Puncture on AWD - replace all tyres?

drunken fool

drunken fool

drunken fool

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Well, just went out to the drive to find a big chunk missing from the sidewall of one of my tyres on the Impreza :(

I remember reading somewhere that you shouldn't just replace the 1 tyre on a AWD car, is that correct?
 
It all depends on how worn the other tyres are, if they are all quite warn and you put a new tyre on then the diff will be conpensating the the difference in circumference of the new tyre.

It wont matter if you change both tyres, as then the center diff will then compensate for the difference. Some respected tuners say that this will cause excessive wear on the diff as it will heat up !! I've never taken the chance and have always replaced all four tyres..
 
Bug One said:
It was on the old Calibra 4x4's. Having different sized diamater tyres would crunch the front / back linkage.
Click to expand...

I think anything used to break the transfer case on those.
 
Thousands of Subaru Impreza's are no doubt running around the country spending as much time driving around road islands and bends and corners as they do driving straight.

This will put more "stress" on a differential than a couple of mm tread depth difference.

How many worn out Impreza diff stories are there?

90% of "tuners" talk ****.
 
so impreza's can only drive in straight lines! :D thats not very good is it?

Just replace the tire you big girl and make sure its the same size. Be sure to drive to kwik fit in a dead straight line though else your diffs will explode!
 
Dimension said:
It all depends on how worn the other tyres are, if they are all quite warn and you put a new tyre on then the diff will be conpensating the the difference in circumference of the new tyre.

It wont matter if you change both tyres, as then the center diff will then compensate for the difference. Some respected tuners say that this will cause excessive wear on the diff as it will heat up !! I've never taken the chance and have always replaced all four tyres..
Click to expand...

Just..............LOL.

This is an Impreza, not a Vauxhall with a glass transfer box.
 
merlin said:
Hang on - why can't you just buy one tyre to match up the other on the front?
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on permanent 4wd cars you can.
on cars like the Calibra/Cavalier 4wd if one tyre was worn more than another, and as such had less grip, then transfer box took that to mean the more worn wheel was spinning out of control so it syphoned power from that corner.
unfortunately this meant that because it actually WASN'T spinning out of control that wheels power ended up being absorbed into the internals of the transfer box...typically blowing itp in the process.
 
i've ended up replacing both on the front and will probably do both rears next months as well (they are getting low on tread anyway).

The front tyres were nasty economy avon's so a nice set of Toyo's on the way instead :)
 
If they needed replacing withing the next couple of weeks then it made sense to buy 2 new ones. Or if the spare was a really poor tyre then it also made sense and use the existing good front as a spare.

Otherwise, just purchase one tyre, nothing bad will happen.
 
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