While watching the news today, clips of several compact cars were shown going over the streets of a city with damaged roads. They were shown struggling to get through the enormous potholes. Then, there was a scene of an old contractor truck, bouncing trough a pothole like it was barely there and at seemingly near the legal speed limit. The difference between wheels for show and wheels that go is pretty apparent. Just look at the wheels on vehicles that have to go places in tough times, carry heavy loads and fix the same potholes we struggle with.
@dagosa: Heck, look at the wheels on mining trucks. There’s a reason they don’t have little shopping cart wheels…
Are we suggesting OP get a mining truck ?
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=ipad&p=mining+truck+tire+picture&pcarrier=&pmcc=&pmnc=
Could be worse. We could be suggesting the OP get a Mercedes Unimog. Google Unimog images (I’m not linking too well these days).
Ain’t parking no Unimog in the garage . . .
Park the Unimog on top of the house. No problem getting there.
Or he could just get a vehicle with significantly larger wheels. I’ve seen 4WD pickups with huge wheels, and I’m sure they would roll over the potholes. But the trade is gas mileage and handling. Still, he could squash a few Smarts and make the world a better place to drive. 8O
225/55/17 is the standard tire for a 2006 Outback. Being that the car weighs about 3300 lbs, by today’s standards, it isn’t too bad as far as flotation and ease of handling potholes. It’s not as good as a truck but when driven sanely should be fine if the tire pressure is up. OP doesn’t need a better tire selection or a change of vehicles, he needs improved driving and tire maintenance habits.
It is interesting to note that the 2014 Outbacks have 215/70/16 tires which means a little complaining might be going on with customers about their tires.
“Are we suggesting OP get a mining truck?” – With the winter we’ve had here, some of the streets are almost impassible with anything less, sadly.