So, I think my friend's subaru ('90 Legacy wagon) is posessed by demons. There was all the usual stuff for a wagon of this age -- new clutch, new exhaust, CV joints. Stuff you expect. But here's the evidence for the demon:

 

Last summer it had unexplained overheating and oil burning problems. New radiator, water pump, thermostat, cooling system flush, etc, had no effect. But it didn't have a blown head gasket (compression great, no mixing of oil or coolant, no coolant loss). A new engine block solved it. However, the demon has now moved to the tires.

 

She's had at least 10 tires in the last year... A good four or five sidewalls blown out, and the rest from studs being pushed through the tires, or attracting screws like crazy.

 

She's got good Happakilita (or however that's spelled) studded snows and just yesterday, another one went flat, and we took it off to find another screw, and a giant bulge in the sidewall about ready to burst. Good we had just replaced the one that blew a sidewall last week so we had the spare available again.

 

On the positive (??) side, the snow tires don't even get worn enough before blowing out a sidewall to have to replace them in sets of four instead of just one of the four.... Although if this keeps up, soon we're going to have to replace all four every two weeks...

 

Now, you can argue that the tire issue (aside from the screws) could be due to the steep rocky snow covered road to her house. You often have to drive like a bat out of h__ to get up this hill in winter, and in the summer, the rocks make it pretty bouncy, and could theoretically push studs back through the tires (never heard of this before though...), and damage sidewalls (She runs studs until July, because it'll still be snowstorms at times, even though it's mostly just rocks)

 

But, I go up the same road once a week at least, with both my GL wagon and my pickup, and have never blown a tire out. And another friend takes his '82 honda civic rustbucket up there regularly in the summertime, and doesn't have problems either.

 

I'm not one to believe in black magic, but sometimes when you've ruled everything else out, what's left?

Do you run the same snow tires as her?

 

If not, it's gotta be the tire or how she drives.

 

Personally, it sounds like the tire is a POS. Are the tires that have failed being replaced under warranty? How much do they cost per tire? Where are they made?

The other two cars that run up the hill are lighter and have smaller tires, hence part of the reason why the differnce.

You need to go with a quality tire and get road hazard on them. Also have the wheel alignment checked to make sure there is nothing odd going on there that with the rough road surface may be adding to the stress on the tires. Have the rims inspected to make sure they are true and not out of round. Otherwise it just sounds like you are pushing the tires and car too hard and somethig has to give. Ever think of removing some of the rocks to try and smooth out the ride, or add some, whichever is easier?

 

nipper

Hey Nipper and Legacy777. Good insights there. I never thought about the weight of the cars, but you are right. Two guys can almost pick up one end of the old civic... And of course my pickup weighs more but has much bigger tougher tires too (and low range is much slower). About the rocks in the road... well, they did buy a backhoe/loader this fall, so maybe when the snow melts we'll fix up the road a bit... build it up a bit so the stream stays by the side instead of coming on the road. I also always buy very expensive tires (once they were worth 5 times more than the car I put them on) instead of cheapos, and now that I think about it, she's probably getting cheap ones.

i would suggest getting an old priest and a young priest

 

 

 

yadda yadda yadda, you continue the obvious joke...