Tire Changin'

Yesterday I took the winter tires off my little Subaru commuter car.  I have to say this:  That car is a monster on snow and ice with those studded and siped tires.  When you have a Subaru with all wheel drive and four studded tires you really have to mess up to get stuck or lose control.  Yeah it's a little light and may get dragged around in ruts a little, but it always goes forward!

That said, it gets pretty crappy mileage for as tiny as it is, due to the AWD drivetrain.  I get about 24 MPG with the winter tires, and about 27 with the summer tires - or maybe the engine has to run a richer fuel mixture when it's cold...  I don't care.  It gets me to work reliably in all kinds of god-awful weather, so for that reason alone, I love the Subie.


I'm switching to the summer tires now.  At the end of this month, studded tires must be off all vehicles.  I'm not a NASCAR pit crew, so this takes a fair bit of time.

It's always a good idea to check the condition of the brake pads while you have the wheels off.  You also want to check the pressure of the tires that you are installing before you drive on them.

This little guy is the best $8.00 I've spent in a long time (Amazon).  My older tire pressure gauge didn't go high enough to check the pressure on the truck tires, but this one does.  It has a lighted display, plus a small LED that points right at the tire valve.  Kinda handy for these older eyes.

And so what was I greeted with as I moved the little Subie from the shop to the garage after removing the snow tires?  Yeah, that's right.  At least it didn't stick.