Upgrade Tires
Purchased a 2013 Outback 250RS last December. Still has the original tires on it. I know I've read here many times before to not trust the original tires very long. Over the course of the summer, th...
Forum Discussion
As has been pointed out, we just do not know the size of the population by brand of ST tires out there. That makes calculating the lowest failure rate highly spurious. For all we know, it's possible the notorious Goodyear Marathon's might have the lowest rate given the apparently huge amount of tires they have produced.
Wheel failures? Yes, it's possible that inflation pressure might result in a wheel failure just as JJ's photo suggest - BUT - as has also been pointed out, there are a ton of reports of ST tire failures with hardly any reports of wheel failures. The question is, does one continue to do something that apparently doesn't work, or make a change towards improving the risk of a tire failure with the possibility that that action may cause a wheel failure.
Frankly I'd go with exceeding the pressure limitation of the wheel rather than continue to use tires that are marginal and likely to fail. Besides, I have had several conversations with wheel engineers and they all point to the load on the wheel as by far the most critical - and the inflation pressure as hardly a consideration. And since NHTSA doesn't require max pressure on wheels (but it does on tires), this adds further credence.
Of course, the best course of action is to get wheels that can handle the pressure - and I would hope that folks would do that - but if the only choice is what I've outlined above........
Wheel failures? Yes, it's possible that inflation pressure might result in a wheel failure just as JJ's photo suggest - BUT - as has also been pointed out, there are a ton of reports of ST tire failures with hardly any reports of wheel failures. The question is, does one continue to do something that apparently doesn't work, or make a change towards improving the risk of a tire failure with the possibility that that action may cause a wheel failure.
Frankly I'd go with exceeding the pressure limitation of the wheel rather than continue to use tires that are marginal and likely to fail. Besides, I have had several conversations with wheel engineers and they all point to the load on the wheel as by far the most critical - and the inflation pressure as hardly a consideration. And since NHTSA doesn't require max pressure on wheels (but it does on tires), this adds further credence.
Of course, the best course of action is to get wheels that can handle the pressure - and I would hope that folks would do that - but if the only choice is what I've outlined above........
