Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

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YBajaSteve
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Re: EVERYTHING TIRE THREAD!! Put it all in one place!

Post by YBajaSteve »

Ive had my General Grabbers on for a month or so now and have had zero issues, being that I have an 03, the 215/65/16's fit my truck fine. I know that was a question someone had brought up somewhere. Ill post this for fun
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Check out more pics!<<<<<< Cardomain Page. *******SOLD THE BAJA*********** But im still around, PM me if urgent!
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jseabolt
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Re: Tires--can you recommend replacement tires?

Post by jseabolt »

I bought some Michelin Weatherwise II tires. I told Sears I wanted a good performance tire but wanted something that would go good in the snow. Like we really get that much snow here in East Tennessee. Last winter's total was around 6". That's with all the dustings added together.

Later I discovered that the Weatherwise, Harmony and some other model I put on the Cobalt all have the same tread pattern, temperature, speed and wear rating!
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2003 Subaru Baja
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gifters
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by gifters »

Is their a list of tire sizes that will fit on the factory wheels? Right now I'm running the factory size on my 2003 Baja but was wondering what I could get for off road tires but It doesn't seem like there are a lot of off road tires in that size.
the slug
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by the slug »

gifters wrote:Is their a list of tire sizes that will fit on the factory wheels? Right now I'm running the factory size on my 2003 Baja but was wondering what I could get for off road tires but It doesn't seem like there are a lot of off road tires in that size.
Look at the last few post from YBajaSteve. He included pictures with his. Several of us have the same tires. You are right, there aren't many to chose from, but these give a little bit of lift without rubbing, have a really good off-road pattern for bite and look nice on any Baja.

Good luck and welcome to the world of Bajas!
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gifters
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by gifters »

We'll I've been doing research... and it seems that the Good Year Assurance Triple Tread and the General Grabber AT2's are the most popular
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...................225/60R16....................................215/65R16

Sorry I'm visual...

But I wanted to get opinions about the Yokohama Geolander A/T-S http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... S&i1_Qty=4

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.................235/60R16

Opinions... I think they would be better for pavement than the grabbers and tons better for off-road than the triple tread.... a better tire for both worlds
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by corgimas »

i popped on Grabbers in July on Sheepish and everyone who has seen him now say that the tires look awesome!
a tiny bit more road noise - but then i have a LOT of wind noise anyhow thanks to my roof rack and kayak holders....
still need some pix....argh..one more thing to add to the list of todos....
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by Zooom »

so I am gonna be getting a new set shoes for the ole girl next month and I was looking about from this and NASIOC and feedback on other venues and whatnot, and then I called one of my tire vendors through work and found that he has a couple of Outbacks and talked to me from personal POV/opinion...

I was considering seriously the Goodyear Assurance Triple Tred, and he said for that money, he certainly wouldn't put Goodyears on. He made me aware of a cheaper decent Goodyear that is on closeout if I was sold on a brand name plate, but he found I wasn't. So he suggested to me the Toyo Versado LX, which he has been running on his Subie's. I have looked into these and from my experience in the past with Toyo's on other vehicles of mine, I have liked them very much. So I think I am going to be going with these.
gifters
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by gifters »

I'd look and see what the tirerack has to say about tires. We have triple treads on one of our vehicles and they are fantastic. What price are you getting quoted for? I still like the Yokohama Geolander A/T-S

The tirerack has the Triple Treds for $117.00 (each)

The Geolanders are $105.00 (each) at the tire rack

I'd look at the reviews on tire rack. its a pretty good place to start
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by Zooom »

gifters wrote:I'd look and see what the tirerack has to say about tires. We have triple treads on one of our vehicles and they are fantastic. What price are you getting quoted for?
The tirerack has the Triple Treds for $117.00 (each)
I'd look at the reviews on tire rack. its a pretty good place to start
I read through Tire Rack as well as some other places before I talked to my tire rep. through work that I previously mentioned. The Goodyear Triple Treds were a little more expensive through him than through TireRack at $124 ea. , which I am not going to quibble about that price difference due to the level of service and handling I know I'd get through them. Sometimes a little service differential is worth paying for, if and when you have a problem down the line, they are much more inclined to take care of you from my experience. I did read how those particular Goodyears though seem pretty awesome from everywhere I saw, and was seriously considering them. They are not completely out of the realm of question.

