Sand down tires??

[Drex]

Captain Pedant here, at your service. No Subarus have 4WD; they have AWD.

That must be news to the few hundred thousand people who bought Subarus built in the 70s and 80's that were 4WD, with a moving stick in a transfer case and everything.

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[ac360]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the answers. Honestly didn't know it was a thing. At first, sounded like total BS to me from the service center at some Subaru...

If only shops would explain to their customers what they are doing & why they are doing it, instead of just the what, it would go a long way to ease consumers' skepticism.

 

[BigFootie]

Just don’t use a chainsaw! A guy at work did this! Jacked the car up, put it in gear and had his wife slowly accelerate while he carved with the chainsaw. It was a Subaru. Never knew this was really a thing. I just figured he was nuts. Well, still do but that’s for another day!

 

[Bronck]

Here you go

 

[Megawatt]

Taken from the Ranger forum..... And Ford says.....

From the owner's manual:
"The two front tires or two rear tires should generally be replaced as a pair, except if the vehicle is equipped with four wheel drive. Vehicles equipped with four wheel drive should have all four tires replaced simultaneously. Unevenly worn tires, mismatched makes, models or brands can be different in size, resulting in potential damage to the four wheel drive system."

 

[tracythemighty]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the answers. Honestly didn't know it was a thing. At first, sounded like total BS to me from the service center at some Subaru...

I'm new to all this and would have thought the same. Thanks for bringing it up!

 

[Hoofnmouth]

While at the dealer ask about filling tires with helium help with mpg

 

[BroncoKong Jr.]

That must be news to the few hundred thousand people who bought Subarus built in the 70s and 80's that were 4WD, with a moving stick in a transfer case and everything.

Current Subarus. Like the one this thread is about.

 

[Rocketeer Rick]

Current Subarus. Like the one this thread is about.

Kind of a moot point. In either case, if the tires are different in size, it can lead to potential problems. Doesn't matter if it has a on-demand clutch coupling, a center diff, a locking transfer case. The thing to keep in mind here that it can lead to long-term damage. Most systems have to allow for some tolerance of different sizes to be practical no matter what.

With that in mind, you can run into the same problem if you have different tire pressures or corner weights. Again, it has to be significant, but a tire that is effectively smaller in size due to being under inflated or having a lot more weight load over it can lead to the same result. In truth, many vehicles do wind up running down the road with very slight differential rates going because of all these things. These are all vehicles with open diffs, mind you.

If you do this with an LSD one two things will happen: it'll either be a light enough situation that the diff remains in a friction-locked condition due to the drive torque applied, and the difference in road speed is scrubbed out in the tires or wound into the axle shafts like torsion springs, or 2) the loading is severe enough that it forces the LSD to differentiate under drive torque loads high enough that the diff wants to remain friction-locked. When you force differentiation under these conditions, you can really trash the LSD. You're creating sliding forces within the diff's frictional components (clutches usually) that are greater than what they're designed for.

 

[Funkdoobiest]

strange coming to a bronco forum asking about subaru advice...

It's the people here. Could you imagine going to the Subaru site and asking this?

 

[Funkdoobiest]

Every time I buy a new car or new set of tires I always buy 5 and do 5 tire rotations. I buy a matching 5th rim since most vehicles spares do not match. It doesn't cost anymore in the long run to buy 5 tires (except the cost of the 5th rim) as you should get 20% more mileage out of the 5 tires as opposed to 4. If you ever destroy a tire get a cheap used spare and continue on with a four tire rotation until you get new tires. It actually saves you money when you do eventually ruin a tire because you don't have to replace 2, effectively replacing a perfectly good tire. This has worked for me a few times in my life. I'm also a little anal retentive and prefer my tires match right down to the date code. Another tip, make sure your date codes match when you buy new tires. I had a shop try to give me a several year old tire once. An odd tire date could be a red flag to someone looking at used car as well.

 

[DeltaBravo]

It's the people here. Could you imagine going to the Subaru site and asking this?

no but I bet they could tell you where the best frosted latte was

 

[Rick Astley]

Okay folks, I think I figured this one out. What is really being asked is if you can grind down your side walls to give your Bronco white-wall tires. The answer is yes.

All rubber starts out stark white, and that's generally a center layer of the tire that's white (natural) rubber.

Here's a quick how-to. I've done this on the tires on my T-bird and it works pretty well. The exterior rubber layer of the sidewalls is a beauty layer, you're not removing structure.

 

[pony2bronco]

Before I paid full price and then shaved a new tire I personally would look around to see if I cold find the same model used with the matching amount of tread. When my daughter's Volvo had tire damaged I was amazed at how easy it was to find a perfect match and how stupid cheap it was, even including shipping.. There are a bunch of reputable online companies that deal in used tires.

I ripped a side wall once on a small curb in Baltimore. There was an incredibly shady looking used tire shop across the street so I dragged it in and for $60 I got 2 tires on my rear that were in better condition than the 2 I had. I didn't question where they came from.

 

[MaverickMan]

With different diameter driving tires the drive system is loaded as if it were in a steady state turn when going straight ahead. This will cause premature tire wear and messes with other parts of the drivetrain and any computers that may be involved.

Circumference is the measurement we are looking for here even if its translateable, but a slight change in tire pressure will also effect circumference, and diameter. So if i only had 6 month left on 3 tires I would just run the new one a lil low on pressure, not enough to be dangerous but enough to equalize. Then when ready buy 4 new tires and put that single one on the spare rim and rotate all 5 tires in, while running that spare one with slightly higher pressure to equalize not only to the other tires but any irregular treadware that a slight hange in pressure may have caused. If the car doesnt have room for a full size spare. Then you need a better car lol

Or try the chainsaw bit

Also a big turbo kit could be used to make it so the car will do 4 wheel burnouts and that should equalize things pretty quick.

Also there was a time when ford and possibly other domestic companies ran 4.09 and 4.10 gears front and rear on 4x4s some with full time cases. Many of those are still on the road 40 years later but they were built different back then. They required maintenece but were harder to break.

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