Dangerous 2004 Forester tires?

[tenplay]

Yesterday my wife was driving her 2004 Forester on the Interstate and had a
sudden blowout of one of the stock Yokohama tires. Her car has only 5k on
it. The tire just suddenly shredded for no obvious reason. She was in the
fast lane and barely made it over against the inside barrier. Rushhour
traffic was stopped up for miles. We've never had such a bad experience
with new tires before. Is this common with the Yokohama tires on the
Forester or a freak accident?

 

[Jim Stewart]

Yesterday my wife was driving her 2004 Forester on the Interstate and had a
sudden blowout of one of the stock Yokohama tires. Her car has only 5k on
it. The tire just suddenly shredded for no obvious reason. She was in the
fast lane and barely made it over against the inside barrier. Rushhour
traffic was stopped up for miles. We've never had such a bad experience
with new tires before. Is this common with the Yokohama tires on the
Forester or a freak accident?

I've been reading this group for about 4 years
and don't recall any incidents. Just out of
curiosity, was it driver or passenger side?
The fast lane, driver's side is right next
to the median and it collects all manner of
sharp trash. I'd bet that she hit a piece of
sheet metal or body trim and that caused the
blowout. The debris would not have to be
big enough for her to notice.

 

[tenplay]

I've been reading this group for about 4 years
and don't recall any incidents. Just out of
curiosity, was it driver or passenger side?
The fast lane, driver's side is right next
to the median and it collects all manner of
sharp trash. I'd bet that she hit a piece of
sheet metal or body trim and that caused the
blowout. The debris would not have to be
big enough for her to notice.

No. The blowout was on the passenger side away from the median. And she
never strayed from her lane. So my question remains. I wonder what could
have caused the complete shredding of her new tire.

 

[s]

In connection to this, I have read info that when you blowout a tire on a 4
wheel drive car you cant just replace one but you must replace all four or
find someone to "SHAVE" the new tire to exact diameter of old ones or 4
wheel drive system damage will occur. Can anyone shed light on this. I'm
interested in 2004 Forester but having to buy 4 tires if I blow out one puts
me off...
S

 

[Edward Hayes]

Could be that the tire pressure was low due to a leak also. With only 5,000
miles on the tires you need to only buy ONE tire for replacement and I
suggest you get a same Model Yokohama. Tire diameter should be within 1/4
inch circumference ideally. Sorry you had the problem. Ed Hayes

 

[Kzinns2]

I had a flat tire that couldn't be repaired at about 15K miles on my '99
Forester. I checked around and found there is an allowable tolerance for the
diameter - they don't have to be EXACTLY the same. I replaced the one tire and
had no problems. I've replaced all four since then.

 

[Florian Feuser /FFF/]

[...] sharp trash. I'd bet that she hit a piece of
sheet metal or body trim and that caused the
blowout. The debris would not have to be
big enough for her to notice.

No. The blowout was on the passenger side away from the median. And she
never strayed from her lane. So my question remains. I wonder what could
have caused the complete shredding of her new tire.

The same thing happened to me on a brand new rental Town Car about ten years ago.
After installing a good replacement tire, I noticed that it got very hot to the
touch after driving for a while. IMO, the knuckle had been installed at an angle,
thus basically dragging the tire across the asphalt.

Something tells me that's less likely to happen in a Subaru (or go unnoticed for
that long) but check your tire temperature after a stretch of highway driving.

Florian

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

In connection to this, I have read info that when you blowout a tire on
a 4 wheel drive car you cant just replace one but you must replace all
four or find someone to "SHAVE" the new tire to exact diameter of old
ones or 4 wheel drive system damage will occur. Can anyone shed light on
this. I'm interested in 2004 Forester but having to buy 4 tires if I
blow out one puts me off...

Thats correct. All 4 tires need to be nearly identical in circumference.
According to the owner's manual and Subaru's site:

"On All-Wheel Drive (AWD) vehicles, it is extremely important that the
rolling or outer circumferences of the tires be within 1/4 inch of each
other."

