Out 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander was back at Stokes Tire Pros today. As you'll remember, last time our trusty Mitsu hit the tire shop it was the mule hauling some hyper-sticky rubber for our M3. Today, however, it was for something way less fun.
Yesterday morning, our Outlander picked up a nail.
Traditionally, a nail is an easy fix. A patch or a plug and it's good-to-go. Not this time. We were lucky enough to have this nail go through a previous patch. Patching over a patch is a big no-no in the tire repair world. A new one would have to be ordered.
12- hours Later, the new 225/55R18 Goodyear Eagle LS2 arrived and was installed at a cost of $163.16.
While the Outlander was up on the racks, they alerted me to some serious wear on our front tires The treads were almost even with the wear indicator. Almost, but not quite, we'll let it ride.
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 23,595 miles.
Traditionally, a nail is an easy fix. A patch or a plug and it's good-to-go. Not this time. We were lucky enough to have this nail go through a previous patch. Patching over a patch is a big no-no in the tire repair world. A new one would have to be ordered.
12- hours Later, the new 225/55R18 Goodyear Eagle LS2 arrived and was installed at a cost of $163.16.
While the Outlander was up on the racks, they alerted me to some serious wear on our front tires The treads were almost even with the wear indicator. Almost, but not quite, we'll let it ride.
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 23,595 miles.
benson2175 says:
05:34 PM, 03/12/08
How bad does your luck have to be to get a nail through a previous patch? You guys must have some really bad carma. Though I guess your luck isn't all bad; your job is driving cars.
texases says:
05:54 PM, 03/12/08
Well, I guess the turn signal scrooges from the 308 are also tire scrooges - those things need replacing now! What, you're getting $20 more wear out of them, then have to bring it back in? I don't get it...
jdub53084 says:
06:13 PM, 03/12/08
Ouch! I think someone forgot about a tire rotation or two!!
BTW I have nothing but bad things to say about the LS2's. They aren't grippy, they aren't good in the dry or the wet. For an OEM tire with a very high replacement cost I'm not impressed.
SubyTrojan says:
06:58 PM, 03/12/08
^ Don't let Tony Stewart see that the Outlander has Goodyears (HTML used due to link length)!
Nice photoshop work, Mike! :o) Your masterpiece is right up there with Erin's red arrow.
http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/.ee9eeaa
daytona_500 says:
08:48 PM, 03/12/08
LOL @ the Tony Stewart comment! His comments this weekend reminded me of Dale Sr. calling the 2000 Daytona 500 ever the worst racing ever.
dodo2 says:
09:06 PM, 03/12/08
Those tires look pretty bad. I would replace all four instead of mixing one new and three heavily used.
How difficult was to take the spare out from under the car?
06scooby says:
09:29 PM, 03/12/08
umm i'm willing to bet that this post's bad tire wear might be the effect from the cause seen in the previous post (see: Outlander, all work some play) LOL
vvk says:
09:44 PM, 03/12/08
Those have been worn out for some time. Since three out four needed replacement, I would have replaced all four.
SubyTrojan says:
10:04 PM, 03/12/08
For those who've been around this neck of the woods for awhile, remember the Outlander is headed on its way out soon (as News Editor Kelly Toepke mentioned a month ago).
http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/1975
playdrv4me says:
06:24 AM, 03/13/08
Let it ride, a few semi-worn tires aren't worth the bother of replacing for a month's worth of use or less.
By the way, here in Florida most of our less than scrupulous tire shops would have told you that nail is "too close to the sidewall" to begin with and would have made you buy a new tire the first time. Nice scam they have going.
06scooby says:
07:25 AM, 03/13/08
correct me if i'm wrong... I know on my subie that if I score a flat tire and the other tires are more than 20% worn, i'm supposed to replace all four so there isn't a noticeable difference in the diameter of the wheel in order to keep the AWD from freaking out. And I think it's that way for most of the SUV's that have auto AWD systems. If those other three tires are that worn and you put a new tire on it's going to have a slightly larger circumfrence. And the Auto AWD is totally dependent on measuring each wheels speed. Is the outlander exempt from this?
stingray454 says:
08:13 AM, 03/13/08
Why did it have to be patched? Couldn't they plug it? Plugs work very well for non-Z rated tires.
karjunkie says:
08:39 AM, 03/13/08
Call me cynical, but I would strongly doubt that screw or nail went in exactly where the tire had been previously patched!
boxermike says:
09:06 AM, 03/13/08
Karjunkie, so we were. We got the nail outside of our home-range so we went to a tire shop we didn't know. (We know Stokes, they treat us well we would've trusted them-- though we still would've wanted to see for ourselves.) When they told us the nail went through another patch, we had them show us.
Sorry, there were no cameras present then.
-mike
karjunkie says:
09:11 AM, 03/13/08
Wow! that is bad Karma!
SubyTrojan says:
09:41 AM, 03/13/08
06scooby, I don't think the Subaru Legacy 2.5i has a limited slip differential like the GT and spec. B. Because of that, I don't think the AWD system would "go crazy" having tires with slightly different circumferences due to wear. Then again, I could totally be wrong. Engineering Editor Jason Kavanagh (jkavanagh) or Director of Vehicle Testing Dan Edmunds (actualsize) may be the best qualified people to answer your question. They're usually pretty busy fellows, though.
As much as I'd like to put a link to an Edmunds link for you, I believe the page linked below would be one of your best sources of information for your car.
http://www.cars101.com/subaru/legacy/legacy2006.html
These threads may also help, but they're specific to LGTs.
Legacy GT Forum thread
NASIOC Legacy tread wear thread
It wouldn't hurt to read the "fantastic" manual (RTFM), too. :o)
johnnyturbo says:
10:16 AM, 03/13/08
A minor correction -- the previous patch was located a few inches away from the new puncture, not in the same exact spot. Close enough though. And yes, I saw it with my own two eyes.
The tire guy said if it was further away from the old patch, like 180 degrees, they would've patched it. Murphy was working overtime that day!
weezedog says:
12:33 PM, 03/13/08
Awesome job there with MS Paint.......LOL
lazyhater says:
05:13 PM, 03/13/08
I love how in Southern California, any random picture in any random places, it doesn't have to be at a nice place at all, this pic for example, at a generic tire store. You would see a $100k+ car in the background (Maserati Coupe). I was gonna say exotic car, but I think most people don't think a Maserati Coupe is consider exotic.
autoboy16 says:
07:07 PM, 03/13/08
At first I was going to make a "at least it was just a nail at the end unlike the Jeep commander" comment until i revisited that post and saw all of those disturbingly scary photos. Still glad everyone is ok almost 2years later!! Hopefully this one will end as peacefully as the FJ cruiser(except for the boo-hoo crying of the readers and the photographers http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/389)
-Cj
macuis says:
09:24 PM, 11/ 6/08
I had a industrial sized staple puncture the rear drivers side tire. While that was being repaired, a nail then punctured the side wall of the spare. I no longer have a spare tire, and Mitsubishi Canada doesn't have any to sell. I recently got a screw stuck in the front drivers side tire too. I think these tires are magnets to pointy objects. I've never had a flat prior to owning the Outlander, 9 years of driving.