Rapid inside shoulder wear after tire puncture

I may not understand all your concerns, but if you have an auto, you should find a spot for a spare fuse in the box underhood to disable the AWD clutchpack. But, yeah, you may very well be stressing the drivetrain with 'torque bind'.

get 4 tires on there that are the same size/model/wear as soon as you can.

Carl

My concern was that riding it too long on the compact spare was affecting the center diff or the rear limited slip diff.

It's a 5-sp. I don't recall whether or not the auto version of the

2004 WRX has a FWD fuse.

I finally took it someplace that was willing to patch the tire. They looked at it really hard too, since all the grooves weren't anywhere near the wear bars, but it was just that inside edge was heavily worn (not quite bald). This shop apparently can get their warehouse distributor to shave down a replacement tire. I had 7/32" on the front and 6/32" on the rears, so they could probably shave it close to that. It'll probably be less than 1/3 the total cost of a new set. I'll probably do that as soon as I can.

Continued driving on the compact spare _will_ cause accelerated wear (at least) to the LSD and/or center diff (another LSD, as it turns out).

Nothing beats a fresh set of tires, but if you don't feel like parting with $$$, I'd suggest getting a used tire (or a pair of 'em) in the correct size with approximately the same wear, or use a cloth "sewing" tape to measure actual circumference and try for as good of a match to your existing rubber as possible. In this part of the world (CO, USA), used tire + mount&balance = $25-$30 or so. Try craigslist or the yellow pages.

FWIW, Tire Rack will shave tires for you for a modest extra charge. ($15?)

Hope this is helpful.

ByeBye! S. Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Well howdy!

Like I said, I heard this whooshing sound. It was strange too. It didn't start immediately. It took maybe a half second before it started up. I figure it had something to do with the fluid doing its thing. I looked up the cost of a new diff case. Under $200 without the LSD. Under $700 for the unit with the LSD. I don't really do much stuff where I really need an LSD save the occasional trip to snowy areas. I'm wondering if I could just function fine if the fluid has degraded to more or less open diff functionality.

The tire shop said that they had experience with Subarus where one tire couldn't be repaired and had some shaved before.

They say $25-35 depending on the tire for street tire shaving. I would think you would probably need to talk to someone about it. I was quoted $35 by a local tire shop. However - they earned a bunch of goodwill from me for repairing a tire that nobody else would do and no giving me a load of BS that my other tires had premature wear.

I've seen that they list $15 to shave competition tires to a standard depth. I'm guessing that they don't really shave all that much with race tires that have little tread to begin with, and time on the tire shaver costs money.

There is definitely a 'law of diminishing returns' going on with tire shaving. You're paying someone MORE money to create a 'used' tire to keep from buying 3 more fresh tires. But sometimes you just need to save the $$$.

I've never had a Subaru rear diff apart, but the center diff (at least the one on the early Forrys) is a viscous coupled thingie that fails by slipping less and less to the point where you experience torque bind in anything resembling a tight turn.

I put a junkyard tranny into my wifes car ('02 Forry, 5spd) earlier this year, after replacing _both_ half-shafts (and one of 'em twice 'cause I just couldn't believe it was the120Kmile tranny at fault) trying to eliminate the torque bind/clunk-clunk-clunk issue. Replacement tranny cured it.

I pulled the original apart, removed the center diff (which couldn't even be turned by hand it was so gummed up), soaked it in solvent for a couple days, and re-assembled. Not difficult at all other than getting the rear case to separate, which was kind of a b____ . . . I'm betting that the tranny will work just fine now, and plan on putting it into _my_ '99 Forester to test this theory sometime before winter sets in. Need to put in a better clutch pressure plate anyway as the el-cheapo ebay clutch I installed last year has issues. "Poor man buys twice" they say.

The Rex kinda demands a performance tire, to keep up the image if nothing else, but FWIW, the Ms. and I have both been very pleased with the inexpensive Hankook all seasons we've had on our cars for the past couple years. Sorta tough to really compare, but subjectively, I like them considerably better than the funky OEM Bridgestones that came on the '02 WRX I used to have. Not that that is saying much, alas, those Bridgestones were poopoo. Had a set of Pirelli ice tires (Sotto Zero?) on it one winter. They worked well, but wore very quickly. We live in snow country, and run studded tires on the Forrys in the winter months. Can you say "invincible"? Betcha! My 4Runner doesn't even leave the driveway when there's ice -n- snow. Unless it's REAL deep (more'n 18 inches or so), and I go to the effort to chain it up.

Yea, that's where I remember seeing it; competition rubber. I guess it makes sense that a street tire would take longer/cost more-er :-)

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

The RE92 is notorious. Although it has a 160 treadwear rating, it's also known to last a long time. It's likely ubiquitous because it's got low rolling resistance (for EPA mileage testing) and manufacturers get it really cheap.

I'm thinking of getting some new chains just in case. The Security Chain Super Z6 seems interesting although it's pricey. I tried installing some ladder type cable chains in the garage, and they were an absolute pain getting them tight. I like the idea of a chain that only needs to be fastened and then all the slack comes out with a rubber chain tightener.

Most of the competition tires seemed to be 6/32" starting tread depth, and I think the standard shaving was down to 4/32". Most people shaving down passenget tires probably want to trim maybe 4/32".

I found a manufacturer for the equipment. They call them "tire truers":