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Another on the old wheel /new wheel story


Guest Skip
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I need better winter only tyres on my 87 wagon, pushbutton 4wd. I'm running Michelin "Road" handlers, the operative word here is ROAD, they definatly don't like the snow. They ride and handle beautifully on dry/wet tarmac, but throw snow into the mix and does the phrase "snow plow" fit? Well maybe for streets, driveways and parking lots and an occational nascar (read to the left) turn but when the resulting "PLOW" leaves you in the lane of an oncoming coal bucket it's time for a rethink on the winter skins. So I have a set of "weather handlers" I want to mount on some spare rinms for winter use only. Taking a look at my spare Sube rim collection I find 6 spoke wheels not currently in use on cars/Brats. I also find 4 regular wheels. Now thanks to board discussion I realize some may work some will cause caliper to wheel binding. I measured the offset from the rear wheel flange to the bolt hole, ~4.25" for the spokes, 4.75" for the regulars. The regulars must be the newer stlye did they make a wogon wheel for the newer style caliper?

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Guest quattronut

Skip, I swear by the FIRESTONE WINTERFIRE tires. They are an old school snow tire that is made from regular tire compound and not that soft "Blizzak" type of compound. I was able to go up steep hills as well as drive on the beach in 5" of snow WITHOUT even engaging the 4WD. They are like $39 on <A HREF=http://www.tirerack.com >http://www.tirerack.com </A> They look much better in person than on the site. The tread depth is massive and they DIG. I have owned Subaru's since 1987 and these are THE BEST tires I have ever purchased for them.

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Guest pigfarmer

Assuming that the "newer style" calipers on your '87 are the same as my '86, yes they did make wagon wheels for them. When compared to the older style they are noticably flatter looking. Check for a build date on the plain rims. It will probably be after late '84, or an '85 or later rim. Hope this is what you were asking and not repetition.

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Thanks Tim,I'll recco them to a friend lookin for new snows. I already own four almost new " Weather Handlers". We don't see enough white stuff for serious snows, and I gave up sking. I want to mount the WH's on some rims so I can do a quick swap. PF, I looked at the rims just now( damn it's like NO degrees outthere!) I couldn't find any date and the rims on my 86 Brat, which are factory spokes, look like the spare spokes. Can I take a measurement on the spares to verifiy? I'd measure my Brats but it's too cold to be pullin wheels. Can I modify the caliper to make em fit? I thought I read here that the interfeance only occured when the brake pads where new, can anybody verifiy this? My pads are half gone.

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Skip, take a look at my wheels page. I have a link that shows the difference between the wagon wheels. (side profile drawing), and there is a green circle. this circle shows where the newer calipers will hit the older rims.

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Thanks Mick, guess I got a bunch of spare spoke stlye for the old Subes. The 85 Brat and the 86 I have must have different wheels. Do you know if the Enki wheels will fit the newer style calipers? I bought (sight unseen- dumb move) some alloys from Bratalack, I don't think they'll fit my 86.

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Guest Machine Age Victim

Mick, you know where you can get those scorpion wheels at? and if they'd fit on a '87 dual/4wd hatchback? /'''''''''\__ `O----O` /\/\ /\ \/

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The scorpion wheels were the ones that Scoprion automotive in Australia manufactured, but I believe they stopped making them. The picture of the ENKN wheels on my page came from a car Teague's had on his site. it was a newer style sube 85-90, so I would think they would fit any EA81-EA82 engined Sube. Hey SeattleFlyer. The wagon wheels I got from you look like the older style wheel, but they came off your 86 wagon???

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No way Skip. One snow tire is all I need. On the rear to boot. Hehe just joshing ya. Really though, the model is the HAKKAPELIITTA 1. And I AM getting four, wise guy!!!!!! Check out the website, they have some pretty beefy tires..... <A HREF=http://www.nokiantires.com/>http://www.nokiantires.com/</A>

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  • 4 years later...
No way Skip. One snow tire is all I need. On the rear to boot. Hehe just joshing ya. Really though, the model is the HAKKAPELIITTA 1. And I AM getting four, wise guy!!!!!! Check out the website, they have some pretty beefy tires..... <A

HREF=http://www.nokiantires.com/>http://www.nokiantires.com/</A>

Back to the wheels ,I have used the spoked wheels from the 80 on up to the 88. Used a belt sander on the face of the caliper where the wheel rubbed with new pads.
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