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Subaru XT Turbo Forester
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Comments
-Frank P.
Plus, I just like clean looking rims. I bought a used set from Jim in Texas, from an early 90s Legacy, they are sprakling clean and no slush sticks to them.
Use a good wheel cleaner if you're starting with a mess. Bug and tar remover works too. Getting that brake dust off may be enough all by itself.
-juice
It's worth looking at eBay periodically - the only problem is frequently people list rims from the WRX that are not interchangeable with the Forester's - wrong offset.
If you have a number of Subaru dealers in your area it might be worth while asking if they have any "slightly" used rims. That's how mine ended up on eBay - the dealer upgraded an 03 Forester to alloy's.
Also, re: waxing the insides of the rims - we just got 36" inches of snow - Arrrggghhh...... but anyway, the inside of my rims never picked up anything.
Sorry to say the biggest bone head I saw on the road was a boy racer in his WRX - now there's a lad looking for some rims - curbed it at high velocity. Must be a limitation of the AWD that you can't take a corner doing 40 in a blinding snow storm. :<)
HTH
Larry
Thought that was interesting -- and a sign of things to come!
Ken
John
I am still curious what joyridea4 found on tire rack that would fit, as the good folks at tire rack are still telling me no steel rims for XT! Are they the steel rims @$49/each that they offer for the 2004 X and XS? Tire Rack says they are OE so they should work, right?? Anybody??
The steel wheel found in the spare tire compartment of every XT is identical to the steel spare wheel on every 2nd-gen naturally-aspirated Forester. They fit the latter, and of course they fit the former. Likewise, the OEM 5-spoke steel wheels that are standard on the base Forester X fit on an XT perfectly.
Now, if only I could find a good used set, I'd be buying snow tires right about now...
-Frank P.
Ken
Just kidding Bob! ;-)
Steve, Host
Len
Finally "judder free" in NJ,
Len
I realize that I am being a bit picky with how the aluminum rims performed in the slush, but I plan to do hours of winter driving in the Tug Hill/Southwestern Adirondacks area of New York State where snow is a near-constant fact of life.
Getting on the ground regularly to wax up the rims on what is widely viewed as a great choice for a winter car just doesn't make me happy!
I've seen steel takeoffs from the '03-'04 base Forester X go for $35 each / $140 per set, and that's about what I'd be willing to pay. The problem is that they never seem to be located in Portland, and (as Len noted) the cost to ship four steel wheels from elsewhere can be prohibitive. I haven't priced shipping from TireRack for wheels only, but they want $66 to ship 4 wheels with 4 mounted tires to Portland from Nevada.
Getting on the ground regularly to wax up the rims on what is widely viewed as a great choice for a winter car just doesn't make me happy!
That's understandable, but what would cause the snow buildup problem you mentioned to be any worse on a Forester than on any other vehicle driven in the same conditions? If there is a design flaw causing it that is unique to Subarus, I'm having a hard time figuring out what it would be.
-Frank P.
Story of my life. Day late, dollar short.
I've had snow/slush throw several wheels off balance in the past, on different cars. Subaru's wheels are all that different from anyone else's.
-juice
This could all be my fault for never having driven a relatively fancy car before, but shimmying has never been a problem for me, and I have driven in wildly varying snow conditions, as I mentioned, for the past 20 years in about 15 different cars throughout upstate NY.
Regardless of the fact that other cars may behave similarly, that doesn't take away from the unfortunate reality that these types of wheels can have problems in the snow unless they are babied, which wasn't mention in my car manual (nor by my salesman or service dept, which I'm sure has heard this one a number of times before).
Seems to me that for $30k or so a pop Subaru could at least give a heads up that this is an issue for those of us intending to use the car as advertised. This issue is topping off a poor dealer car delivery experience for me which is too long/tortured to detail in this forum, so I admit that perhaps that is also coloring my reaction to this problem. But it IS a problem.
Nonetheless, I appreciate everyone's help on this one - I am not sure what I would have done without it!
Jim
Maybe cars sold in snow country should offer Teflon-coated wheels to help shed the buildup?
I've never waxed a wheel in my life, but there's a first time for everything.
Len
Maybe it's the light wheels, and low unsprung weight in general that Subies have, that makes them a little more sensitive to ice/slush accumulation compared to what you are used to.
You probably would not feel it with a live axle, for instance, or any non-indy suspension.
There are spray waxes that are very easy to apply, you could probably just do that after a car wash or even before a snow storm with little effort. Even just hosing the brake dust out should help some.
Look at modern wheel weights - they are tiny. A snow ball certainly weighs more, it's no wonder it can throw a wheel off balance.
-juice
I currently drive a 2000 Passat 1.8T manual station wagon and the wife drives a 2003 MDX (the family hauler...simply marvelous vehicle). My main reason for looking to purchase at this time is my commute has taken a sharp turn for the worse the past year and stop and go is the name of the game...so although I'm not thrilled about it...I'm looking to move to an automatic. I'm happy to hear that all the auto owners seem to be particularly pleased with this engine/tranny combination.
I have test driven the auto/PP twice now and been very impressed. This thing just takes off when you hit the gas. The exterior styling is pretty bland but that is actually a plus in my book. The interior fit and finish isn't quite as good as the Passat but it isn't bad and the leather seats were very comfortable. The moonroof almost makes this thing a convertible ;-). The XT seems to be the perfect blend of quality, performance, fun and utility for my needs (kids, dogs, triathlon gear, bikes, sweaty clothes, snowboards, etc.). All wrapped up in a package that says "responsible family man".
Right now I'm thinking Silver because of the roof rail issue...but we'll see...wife might veto that because the MDX is silver as well. Either way I'm looking forward to being a subie owner in the near future.
overtime
-Frank P.
