting different tires on front/rear isn't a good idea. Is that true? Is that true for AWD vehicles?

 

3) Buy a complete set of new tires. If I went this route I would probably buy a different brand.

 

Advice? I'm leaning toward option 1 or 2, they want 180 each for the RE92's, but since my tires are close to new condition tread wise I'm not sure I want to spring for a whole new set at this time, but if I really need to, that is a different story. FWIW, I'm one of the few here who doesn't have a problem with the OEM RE92 tires, though when they wore out I was planning on trying different tires. This is my first AWD vehicle, so I'm not really sure what the do's and don'ts are regarding tires. Also, the tire dude told me that it would be 3 days or so to get the RE92 in. How long can I drive on the spare?

 

Thank you for reading this!!

Keefe is the man that will give you more then enough info on this - he will help as soon as he reads this.

 

IMO sell the remaining 3 re92's on ebay ($50 a piece) get a set of Pzero m+s off tirerack.com or something and love the road a little bit more

i would tend to agree with nycdob... if you can afford all new tires, might as well use this as an excuse and recoup some losses if you can by selling the tires.

I have the Pzero nero m+s on my LGT and they make more than a difference they actually change the way I drive my car. I would seriously recomend the Pirellis but if you want to stick with RE92s than I have a set of four that have less than a thousand miles of break-in driving on them which I will sell for $150 + shipping. But seriously don't buy my tires unless you like the bridgestones buy the PZeros they rock.

One way to know for sure - measure the circumference of the new & old tires, the usual Subaru rule is they must be within 1/4". On tires in this size range that's not very much wear unfortunately, but better safe than sorry - diffs are expensive!

 

The alternative to replacing all 4 if the difference is too much would be having the new tire shaved down to the same depth.

I think I would do a +1 here.

 

I ran into the same situation as you. I had about 12k miles on the car when I drove on a flat, ruining the tire. I went back to the dealer to get it replaced. Took them 3 days and cost me $250. Ouch, I know. Had I known at that time it would take multiple days and the money involved, I would have gotten myself a set of Pirelli PZero Nero M&S from Tirerack and been done with it.

 

Recently I got another flat (I live in a new development still under construction). Had it been the same situation where I needed to buy a new tire, I would have given tirerack a call.

 

If you decide to replace your tires, you can certainly sell them (even one at a time) to people here that need them when their tire goes flat. Or sell them to a drifter who will smoke the Hell out of them!

 

As for driving on the spare, you can do it as long as you're not going crazy fast. Heck, I see people driving on donuts longer than they should!

You should make sure all 4 are the same. Whether you stick with RE92's or not will be just your choice and economics. The circumference should be within 0.25" of each other on all 4 according to Subaru.

my 2 cents, try a costco or sam's club place. might be cheaper

you can buy one RE92s if your other tires are only at 9/32.

 

You can even buy the non-OEM RE92s for cheaper at http://www.tirerack.com

right now, I am in the process of shaving down one of my new race tires to match the other 3 (since one of the tires has a slash on the tread of which you can see the steel belt). New is 8/32 and the rest are around 5/32.. I can probably get away with that wide difference, but I rather get that new tire shaved down to 6/32 or so.

you can buy one RE92s if your other tires are only at 9/32.

 

You can even buy the non-OEM RE92s for cheaper at www.tirerack.com

 

 

I'm with Keefe on this one,,,I seem to remember Luke(Tirerack) telling me over the phone that they had a boatload of takeoffs Re92s.

Mite be worth a try,,call tirerack,,ask fr Luke

 

Rudy

Here are a couple other possibilities, depending on your circumstances.

 

I've never visited Seattle. Do you get much snow? If you do, you could buy a set of snow tires, and defer the decision on the other tires for a few months. You coudl mount the snows on the stock rims, or buy another set of rims and put the snows on them.

 

You could buy a used RE92 to replace the flat one. Check out the classifieds in this web site. Since you have no issues with them, this is a viable option for you.

 

 

 

Mods: Apologies for putting this under general forums, I wanted as many eyes as possible on this, I need some feedback ASAP.

