Why are tires for Subaru Outback so hard to find?

You're cleared pissed, but you're also being unreasonable. How many people do you think blow out a tire on such a new car?

Dealers sell cars, new parts (no, they don't stock them all), and perform warranty service--that's their wheelhouse.

They do sell tires to lemings wanting to overpay for them, or for people with so few miles on their OEM tires that they MIGHT once in a blue moon need a single tire because the other three might be unworn enough to warrant just replacing one of the exact same make/model of oem tire, otherwise, so few folks are foolish enough to pay their inflated prices for lousy selection that they don't stock many tires which are rather bulky take up valuable space for things they _can_ sell or equpiment that can give them better ROI.

You should thank them for not having your tire in stock, quite honestly.

Now you have my sympathy for having a blowout on such a young car (bad luck!), but the bad news you may end up having to get a set of 4. The dealer may give you the party line that if you have a problem with one tire on an all wheel drive car, you have to replace all 4, yet they're likely the only ones with access to that specific OEM tire that's on your car.

If you need this fixed today, call around to tireshops with your tire size (e.g. 185/60R15) or whatever it is, and see what they have in stock. If you have some time, go to tirerack.com, print out prices for recommended tires for your car, figure in cost to mount and install, then take that info down to a local tire dealer with good stock, and see what kind of bargain you can strike up. I've yet to have adealer turn away business refusing to match tirerack.com prices, plus with local tire places, you generally get free rotation/balancing for the life of the tire which can get pricey otherwise.

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA

While it seems the OP is a little worked up - the tires may very well have a road hazard guarantee and dealerships SHOULD be able to 'get' (if not keep) a tire on hand. And ESPECIALLY considering the restrictions on AWD vehicles needing 4 tires in simialr wear conditions - they should probably also offer tire shaving so one COULD replace a single half-worn tire.

Moebeans - If I were you, I'd tell them they can give you a loaner until they either get a tire - or move a tire from a unit on their lot onto your car. Let THEIR car wait on a tire.

Carl

My bad. Since I wasn't looking for a driveshaft for a 1983 Subaru race car, I was looking for a tire for a car I bought a couple months ago, I just assumed that the 15' high wall of tires in their service bay would contain at least one that fit it. Didn't realize carrying a spare tire for the current year's model would be such a burden on them. Now I get to ride around for 3 days on this crappy donut until I find a replacement. It must not be absolutely critical that I drive on matching tires because if it was they would stock them, right :)

Strange part was I swear I saw a display of Hummer tires for sale, even though there was only one Hummer on the lot. They probably get a lot more flats than passenger cars.

And no, I don't accept that I am being unreasonable. Its a simple matter of customer care and its a dead art. Stupid me, for some reason I still expect good service even though its been a while since I have actually experienced any, and I have certainly never gotten it from an auto dealer. I don't know why I thought Subaru would be any different.

Thanks for the advice though, it will come in useful when these tires need to be replaced...

I had to get a tire for an Honda Accord to match the other 3. The US made Michelin MDX was not available as the entire production went to the factory for Honda. So may have to get an extra tire with Honda too.

My local tire dealer did get one for my Honda that was made in Canada as plants in other countries were not supplying the US factory.

You can check

as they do normally carry OEM tires, as they have my Yokohama Geolander G900 for my Forester, not that I would buy more of this tire. I was lucky with my full size spare, when mine blew out, I put the spare on at 6000 miles to have four of the same model. I bought a Kuhmo for a cheap spare that is slightly smaller in circumference as the others would be smaller when & if the spare was needed again.

Blair

Hopefully you removed the AWD fuse when you put the donut on? Assuming that this functionality is still present in the current generation.

Knowing Hummer, and their submission to the customization frenzy, I'm sure the big display is there for one reason only: factory mandate to offer customization option and/or making a great markup on options the factory is supporting. Not nearly as sexy or profitable to be offering replacement OEM tires for a Subaru.

If you're committed to being pissed at Subaru, I won't stop ya. But there are reaonable business reasons why they don't have extra OEM tires for every variation of vehicle they sell on hand in sets of 4. If you factored price into your decision to buy a Subaru at all, you share in the blame! :-)

And if you've ever shopped at a Wal Mart or bought big box vs mom & pop you share in the blame of the cost driven economics that have gotten us to where we are in terms of customer service. Yes it sucks, and we all hate the state of customer service these days, but we got here because consumers bow to the gods of lowest price with such regularity. And few of us haven't been part of the problem there I'm sure!

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA

Most (or all?) new cars come with "low rolling resistance" tires, which give better gas mileage, so that lets automakers report better CAFE numbers. There isn't much aftermarket demand for these tires, so I would expect replacements to be rather hard to find. Under the circumstances, I would think it's reasonable for a dealer to keep a few of them on hand. There are a fair number of people who, for whatever reason - lack of mechanical skills, lack of time - want to be able to go back to their dealer any time anything goes wrong with their car and know that it will be fixed. The dealers I've dealt with all claim to do bodywork and even write up their own receipts for bodywork, but in fact they usually deliver the car to a local bodyshop. Customers are still happy with this arrangement because they're dealing with familiar people. Still, I assume there's no law that says dealers have to stock tires, so if they choose to save money that way and accept the consequence of some less-than-delighted customers, that's their decision.

What size and or type tire is this that is so hard to find.? Is it something new for 06 that might explain why you are having difficulty?

The tires on my 00 OBW can be found almost anywhere.

Mickey