differnt brand tires

[cabbage]

i blew one tire on my 05 legacy and a friend of mine that works for subaru got some tires for me that had about the same milege. he said that they were slightly narrower but the tech said it would be ok. they are 215 and my tires are 225 but when they were put on they were also yokohamas and the stock sets were bridgestone. should i be worried about warranty issues or problems with my drivetrain.

[harman.khinda]

I would strongly recommend getting the same brand tires all around. I just payed over 1000 dollars to get my rear diff replaced because of this. I had same exact sizes all around and all bfgoodrich but, different type front to back. The slight difference in tread set me back quite a bit. The outside circumference is what actually matters so if your tires are all with in 1/4 inch circumference i think it's chill. (make sure you actually take a tape measure and measure the outside circumference of the tire)

 

I wanted to just replace my blowout but, they discontinued the tires i had on my car. I cheaped out and replaced only the tires on the front axle with a different brand instead of replacing all four. I thought as long as the tire sizes were the same front and back it'd be close enough but nope.

[JOE_1985]

how the hell, ive never heard of that happening:confused:

[BigBad]

I would be concerned with combining different size tires on the same car. There are differences between the 215 and 225 sizes.

[DrCloud]

...the tech said it would be ok.

You need a new tech.

 

It's simply not possible (given the way that tires are sized) that your 215 tire is designed to be the same rolling circumference as your 225 tires. (This is because sidewall ratios come in increments of 5%. Even though the ratio of these widths is close to a 5% increment, it's not exact, and the error, combined with other differences due to tire design and tread wear, means they're the same only if you got extremely lucky and these various sources of error cancel out.)

 

What this means is that you're destroying one (or more) of your differentials. Enjoy them while they last. HPH

[gianspi]

It is fine to use 215s if you are replacing all four tires with same wear 215s. Never mixmatch with other sizes/brands/wear.

[cabbage]

thanks alot. i am going to talk to the tech about this and get it fixed i felt that they were full of shit but i just did not have the money to do it.

[DrCloud]

They need to be reminded that this is an AWD car, and that the tires really do need to match. It wouldn't be such an issue if, say, it were a FWD car and these were the rear tires.

 

And they may give you a line about how newer Subarus come with those donut spare tires (which, as I know personally, work just fine) that are different sizes from the regular running gear (different sized wheels and tires, but same overall diameter) -- but those are designed precisely for the purpose, and they're not supposed to be driven over about 45mph or for any real distance. That's very different from having a 215 tire among a 225 set.

 

(And, for everyone else, think about how the handling would be strange, especially if the 215 were on the front.) HPH

[rjundi]

What you need to do is put tires at proper pressure. Take a measuring tape and measure around the three good tires(cirumference). Measure the new 225 in the same manner and if it is within 1/4" of the other three(or average) it is fine.

[outahere]

......I just payed over 1000 dollars to get my rear diff replaced because of this. I had same exact sizes all around and all bfgoodrich but, different type front to back.......I cheaped out and replaced only the tires on the front axle with a different brand instead of replacing all four. I thought as long as the tire sizes were the same front and back it'd be close enough but nope.

 

I can see how this may overheat the center differential, but there is no way this could have destroyed your rear differential (assuming the tires on the rear were same model and same mileage, left and right)