"Exceeding this 1/4-inch difference in tire circumference can place
unnecessary wear on drivetrain components, possibly causing them to wear out
prematurely."

Source:

<http://www.subaru.com/owners/care/carcaretips/middle.jsp?pageID=tire>

 

[D H]

I had a flat tire that couldn't be repaired at about 15K miles on my '99
Forester. I checked around and found there is an allowable tolerance for the
diameter - they don't have to be EXACTLY the same. I replaced the one tire and
had no problems. I've replaced all four since then.

There is a tolerance, but as FuzzyLogic points out, it is only a 1/4" in
circumference, which is not a lot of tolerance. I would be willing to bet
you surpassed that tolerance and went against the specs if you had 15,000
miles on them. As you said, maybe you have had and will have no problems,
but it is a gamble you should recognize that you took. I did the same
myself, but I knew there was some risk involved. Seems to have paid off
okay, since 2 Foresters have 79K and 92K on them now. I know I had the issue
with one, and possibly with both, I can't remember. One had a difference of
almost 3/8" between tires when I measured. The fact is, you can end up with
that much difference just from uneven wear due to poor alignment, a problem
that plaqued the early Foresters till Subaru changed the specs for
alignments. Since then, tire wear has been much improved, at least for us.

--
D N
I E T S
Off to R the M __, D H

Reply to group. (Detestible spammers!)

 

[84-318i]

Has anybody figuerd out what that equates to using a thread tool?

Thanks -H.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

In addition to the issue with tire circumference, there are issues with
towing that are different than other cars. I suggest Subarus are not for
you - shop among another brand.

Carl
1 Lucky texan

 

[BBB]

Math says the 1/4" difference in circumferance is about 4/100" of
radius, which is just a bit over 1/32" difference in tread depth. I
wonder what the manufacturing tolerances are? That seems an awfully
small amount.

I took a chance on replacing only one tire at 13k miles and have had no
problems now at 36k. There has been some view here that the
specifications were written by Subaru's lawyers, not by its engineers.
Advice I got here was to put the new tire and the spare (remounted on an
alloy wheel) on one side, and put the demounted, good, original tire
onto the steel wheel as spare.

My original tires are due for replacement in the not too distant future,
so the situation will become academic I hope.

 

[Florian Feuser /FFF/]

Math says the 1/4" difference in circumferance is about 4/100" of
radius, which is just a bit over 1/32" difference in tread depth. I
wonder what the manufacturing tolerances are? That seems an awfully
small amount.

I took a chance on replacing only one tire at 13k miles and have had no
problems now at 36k. There has been some view here that the
specifications were written by Subaru's lawyers, not by its engineers.
Advice I got here was to put the new tire and the spare (remounted on an
alloy wheel) on one side, and put the demounted, good, original tire
onto the steel wheel as spare.

My original tires are due for replacement in the not too distant future,
so the situation will become academic I hope.

On a standard 205/55/16", the circumference is 78.16" which equals 810.68
revolutions per mile.
A 4/100" difference (increase) in radius would amount to 2.6 revolutions per
mile. If you're going sixty, that's 2.6rpm at the wheels, the differential and
the center diff.

I don't believe a viscous coupling would engage at this rate and I guess the AWD
clutch mechanism in an automatic would certainly slip more than that - even if
fully engaged. It is in the interest of the manufacturer to err on the safe side,
especially since it's you who's paying for a whole set of new tires instead of
just one.

Florian (please do correct my math if I am off here...)

 

[y_p_w]

Yesterday my wife was driving her 2004 Forester on the Interstate and had a
sudden blowout of one of the stock Yokohama tires. Her car has only 5k on
it. The tire just suddenly shredded for no obvious reason. She was in the
fast lane and barely made it over against the inside barrier. Rushhour
traffic was stopped up for miles. We've never had such a bad experience
with new tires before. Is this common with the Yokohama tires on the
Forester or a freak accident?

