Cheeky Jim

Just got back from our Hols, Wife is following a dump truck on the dual carriageway, a large rock falls off the back, she swerves, but front nearside goes over the top (Breeze block sized). I now have a large gash in the tyre, it will need replacing...however, I have only done 9000 miles on the tyres (Potenza's) and I have read about having to replace all tyres at once etc.

Is it advisable to simply change the busted tyre, should I replace the front 2 together or do I need to replace all 4??

I am a bit el skinto this month, so would like to replace 1 or possibly 2 if I have to.

Any advice please??

Jamie

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Hi Jamie,
You were pretty lucky there with that rock, it could have been alot worse.
Well what ive read about impreza's is that its best to replace 2 tyres at the same time to stop wear/keep geometry i think, you could cheat though and swap your part worn with your spare and just buy one tyre then, saves you the money and you still have a good spare

Tony

Cheeky Jim

Tony,

You are dead right, if she had been any closer it could have been alot worse, it could have gone through the screen and severely hurt my loved one (Jacky not the Car!!), only problem is that I have one of those utterly crap Space Saver tyres... so that idea is down the river chasing it's lost paddle!!

You do mention though uneven Wear and Geometry... Does it make that much difference??

Jamie

Nick

Jim

There should be no more than 2mm tread difference between the tyres. With 9k miles you've probably worn much more than that so it's new set time.

Paul Wilson

Keep the 3 old tyres though, you never know when it might happen again. Also can be used on track days to save wear/destruction of road tyres.

Are they the original tyres? or SO2's? if the original its a good excuse to upgrade them anyway, they are pants.

BarryK

I had a nail through one of my back tyres. They had originally been the front tyres, but they'd done 12k anyway and were on the verge.

However, the front ones (now on the back) were not up for replacing. Like you I don't have money growing on a tree so I replaced them as a pair and put Goodyear F1 Eagles on the front. I still have the Potenzas on the back.

The Goodyears have eliminated tramlining completely and I noticed the better grip straight away. When the two remaining Potenzas have had it I will put another two Goodyears on the front and shuffle the current pair to the back.

I know people who have different tyres on each wheel and unless you are driving on the edge of performance then most "mortals" would be hard pushed to tell the difference. Personally I wouldn't chance it though.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

oh, space saver tyre..
i dont know if i have one of them, i aint really looked that deep in the boot!
If you ask about on here too Jamie and see if there is anywhere near to you that does cheap, good quality tyres, could save you a few quid

Tony

logiclee

Anyone driven with the space saver fitted?

Don't think I'd like to try it.


Lee

I Stancer

not recomended to drive far on skinny as for some strange reason it is slightly smaller diameter , you can feel the transmission fighting against itself , wierd !
the worst thing is driving on an open road at 50 . be honest when was the last time you did that !!!!
When you do change tyres always retain the best tyre as a reserve , my wife didn't notice a slow puncture , because she doesn't do the " Ari Vatenens " round bends , untill the sidewalls were sha66ed inside . I fancied a couple( OE Bridgstones were all but Knakered after 10k ) of Toyos but they aren't easy to get quickly apparently so I had to settle for F1's which are ok but a touch soft on turn-in IMHO . I'll have 4 F1's soon , then order Toyos next time perhaps

AndyMc

Cheeky Jim

Most people wear the fronts much faster than the rears.
If you only renew the fronts take care for a while because the extra front end grip can catch you by surprise. For example if you have to back off half way round a corner be prepared for the back end to slide etc.

This is especially true if you still have the crappy original tyres on the back and put something like Eagle F1's or SO2's on the front due to the superglue levels of grip they generate compared to the originals.

By the way changing the originals front-to-back to even up the wear can also have a big effect on the "at the limit" handling.A few people have spun or even crashed a couple of days after switching.

Hi Nick
Where did you get the info about the maximum 2mm difference, and do you mean front-to-back or side-to-side?. I carn't find any mention of it in the owners manual just a recomendation to change the wheels front to back to even up wear.



Surely Subaru would have designed the box and the centre diff to allow for the difference in wheel speeds that results from new and old tyres on different axles?.

I bet more than 50% of Impreza's on the road have more than 2mm difference in tread depth given the higher wear rate on the fronts.Are you saying they will have gearbox trouble in the future?

