ThosL Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I had a tire blowout last summer a junkyard put on a replacement that was good for six months. It became a hopeless flat yesterday, so I stopped by a tire place, it also developed that it was the cause of a lousy ride as it had a bubble, rather than front end issues. They quoted me $90 for a replacement, Town Fair quoted about the same. What do others do with their 205/R15s when they just need one? Is the scare about a messed up transmission unreasonable if you do not match the tires right? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 buy the same size tire and with them wisely installed you're fine - install the two best treads up front and they'll wear down to meet the rear depth. technically you can measure the circumference and the tires need to be within 1/4" of each other which is 1 or 2/32" tread depth. http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/66-problems-maintenance/30110-tire-circumference-spec-confirmed-subaru-techtips.html they easily withstand beyond that though and it has a huge safety margin embedded in it as anyone who's done Subaru's for a long time can tell you. mine are beyond those limits now and i really don't care at all. if the rears are bald and fronts brand new then that's probably too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThosL Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 OK, thanks for the clarification. Town Fair quoted me under $400 for a set of basic tires if I don't get the alignment they did not have a problem with just putting one on though I have maybe 12K miles left on the current set of tires, I am running on my spare at this particular point in time. A junkyard had a set of four that they would do for $200, I think they were Kellys with excellent tread. When you get over 250K in miles on a car it does not make too much sense to buy new everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 it gets expensive rolling through used tires - $200 sounds good but then you pay another $100 to mount them and you're 75% of new with probably 50% the performance so you gotta work hard to get a good deal and probably reduced performance. i'd replace one, (and set aside the remainder of that $300 you would have spent on the complete set for later) get as many miles out of this set as you can and then spring for a new complete set next fall - using that remaining amount you set aside. but most Americans can't save a dime and need the government to do it for them (tax returns), so this is a culturally irrelevant and revolutionary idea. old tires suck in the snow, that's the major down side to used tires. the rubber degrades. if you're buying used, getting newer tires is more advantageous than how much tread or what they look like. there's a way to ascertain the date of manufacturer by familiarizing yourself with the codes on the side wall. get as new as you can. i do a lot of snow and highway driving where hydroplaning is a concern so tires are important to me even though i pay very little for my vehicles and drive them a long time as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThosL Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Actually the $200 included everything for a set that had a lot of life in them. I probably should keep looking for a good tire replacement as $90 is a lot for just one tire in the current economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThosL Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 I ended up going to a junkyard today, hadn't been there in years, LaJoie's and LeBlanc's in South Norwalk. They had enough used tires that I was able to find a match for $35 plus installation, $13 includes the tire disposal fee. The state has implemented a used tire tax, another revenue generator. I found a Mastercraft tire with excellent tread at roughly half the price of new ones. When you have a four wheel drive vehicle, you do not have to buy four new ones when one goes bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I ended up going to a junkyard today, hadn't been there in years, LaJoie's and LeBlanc's in South Norwalk. They had enough used tires that I was able to find a match for $35 plus installation, $13 includes the tire disposal fee. The state has implemented a used tire tax, another revenue generator. I found a Mastercraft tire with excellent tread at roughly half the price of new ones. When you have a four wheel drive vehicle, you do not have to buy four new ones when one goes bad. $13.00 for tire disposal fee. What is done with your $13.00?? I bought used tires from J yards for years, and saved a lot of money. My old 1984 VW Quantum ran 4 different branded tires at its corners, without complaint, but not so easy to match up tires with comparable tread depth for my Outback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThosL Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 $13 was for the installation including the tire disposal fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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