 

Last night, I picked up a nail in my rt. rear tire, which of course went flat. I don't know how long I drove on it flat, probably a mile or so once I realized it was flat (while looking for a safe place to change it). Put the spare on, and went to Discount Tire this AM (close to my place, been there before, they seem to know their stuff). Guy there told me the tire could not be repaired, the sidewall was noticeably scuffed from having driven on it while flat. I do not know if the tire was damaged enough on the sidewall such that the tire can't be repaired or if he just wants to sell me a tire. Furthermore, a tread depth guage revealed that the tire has between 8 and 9 32nd of tread remaining, apparantly 10/32nd is new (yes, I'm easy on tires, I'm at 22k). So what should I do? My options seem to be:

 

1) Buy 1 new RE92 tire to replace the ruined one - the tire dude seemed to think I would be OK doing this since my tires aren't worn much. Is this really an option?

 

2) Buy a pair of tires - these would need to be RE92's apparantly, it seems that putting different tires on front/rear isn't a good idea. Is that true? Is that true for AWD vehicles?

 

3) Buy a complete set of new tires. If I went this route I would probably buy a different brand.

 

Advice? I'm leaning toward option 1 or 2, they want 180 each for the RE92's, but since my tires are close to new condition tread wise I'm not sure I want to spring for a whole new set at this time, but if I really need to, that is a different story. FWIW, I'm one of the few here who doesn't have a problem with the OEM RE92 tires, though when they wore out I was planning on trying different tires. This is my first AWD vehicle, so I'm not really sure what the do's and don'ts are regarding tires. Also, the tire dude told me that it would be 3 days or so to get the RE92 in. How long can I drive on the spare?

 

Thank you for reading this!!

Thanks all for the comments so far, I appreciate the help!

 

According to SOA, it sounds like I'll need to replace all 4 tires given the 1/4" circumference difference limit (according to them), they told me that 1/32nd tread diff is approx equal to 1/4" circumference. Dunno if that's true or not.

 

Snow really isn't an issue where I live, we get maybe 2 storms/year at most, and any snow that does stick (usually a few inches at most, still enough for people to freak out around here...) usually melts within a couple days. I usually don't venture into the mtns. during winter either.

 

Another question: Do I have any recourse under warranty to get this issue addressed?

Highly unlikly - slim to none even - not a chance in hell from Subaru and i heard Brigestone ain't about hearing it either

Another question: Do I have any recourse under warranty to get this issue addressed?

 

I would not even bother. They're gonna tell you that you don't have a road hazard warranty and the fact that you drove on a flat tire was your problem. It is time to ditch the RE92's. Tirerack has the Pirelli's for $118/ea whereas the replacement RE92A is $165. It sucks that you have to replace all 4 at this point in time but you might as well go with the better tire for less money.

Why can't you buy one and have it shaved down to equal tread depth? I understand this is pretty common for racing, but not sure how it's done or if any local places can do it. Maybe Keefe has some input. It's a waste to buy 4 RE92's. Unheard of.

right now, I am in the process of shaving down one of my new race tires to match the other 3 (since one of the tires has a slash on the tread of which you can see the steel belt). New is 8/32 and the rest are around 5/32.. I can probably get away with that wide difference, but I rather get that new tire shaved down to 6/32 or so.

 

How do you actually "shave down" a tire? I've heard of this, and it would seem to solve a few people's problems with 1 ruined tire... Is there a special machine other than a muscle car with open differential to do a well-timed peg-leg burnout?

OK I just ordered a set of 4 Pirelli PZero Nero's from discount tire (none in stock). I was gonna go through tirerack, but it's gonna end up being cheaper through discount tire, plus I feel better about buying locally should a problem come up. Manager's gonna give me trade in credit for my 3 remaining RE 92's (which is why it's cheaper for me to go through discount tire). I did ask about shaving a tire, they don't do it there, nor was the manager familiar with anyone around who does do that.

 

Thanks to all who supplied input! Greatly appreciated.

How do you actually "shave down" a tire? I've heard of this, and it would seem to solve a few people's problems with 1 ruined tire... Is there a special machine other than a muscle car with open differential to do a well-timed peg-leg burnout?

 

 

they stick the tire on a roller and just sand the rubber off until the tread depth that you want..some use harsher abrasive cutters... but in all, they just rough the heck out of the tire to prevent building heat into the tire..

 

heat cycling is another process that is different.

FWIW, the AWD system isn't so delecate as to be damaged by such a small difference in tire diameter. I'd bet you can make more of a difference by altering the inflation pressure.

 

If it worries you a lot, put the new tire on the front so it's on the open diff side. It'll get more wear up there anyway.

 

I've been driving AWD cars for 14 years and I've never heard of one car that was damaged by tire selection. That represents a TON of email & messageboard posts in that amount of time.

weird, my right rear tire picked up a nail and discount will not patch it, im not getting another RE92, time for some Falken or Kumho's