Andy

AlexM

Cheeky Jim,

Totally agree with AndyMc - if you must replace only two tyres make sure you put the good ones on the rear. It will understeer like a pig on castors, but some people report VERY unnerving handling with more grip on the front than on the back...

AndyMc,

I too thought that 2mm tread difference was the 'tolerence' when replacing one wheel, but I thought this applied across an axle.
I remember I read this as a SMMT advisory notice in a tyre fitter's shop. The fitter confirmed this (but then he would wouldn't he . The notice referred specifically to AWD Volvo vehicles so maybe there is an issue.

Apparently the tyre with the larger rolling diameter is scrubbed more than the other tyre on the same axle until they are nearly the same diameter.

Cheers,

Alex

Cheeky Jim

So, in summary,

If I change the front two, put the new ones on the back and put the current rears on the front. I did check them this morning and the appear to have at least 3/4 mm tread left.

I am going for the Eagle F1's, and I will replace the remaining Potenza's next month. So we should be ok for a month.

To be honest, I don't really drive that quickly and rarely on the limit (well my limit...probably 62.4% of true!!) so hopefully, I shouldn't have to many troubles...I will just be a bit sensible for a month!!

Cheers for all the help.

Jamie

Cheeky Jim

Thanks Guys,

Unfortunately due to lack of readies (got married 2 weeks ago - and Honeymoon in Carribean) I think that I shall replace the front 2 and keep the rears. They are not that worn anyway, as I don't get that much chance to drive THAT quickly anyway!

(Incidently, do the fronts wear faster than the rears or the other way round?)

I was looking at the Eagle F1's, I have read good things, so I might just give them a try! The rears can wait til next month for replacing!!

Jamie

tizard99

Can I step in and ask what anyone knows of the tyre wear and handling when a set of 205/40/17 's are fitted on 17" alloys? I.e. front/rear wear, is it supposedly the same?

Trev.

Cheeky Jim

Well, After all my good intentions of getting Eagle F1's, there were none anywhere and nobody seemed to be able to get any before friday. As I have to do a number of miles tomorrow I have had to go with Pirelli P6000's.

I have replace both the fronts...we will see how it goes.

Anyone have any experience of P6000's.....or am I now to be banished to the Granny Division of Scoobynet for putting on such dubious treds?!!!!

Jamie

johnfelstead

did you not give tyres northampton a call?

they have a banner add on here and offer a superb service.

Word of caution, it doesn't matter how on the limit you drive your car normally. Anyone with half a brain will not fully exploit a set of so2's on the public highway.

What counts is how your car reacts in an emergency or when road conditions change unexpectedly and you NEED to have a balanced chassis to get out of the problem.

I know money can be a problem for lots of us but running diferent spec tyres front/rear on an impreza is asking for a crash that may have been avoidable.

I had my eyes opened when i spent a couple of days at MIRA on the wet handling track, tyres are everything.

I could quite easily powerslide my sport round the full 300yard rounderbout by the end of the day, keeping all 4 wheels spinning using the RE010's. Got them smoking in the wet actually

I then put SO2's on and found it absolutely imposible to break traction, I could get a turbo to slide but definately needed that extra 100BHP to do it on SO2's.

Andy-D

I knew the mighty SO2s were good but I didn't realise there would be such a massive difference between them and the RE010s as described by John. I suppose that the wet handling course would clearly show up any differences between the tyres.
Is it that the RE010s are such a bad tyre (and if so why oh why do Subaru fit them as standard - they are not stupid) or that they are average and the SO2s are just in a league of their own?

Cheeky Jim

John,

I did notice the ad, but as I am not based in Northampton and needed some tyres extremely quickly, I'm afraid I had to go locally - I would have preferred to support our advertisers, but sometimes circumstances make that a bit difficult.

I do also take note of your point about different tyres front and back, and potential handling problems. I was loathe to simply change 2 tyres and would have preferred all 4, but simply not possible this month. I will however change the rear 2 in approximately 3 weeks time, and I should have only done about 1000 miles on the new ones, so I hope that it shouldn't make too much difference.

Would it be a good idea to swap the new fronts to the back when I change the rears??