A single sharp object puncturing the tire at highway speeds could cause
shredding within seconds. I had that happen when I passed by some
construction debris - the tire was gone in 10 seconds, but the steel
rims survived. I've also had a minor flat on "runflat" style tires.
I could still drive at 50 MPH with no tire pressure, although it was
a bit noisy.

A spontaneous blowout could come come from an improperly mounted or
underinflated tire. However - I'd guess a sharp object probably
created a puncture that would have been unrepairable. A nail or
screw puncture can be patched, but a 1"+ cut can't be, and might
keep on expanding at highway speeds.

 

[David]

In connection to this, I have read info that when you blowout a tire on a 4
wheel drive car you cant just replace one but you must replace all four or
find someone to "SHAVE" the new tire to exact diameter of old ones or 4
wheel drive system damage will occur. Can anyone shed light on this.

Yes. It isn't so much for "4 wheel drive cars", but specific to various cars. Most
AWD cars are likely to have some restrictions, but if cars with torsen differentials (like
many Audis) have any restriction, it will likely be more relaxed than for cars with
viscous-coupled LS diffs (like many Foresters. Mine has 2. Some have none).

For Subes there are specs for how close the tires must match. I forget what the
specs are for my Forester, but IIRC they're more relaxed than the specs for older
AWD Subes.

 

[GTT]

Yesterday my wife was driving her 2004 Forester on the Interstate and had a
sudden blowout of one of the stock Yokohama tires. Her car has only 5k on
it. The tire just suddenly shredded for no obvious reason. She was in the
fast lane and barely made it over against the inside barrier. Rushhour
traffic was stopped up for miles. We've never had such a bad experience
with new tires before. Is this common with the Yokohama tires on the
Forester or a freak accident?

Well, it is TOO common for me.

Same thing happened to me, also at almost exactly 5,000 miles. I simply
installed the spare, came home, and got a tire dealer who was glad to order
that tire for me. I now have over 14,000 miles on the new tire/3 old tires,
and no more problems. There was what appeared to be a "cut" in the tire so
no dealer guarantee was in effect. (Darn, those Yokohama tires are not
cheap!)

 

[Woody]

Yesterday my wife was driving her 2004 Forester on the Interstate and had a
sudden blowout of one of the stock Yokohama tires. Her car has only 5k on
it. The tire just suddenly shredded for no obvious reason. She was in the
fast lane and barely made it over against the inside barrier. Rushhour
traffic was stopped up for miles. We've never had such a bad experience
with new tires before. Is this common with the Yokohama tires on the
Forester or a freak accident?

Never had a blowout but the Yokohama tires that came with out 1998
Forrester were the worst tires I have ever had in 40 years of driving.
They wore out in only 18K miles and were terrible in the snow here in
NH. We got over 45K on each of two sets of the Bridgestone
replacements as well as reasonable traction.

We are looking at a new Forester and will probably change the tires
out the day we get it as they all appear to have the Croak-ohama
tires. Too bad they put crap tires on an otherwise excellent vehicle.

 

[Edward Hayes]

Geee my 2000 forest came with yokos H?Ts and they were excellent all season
tires except for wear as I only got ~28,000 to the wear bars. I do keep
regular pressure checks and most blow-outs I'm aware of were caused by low
pressure or hitting something. My present Yokos (avid touring) now have ~
37,000 miles on them.

 

[Henry Paul]

Weather has a lot to do with it. We have had a hot streak here in the high
90's and there is tire debris all over the interstate here. Low air pressure
will cause more friction raising tire temps. Too high of temp will blowout.
I suspect hot pavement doesn't help either.

 

[Rob1604]

No problems with the Yoko Geolanders on my XT that has done 35000 km on
Australian roads and tracks. My only concern is that they seem to wear
fairly quickly.