pwbset Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Are you going to be driving around in FWD mode? Forgive my noobness, but is that an option to disable AWD? Does having exact same tires matter so much for the transfer case that I couldn't make it even a few months? Thanks for the reply... learning as I go here clearly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattocs Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 I've always bought four new tires on all my Subarus. The tires are supposed to be within 1/4" circumference of each other. If you can find two tires that match the rear ones that you say are good, you could find a shop that might be able shave them down to match. If its an automatic there is a fuse holder in the engine compartment on the passanger side firewall. Pop a 20A fuse in to put it in FWD. The danger of not having matching tires is torque bind. Its very common as the transmissions age. I'm sure someone else will chime in with more information. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 The danger of not having matching tires is torque bind. Its very common as the transmissions age. Thanks for the reply. This is definitely an aged tranny so I'll do some searching on torque bind and start saving up for 4 tires instead of 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattocs Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 If you can live without AWD, get two used tires and put a fuse in to make it FWD. Some say it wears out the solenoid faster, but it probably wouldn't hurt anything for quite a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 If you can live without AWD, get two used tires and put a fuse in to make it FWD. Some say it wears out the solenoid faster, but it probably wouldn't hurt anything for quite a while. It's a stick... should have mentioned that. Grew up in da 'burgh by the way. Go PENS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattocs Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 It's a stick... should have mentioned that. Grew up in da 'burgh by the way. Go PENS! Ah, ok. I'm sure it was mentioned being a stick and I missed it. I know when torque bind happens on a manual it suddenly happens and there is no fix for it. I've heard people suggest shaving tires down to match. I personally have never known anyone who's had that done. But if the rears are in good shape, try and find the same tire and have them adjusted to match. I wouldn't drive very far with the mismatched tires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 You can put two new tires on one side of the car and the two older ones on the other. The open front and rear diffs will cancel out the difference so the center diff will see equal speeds front and rear. You have a toe issue that needs to be adjusted. You can do a pretty good job with a tape measure if you have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 You have a toe issue that needs to be adjusted. You can do a pretty good job with a tape measure if you have to. I deal with VW bus/camber issues all the time so this makes sense. Thx for the left/right tire tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 You can put two new tires on one side of the car and the two older ones on the other. The open front and rear diffs will cancel out the difference so the center diff will see equal speeds front and rear.the places that do it around here seem to do it diagonally - one front and the opposite side rear. i've never seen two on one side before? does it matter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankosolder2 Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 I can't believe no one has taken you to task for the condition of your brakes and tires! Most of us have had kind of dubious vehicles at times, but that's really pushing your luck and the luck of everyone else who is sharing the road with you... anyway, I'll leave it at that. I hope you can find a decent set of used tires. I paid money to recycle a set of tires much better than that and would have been happy to send them to you instead! Maybe someone else on here has a legal set of tires they can donate to help you out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 I can't believe no one has taken you to task for the condition of your brakes and tires! Most of us have had kind of dubious vehicles at times, but that's really pushing your luck and the luck of everyone else who is sharing the road with you... anyway, I'll leave it at that. I hope you can find a decent set of used tires. I paid money to recycle a set of tires much better than that and would have been happy to send them to you instead! Maybe someone else on here has a legal set of tires they can donate to help you out? I appreciate the concern and it's certainly not without merit. I'm not trying to be unsafe. I simply have no money unfortunately so am trying to make the best of my situation. If it makes you feel any better I only use this car to commute 7 miles back and forth to the ski resort I work at in Montana so I'm not exactly endangering a lot of people except myself and the local elk and turkeys. I would not be driving this daily in LA for example. Thankfully my more fiscally responsible better half has a 2011 Outback in case we need to go anywhere else. Don't even get me started about how jealous I am of her car. It even has a back up camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I can't believe no one has taken you to task for the condition of your brakes and tires! Most of us have had kind of dubious vehicles at times, but that's really pushing your luck and the luck of everyone else who is sharing the road with you... anyway, I'll leave it at that I'm not sure what you mean... the beginning of the thread was about overhauling the brakes, and the OP did fix them. As I said before, as long as the car doesn't represent a risk for the others or for himself, I don't see any problem. It would be nice if we all had the money to replace the discs and calipers with Brembos, but that's not always possible, and some people can't afford to stop using their (ours?) cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 As a QC check, touch the lug nuts on each wheel after you've done a bit of driving. Both fronts and both rears should be equally warm. (Fronts usually run hotter because they do more of the braking work.) Got to work and back today without issue, but when I got home I checked the temps of the lugs/rotors.. the rears were hot, but the same side to side. The front lugs were very, very hot and I singed my fingertip trying to touch the rotor. Ambient 55 degrees today... 