Point well taken that I am probably blowing this out of proportion a bit.
The conditions you described are exactly the ones that existed when it happened - problem is, these are fairly common conditions during the winter in parts of the Northeast, especially in February and March as the sun warms. I do realize that this is not causing permanent damage and for that I am thankful. There was some MAJOR wiggling going on, however, at and speeds over 35 mph.
I'm going with the steel rims from TireRack, will wax them up nice nice before having them mounted with the Hakka Qs, and hopefully that will be the end of that (for this season anyway!) Both sets of wheels will be waxed to the max from now on. Never had alloys before, either, so that might explain why I was so perplexed.
I just wish I knew before I bought the car that this would be a precondition to a successful winter season with it; I would have asked the dealer to take care of that upon delivery. I really think the teflon coating idea is an excellent one.
Thanks again for all of the focus/help on this issue - I am truly impressed by the amount of information/thought all of you have offered.
Jim
I think you just wrote the neXT commercial! <apologies to Apple>
Well, maybe except for the sweaty clothes part...
Tire rack has a ad in Motor Trend magazine which shows tire packages for available for different makes of vehicles. The Forester had a 15" and a 16" packages listed. Three tires available for the package, Blizzak WS-50,Michelin Arctic Alpin and the Graspics DS-1. I choose the Graspics at $65.00 ea. I have had good luck with this tire on my LL Bean outback, and my A4 Quattro.Hope this helps.
Don
A different person mentioned rally teams spray lithium grease on some parts to keep ice from sticking. Lithium grease is not petroleum-based so it's safe on plastics and rubber.
Grease up your wheels, though, and they'll go black in no time from brake dust. So I would not suggest that.
-juice
Jimee, snow build up on your wheels driving in the tug hill area (snow belt area) will be the least of your problems. I would worry about the snow up to your roof rack more!! I am located South of you in the Ithaca area outside of the snow belt area.
I would not use anything that left a residue and held brake dust and/or any salt or filth close to the wheel finish.
-juice
Len
I wonder why they didn't also include the Winterforce. It's among the wheel/tire packages available on their website. The tire runs about $51 in our size, and it's available studded.
In an earlier life, I took my '57 VW Beetle (with sawdust-compound snow tire recaps) though a blizzard (well, by Oregon standards) on a ski trip to Mt. Hood. There I was, minding my own business driving along a long, relatively straight road. Comes a turn, and the front wheels won't steer. Damn near left the road before I finally got stopped at the edge of a steep drop. So much frozen crud had accumulated in the front wheelwells that there was just enough clearance for the tires to spin straight-ahead, but none to turn...
I'll take unbalancing buildup on my wheels any day!
Don
For the money I don't think you can beat them.
Infinitely superior to the OEM Geolanders, IMO.
I also put a set on my wife's Outback. So far she likes them better than the Potenza's.
I was looking forward to trying them as they're among the most reasonably priced I could find, purchased at tire rack BTW.
But, after this storm I consider them well tried out so we can go back to the dry, bare ground now.
Larry
I already have a hitch bike rack I use for our MDX and I'm debating between getting a roof mounted bike mount for the Forester or getting a tow hitch to accept what I have now. I don't really like roof mounted bike racks due to noise but I was thinking of taking off the cross beams anyways. I could just get a roof bike mount, put it on the cross beams and then just remount the cross beams when I need to carry two bikes (with one bike I can just use the storage area).
So...my decision might depend on how involved it is to take on/off the cross beams.
overtime
The adjustment for the hill holder is found under the windshield washer bottle, which must be removed first. Directly beneath the bottle, there's a cable with an adjustment screw and a locknut. Loosen the lockscrew and turn the adjuster counterclockwise to reduce or eliminate the hill holder's action. Then retighten the locknut and replace the washer bottle.
Larry
My trusty 4Runner was driving along fine one day, then all the sudden there was this awful shimmy when slowing from 40mph or so. I mean terrible, like the truck was trying to shake itself apart. Well of course I freaked (I was what, 23 at the time?) and pulled over. I crawled all over it, found nothing. I drove it the next day to my mechanic, and every time I went to slow down, the truck would try to shake itself to pieces. I was sure it was some terrible brake problem.
Back left wheel threw its weights somehow. That's it. End of crisis. Newly balanced wheel, all was well.
I also experienced wheel shimmy last winter with my 98. Snow had packed on the inside of the wheels. I have experienced this several times on other cars so I had a pretty good idea what the problem was. I will certainly wax both sides of my new wheels before I install them.
Does anyone use a torque wrench when installing wheels? If so how may lbs/ft do you use?
In all this talk of snowtires, I have not seen any mention of chains. My thought is that chains might make more sense for my occasional usage (basically to get on or off my mountain) as compared to spending the money to swap the tires, but this is something I know little about.
Any thoughts or comments?
Tire rack sells a middling torque wrench for short money. I only ever use the one in this range for my wheels, so high precision would be an overkill.
HTH
Larry
Chains - Really only for the worst of conditions. Max speed is 30 mph, or they'll fail quickly. If they fail, you'll damage stuff unless you notice immediately and stop for a repair. Can tear up your alloys, too.
Snows - We have Kumho KW-11's on our MPV. This is a compromise tire between the Blizzak's and all-seasons. They wear better and handle better than the Blizzak's in the dry, and outperform all-seasons in the snow. On the other hand, Blizzak's will outperform them in the snow, and all-seasons will wear better and handle better in the dry. Might be a good fit for you. Very affordable ($52 ea. mounted and balanced from TireRack).
hth,
-brianV