I also noticed that the on delivery the P1 has Pirelli P Zero's fitted...is this in recognition that the Potenza's are not that much cop??

Jamie

johnfelstead

The RE010 isn’t a bad tyre as such; it is an adequate tyre for most uses.

The SO2 PP is in a league of its own, a 2wd car on SO2’s round MIRA will be faster than an Impreza on RE010’s in the wet!!

Simon De Banke is the man to give you the real score on tyres at MIRA. He drove my sport before and after the tyre change and the difference was ridiculous, we were finding it hard to stay in our seats due to the G we were pulling with the SO2’s in the wet round the handling track. With my sport having no anti-roll bars the mechanical grip is just unreal, it’s higher than a turbo in the wet.

I made a bit of an idiot (nothing new) of myself when I fitted the SO2’s at MIRA, the first lap and a half I had it sliding like a goodun, then the releasing agent scrubbed off and it gripped so much so quickly it spat me onto the grass in the middle of the roundabout as the tyres gripped and shot me forward.

After that I simply couldn’t get it to spin the wheels.

Paul Wilson

I can support what john has said, I made the mistake of having SO2's on the front only and the std tyres on the rear, managed to spin it twice, once outside my house

Turned the car into an oversteery monster.

Nick

Andy

I got the 2mm info from the service manager at my dealer. 4 months after I bought my car I had an unrepairable puncture, so I ended up buying a new set.

Yes I drove on the space saver, yes it's awful & yes you get laughed at!

Kevin2000

Hey John
What year is your sport and can you get the SO2,s in a 15 inch?
Regards
Kevo

johnfelstead

Hi kev

Mine is an MY98 Sport but i have 16" turbo alloys on the car.

Dont know about 15" SO2's although i have seen westfields with them fitted so maybe they do??

ring tyres northampton, they are great for so2's and will know the answer.

AndyMc

Hi

I would just like to point out that there is hardly any difference in grip between the original re-010's and the SO2's in the dry,it is in the wet that the difference is like night and day.

On some roundabouts there does not seem to be any less grip between wet and dry when using the so2's. However if you drive over a diesel spill etc its a different story so you have to be more carefull when using the so2's.

I have also found the so2's to be very unstable for the first couple of thousand miles ,other people have noticed this too,it feels like the tread is squirming around or the side walls are soft.I run the tyre pressures a bit higher than with the re-010's which does help a bit.

So IMHO the re-010's are a bit better in the dry and the SO2's are miles better in the wet so given our aquatic climate I use SO2,s

PS John I'm a bit surprised by your comment about using SO2's to the full on the road.I use them to the full on a regular basis in what I consider to be perfect safety, I just choose my locations very carefully just as I am sure you do when you open up that monster of a car you own.

PPs The fact that I use them to the full also means I know exactly how the car will react if I was to get in to an emergency situation.

Andy

JayDee

Without going into the respective merits of SO2's etc.

I had, at about 9000 miles, a non repairable puncture (on the rear). Being lazy, I let the dealer sort it which he did by simply replacing one Potenza. Clearly he thought replacing just the one was OK and now at 18,000 miles I can say there have been no strange effects.

As a side issue, I didi have hime replace the fronts at 15,000, with Potenzas, although I notice that the tread pattern is different from the old ones.

JD

johnfelstead

Hi Andy,

I think your version of using the tyre to the full might be a little different to mine

I can’t agree with you on the dry characteristics, I found the SO2’s to give much higher grip levels than the RE010 in the dry also, the differences are much larger when wet though. The SO2’s are hopeless on track, way too soft. I think over winter in the dry you will notice a huge difference between the 2 tyres.

I found the SO2’s horrible at first, I upped the tyre pressures by 2PSI and this cured the sidewall flex for me, one of my pet hates.

It is fun jumping from an Impreza sport on SO2’s to a Westfield on Molded slicks, talk about chalk and cheese. I love driving the Westfield in the wet, sideways EVERYWHERE but hard work for a long journey. The impreza, just awesome on SO2’s for grip, no need for throttle control really, just plant it and steer.

Rich_R

John F

Glad to hear somebody else has also visited the grass in the middle at MIRA

Unfortunately I also took out one of the sprinklers

Rich.