Toyo is not a brand that TireRack sells and therefore their customer base and reviews aren't reflected there. I found a thread of some 9.2x Saab owners that had the Toyo's and were pleased with the quiet-ness of them as well as the wear. For me, I am not looking for offroad ability as far as traction, but was looking at wet traction and quiet and wear. The heaviest and hardest thing on my vehicle is when I hook up the trailer with 2 race bikes on it and fill the bed with gas cans, tool box, spares and all the other crap I would normally go to the track with. So I am more of a street biased needs person. Also like I previously stated, I had the 1st hand reccomendation from my rep. from his usage on his 2 Outbacks, and the price of them is $108.00 ea. for me.

I'll let you guys know what I think of whatever I get and all after I get em and drive around a bit on em.
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by Zooom »

well... the old girl got new shoes in Friday, and the Toyo's came out even cheaper. $95 a piece and what a wet weekend to try them out. The 1st impression over the crappy B'stone's was that almost automatically I didn't immediatly feel like I was constantly on the edge of hydroplaning. I wasn't exactly cutting through the water like a hot knife through butter at this point as there was no time in the dry to scuff and scrub the tires in, so it was right into the fire. The amount of understeer the vehicle experiences naturally with the previous tires was dramatically improved. Still a little bit of loss of traction at the point of apex apon acceleration which would push the car back into the understeer aspect of cornering radius. This aspect would seem to improve a bit as I drove more over the weekend. By Sunday it started drying out a little bit and I got a chance to start to feel it out in dry handling aspects and boy what a difference. Cornering got a lot more precise and predictable. The noise from the rolling drivetrain of the previous tires, completely gone. Quiet, composed, balanced, and decent thus far. I'll report back after I have had a litle more time with them to give you guys some more feedback.
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by rellis »

I bought a used Baja with 215/70s on it. I ended up replacing them with 225/60s before they were anywhere near worn out. My Baja is a 5sp and I could really notice how over-geared it was in 1st and reverse with the larger tires.

I would not recommend anyone with a manual transmission switch to 215/70s unless they live somewhere very flat. The flat-four engine doesn't have much torque to turn over the larger tires at low RPM on a hill. You’ll have to slip the clutch more to avoid stalling the engine which will accelerate transmission wear.

Though it was not noticeable, the larger tires should also make you need to step on the brake pedal harder to produce the same amount of deceleration in the vehicle. I don’t know how much of a safety concern this really is, but I was unwilling to chance it on a car I use for family transport.

It does seem the larger tires actually helped with gas mileage under certain circumstances. Since the speedometer and odometer were off (due to the larger tires) I calculated gas mileage using a GPS. On the 215/70s I got ~23mpg in my mostly around town driving. I did a 100% highway miles test and with the 215/70s on the baja I topped 32 miles per gallon! I haven’t even gone through a whole tank of gas with the 225/60s yet but its looking like my around town gas mileage will be no better.

I like my baja a whole lot better with the 225/60s on it than the 215/70s. I no longer have to drive in fear of a stop sign on a 10+% grade (or worse yet a parallel parking space on such an incline).

If anyone cares, the tires I based this on were Continental Contitrac SUVs in 215/70/16/99S and Michelin Primacy MXV4s in 225/60/16/97H.

Regarding tire chains: I’ve seen chains that bolt to the wheels and do not come around the inside of the tire. (e.g. Thule summit K series). I wonder if these would work for people who need AWD and chains?
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by Sabber »

Im kind of curious as to what year baja you drive rellis, Ive recently noticed that later year models have better epa MPG than earlier ones, I wonder if overall power was reduced to increase MPG.
rellis
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by rellis »

Mine is a 2006 sport with under 25K miles on it. It was specified at 165 HP and 21/27 mpg.
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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by Emsanon »

Well, I've had the Goodyear TripleTred for over a year now. With living in Washington State I get to put it through some nice tests when dealing with wet roads. The tires are still grabbing the road like you wouldn't believe whether it's raining or snowing. And I still love 'em!! I might have to try the grabbers just to compare the two. :wink:

I went to the WCSS 11 and was able to test these tires out in a mud pit that was created for the all the Subies. Again, they handled great! Great traction through the mud!

Go TripleTred Action!!

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Re: Tires. We all need em - Heres the Thread for em .

Post by mellowyellow »

Time to replace my tires ... the Bridgestone Potenza's are shot... I was not impressed with the Potenza's and am looking for something different... I know little about tires (and cars at that)... My ideal tire:

- Handle well on dry and wet roads
- Comfortable
- Quiet
- All terrain tire

Primary use is city and highway... though in the summers i drive off road.

I'm looking at Pirelli P4 Four Seasons... any insight on those or ideas about other tires?
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