Speaking of things giving up on thing-ing, my recent valve stem breakage apparently wrought more damage than I first thought.
When a tire goes flat at highway speed, the sidewalls do a LOT of flexing as they circle around the axle. This creates heat. Heat causes the reinforcement inside the tire to break. This bubble has no reinforcement backing it up inside the tire, and it’s almost like poking a deflated rubber balloon when you stick your finger in it. In other words, this tire is toast. Continuing to drive on it will eventually result in a blowout.
Now because Subarus are so damn persnickety about tire size, I’m in need of four new tires. Theoretically I could buy one new tire and shave it down to the size of the three other used tires (there are some interesting DIY methods for tire shaving I’m interested in trying), but given the life left in the three others it would be wiser to put that money (~$150) into a new set.
If you look on Kijiji for used tires, you can get sets of four used tires for crazy cheap - like $10 per tire. They aren’t sporting tires by any means, but they’ll get you around town. I’m starting to realize that for a daily driver, it just doesn’t make sense to have a set of sticky sporty tires with a low treadwear rating, when all you’re doing for 90 out of every 100 kilometers is a leisurely drive around town.
For that last 10 kilometers, bring out the racing rubber. I’ve got a line on some sticky race take-offs that will soon be my autocross tires. I’m excited about that. I can live with crappy tires for daily driving if I get the sticky stuff for real racing.
In case you haven’t noticed, this is the year of tires and tire-related things for me. Sigh.
When a tire goes flat at highway speed, the sidewalls do a LOT of flexing as they circle around the axle. This creates heat. Heat causes the reinforcement inside the tire to break. This bubble has no reinforcement backing it up inside the tire, and it’s almost like poking a deflated rubber balloon when you stick your finger in it. In other words, this tire is toast. Continuing to drive on it will eventually result in a blowout.
Now because Subarus are so damn persnickety about tire size, I’m in need of four new tires. Theoretically I could buy one new tire and shave it down to the size of the three other used tires (there are some interesting DIY methods for tire shaving I’m interested in trying), but given the life left in the three others it would be wiser to put that money (~$150) into a new set.
If you look on Kijiji for used tires, you can get sets of four used tires for crazy cheap - like $10 per tire. They aren’t sporting tires by any means, but they’ll get you around town. I’m starting to realize that for a daily driver, it just doesn’t make sense to have a set of sticky sporty tires with a low treadwear rating, when all you’re doing for 90 out of every 100 kilometers is a leisurely drive around town.
For that last 10 kilometers, bring out the racing rubber. I’ve got a line on some sticky race take-offs that will soon be my autocross tires. I’m excited about that. I can live with crappy tires for daily driving if I get the sticky stuff for real racing.
In case you haven’t noticed, this is the year of tires and tire-related things for me. Sigh.
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