Ack! Hit a rock (Replace a single tire?)

[pbaldy]

Guy in front of me swerved suddenly to miss some rocks on I80. I missed the first but clipped the second. Hit it hard enough to gouge the side of the tire and bend the rim slightly.

I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the rim is bent enough to have to replace. My WRX has about 12k on it. Am I going to have to replace all 4 tires? Or could I find a stock tire with roughly the same mileage on it? Anybody local carry stock wheels if I have to get one?

[sperry]

Originally Posted by pbaldy

Guy in front of me swerved suddenly to miss some rocks on I80. I missed the first but clipped the second. Hit it hard enough to gouge the side of the tire and bend the rim slightly.

I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the rim is bent enough to have to replace. My WRX has about 12k on it. Am I going to have to replace all 4 tires? Or could I find a stock tire with roughly the same mileage on it? Anybody local carry stock wheels if I have to get one?

There's a place online that sells stockers 1 at a time.... I don't remember the URL, but I'm pretty sure MattR knows it. And IIRC, the stock WRX rims aren't too expensive.

[MattR]

Hey pbaldy, Sorry to hear about the damage. I think you might have some luck finding a used RE92 if that is indeed what tire you need. Someone in the club may even have one they would part with.

As far as rims go, check out www.aaarims.com They sell OEM wheels individually. The only challenge with them is getting a callback, but aside from that its a good outlet.

Also, you might try www.wheelspecialists.com. They are in Tempe, AZ, and I bought a set of stock WRX wheels from them for a good deal. Ask them if they can part with one take off, it shouldn't be a problem. I would call them on the phone and ask them that though.

later, and good luck

[MattR]

BTW, the title of this thread made me think of Marcus 'Iceman' Grunholm. Hahahah!

"I was going along and i hit a stone"

[Dean]

Originally Posted by pbaldy

Am I going to have to replace all 4 tires? Or could I find a stock tire with roughly the same mileage on it? Anybody local carry stock wheels if I have to get one?

No, you don't need 4 new tires. If you can find a used tire, or pick up a new one at tirerack, or discout tire and there is at least one shop in town with a tire shaver that can trim it down to the same tread depth as your other tires.

Debbie did this when she cut down one of her tires.

On the rim, you might also want to check some of the local junk yards, and then the Rancho Cordova ones.

[pbaldy]

Thanks for the info and tips, guys. I'll know more when I have a pro look at it tomorrow. Poor car looks pretty goofy on the mini-tire.

[dknv]

Ray's Tire Exchange, 730 E. 4th St.
(re92 at about 6 or 7/32's, for $20.)

Sunshine Automotive, had a tire shaver, shaved & balanced & mounted, $37.

[khail19]

Check e-bay if you need a rim, I've seen single wheels with RE-92 for like $60-$80 on buy it now.

[JC]

If you have money just buy new tires. RE92s suck, seems like a good chance to get something better.

[STIwish]

Yeah seriously, id use it as a chance to throw some Azenis or T1Ss on it..

[Dean]

Originally Posted by STIwish

Yeah seriously, id use it as a chance to throw some Azenis or T1Ss on it..

Probably not a great idea for the remainder of the winter. Actually, unless you are going to autocross it and only have one set of wheels, they aren't great choices unlesss you have a lot of money to replace tires every 10K or so.

And RE92s are not that bad of a tire. Yes, they are a midrange All Season, but that is why they are OK-Good at many things, but not great at any.

[pbaldy]

I appreciate all the ideas. I went with Debbie's great idea of Ray's, which I didn't know about. They had one that was barely 1/32 off the existing tires, which I hope and assume is within tolerances. The wheel is okay (they think). Unfortunately, with 2 daughters in college, getting 4 new tires if I don't need them is outside the budget.

I'm still going to look for another set of wheels to put new tires on, and use these for autocross. The RE92's should be fine while I try to relearn the sport.

Here's an interesting point. I called Santa Cruz Subaru to ask about the tolerances for tires (bought the car there, and trust them). They told me that the tires should be within 1/4" in circumference, which seems like a pretty small window. I'm certainly no expert, but I'd think you could get further off than that just with tire pressure. Are these cars that sensitive, or did I get bad information (or am I misjudging how much 1/4" is)? I'm thinking of taking all the tires off and measuring them.

[STIwish]

Originally Posted by Dean

Probably not a great idea for the remainder of the winter. Actually, unless you are going to autocross it and only have one set of wheels, they aren't great choices unlesss you have a lot of money to replace tires every 10K or so.

And RE92s are not that bad of a tire. Yes, they are a midrange All Season, but that is why they are OK-Good at many things, but not great at any.

Good points... I forgot it was winter, and that Reno actually got light snow.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by pbaldy

Here's an interesting point. I called Santa Cruz Subaru to ask about the tolerances for tires (bought the car there, and trust them). They told me that the tires should be within 1/4" in circumference, which seems like a pretty small window. I'm certainly no expert, but I'd think you could get further off than that just with tire pressure. Are these cars that sensitive, or did I get bad information (or am I misjudging how much 1/4" is)? I'm thinking of taking all the tires off and measuring them.

Rays had a RE92, cool.

I'd have to do the math, but circumfrance numbers are fairly useless. Just not rotating your tires often enough can get you off 2 or more 32nds in tread depth.

1 or 2 32nds is about my limit, so you did great.

If you want to check the wheel yourself, jack up the car and then using something very stable next to it(Cinder block, big wood block...), put a pencil right up next to the outside of the rim and spin the wheel. if the rim moves in or out, or up and down relative to the pencil it may be bent. You can't rely on the lip which is likely road rashed, the inner edge where the lip turns parallel to the spokes is a pretty good spot. Oh, make sure the other wheels are blocked because you will need it in nuetral with brake off probably.