3.5 miles down 1,600ft elevation... correct me if I'm wrong, but that would cause searing hot rotors/lugs yes? I have no base reference since I've never done a temp check, but I'm just a little curious if that's normal. I did smell some "burning brake" a tiny bit, but thought maybe the pads need to seat or something. Hmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankosolder2 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 It's hard to say- it might be OK. It sounds like you were going down a long downgrade if I understood your post correctly. There's a reason I suggested touching the lug nuts and not the rotors :-) sorry to hear that you burned your finger! I've lost track-have you also done the front brakes yet? If not, you can file the rust off the edges of the pad backing plates, pull the caliper / pad holder brackets and clean the pad slots in them as well, make sure the sliding pins are free, lube a/r etc. It's free except for your time- pretty much the same drill as the back, and if there's some meat left on the pads you might not have to replace them. It really doesn't take much brake drag to generate a lot of heat. Glad to hear you're being sensible and not using it in traffic until it's fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Got to work and back today without issue, but when I got home I checked the temps of the lugs/rotors.. the rears were hot, but the same side to side. The front lugs were very, very hot and I singed my fingertip trying to touch the rotor. Ambient 55 degrees today... 3.5 miles down 1,600ft elevation... correct me if I'm wrong, but that would cause searing hot rotors/lugs yes? I have no base reference since I've never done a temp check, but I'm just a little curious if that's normal. I did smell some "burning brake" a tiny bit, but thought maybe the pads need to seat or something. Hmm. Yep... that's a steep slope indeed Let's see... the change in potential energy is m*g*h... =1460 [Kg]*9.81[m/s^2]*488 [m] =~6600 BTU being dissipated at the brakes, and that's assuming you didn't touch the accelerator pedal. How long did it take you to make those 3.5 miles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Yep... that's a steep slope indeed Let's see... the change in potential energy is m*g*h... =1460 [Kg]*9.81[m/s^2]*488 [m] =~6600 BTU being dissipated at the brakes, and that's assuming you didn't touch the accelerator pedal. How long did it take you to make those 3.5 miles? Good stuff.. haha.. I typically keep it in 3rd and let the motor do most of the braking as I coast down around 35-40mph. Today I just used all brakes as I wanted to see how they fared. About 40mph... doesn't take long. I think max grade is about 10%. It's a nice, new paved road. I'm sure "new" brakes get just as hot, but I've never been one to notice. I do notice in the summer most SUVs and trucks I follow down smell like burning brakes by the time they get to the bottom. Typical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 That's 6600 BTU dissipated in 1/10th of an hour... 19375 Watts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Yep... that's a steep slope indeed Let's see... the change in potential energy is m*g*h... =1460 [Kg]*9.81[m/s^2]*488 [m] =~6600 BTU being dissipated at the brakes, and that's assuming you didn't touch the accelerator pedal. How long did it take you to make those 3.5 miles? um, yeah - how about doing a temp check after the UP hill drive! obviously brakes are going to get warm going down a long steep grade, the more you use them, the warmer they get. friction creates heat... Ever see a semi on the side of the road with smoking brakes?? yeah, they can get hot - hot enough that they can catch fire if you go long enough... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 um, yeah - how about doing a temp check after the UP hill drive! Of course everything wasn't even hot on the uphill this morning. I'm having a devil of a time finding tires for this car... no one will sell me just two no matter how much I plead. Looking for 4 used, cheapos at this point on Craigslist etc, but not sure my size limitations. Currently I'm at stock 185 70 R14... what's the minimum and maximum I can be looking for my rims? I found 4 185 65 R14s for $100... though they're studded... but that would work yes... except they're studded Thanks for any additional tips. I appreciate all the help and am learning a LOT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Like... these should fit yes? http://kalispell.craigslist.org/pts/2920903981.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 not too sure about the wheels fitting, but yeah the tires could work - might throw the speedo off a little. this little site is a great tool for figureing non stock tire sizes and how they would affect your speedo: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Of course everything wasn't even hot on the uphill this morning. I'm having a devil of a time finding tires for this car... no one will sell me just two no matter how much I plead. Looking for 4 used, cheapos at this point on Craigslist etc, but not sure my size limitations. Currently I'm at stock 185 70 R14... what's the minimum and maximum I can be looking for my rims? I found 4 185 65 R14s for $100... though they're studded... but that would work yes... except they're studded Thanks for any additional tips. I appreciate all the help and am learning a LOT. You must be going to the wrong places or something. Half of these cars I see for sale on CL say "Two new tires" in the listing. I just cringe and click the Back button. Used tires are hit or miss. When I need cheap tires I head to a place about 30 minutes out in the sticks that will mount and balance 4 brand new ones for around $225. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwbset Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 When I need cheap tires I head to a place about 30 minutes out in the sticks that will mount and balance 4 brand new ones for around $225. Amazingly a co-worker's daughter recently wrecked her '98 Legacy (thankfully she's okay) so gave me 4 summer style 185 70 R14s with about half tread... WAY better than what I'm rolling. $40 for him, $50 to de-rim/re-rim/mount/balance etc. and I'm back in the game through summer *knock wood*. $90 is doable... more or less. Man I hate pinching pennies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 good to hear you get some better rolling stock. I hear ya on pinching the pennies, but at least you have some kind of a job - even a part time is better than nothing at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikevan10 Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I have replaced two tires at a time many times on my Subarus. It's possible that I have never even replaced four at once. Always put both new tires on either front or back. Never had a "torque bind" issue. Never had a tire store or installation center question me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.