I got the "new"
Jeep home and drove it for a while. Maria claimed it right away and ran off for two
days, returning with rosy cheeks and a big smile. So I guess the bout with cabin
fever was over and this new liberation in the land of snow and ice was successful.
But I had evaluated the
tires a little too casually when we purchased the vehicle. The rear tires were in
better than average condition with plenty of tread left on them; the wear bars nice and
deep in the spaces between the tread lugs. The front tires were a different story
completely. They were worn evenly which is good, but there was little meaningful
tread left for my tastes. I prefer to give up tires when they get down to about 25%
of their original depth as I find that they no longer offer the kind of performance
required for safe driving in adverse conditions. They're still good for sunny days
on dry pavement but useless (for me) in snow, rain or any kind of surface conditions where
traction comes at a premium.
I knew that Maria needed to
have safe tires so that she could go out on snowy roads with reasonable confidence that
the vehicle would steer, climb and stop as expected. The tires on the vehicle,
mainly the front ones, were not going to do this for her. I quickly put aside
any thoughts of lifts, larger tires, and all that. I'm not the one who is going to
be driving this thing and right now the priority was on a quick fix to the tire problem.
I thought back to my own
experiences with taking off factory tires and what I did with them. Basically, I
considered the tires pretty worthless. In my case I only had three. One had a
permanent sideway tear; one had been sold to a friend for $25, and the three remaining
tires had a little bit more than 50% tread left. Not enough for me to consider
keeping them "just in case"... So I put them up on eBay and a local guy
came and took them away for $40.
That's what I needed here.
Some factory tires taken off to be replaced by something else. I decided I
wanted five tires that were nearly new, if not new. I figured there'd be a chance
that they might come with wheels, and depending on the wheels, that would be OK. I
trolled eBay for a couple hours and nothing local turned up. Also, the one or two
sets I did find were too far away for shipping to be economically wise or to high-priced
even before shipping. I was looking to spend a few hundred dollars and get the tires
on pronto.
I decided to test the waters
locally and posted a "Wanted" message on the WV Jeep Club board. I figured there was nothing to lose (except
face for seeking some "stocker" tires for a Jeep...
The next time I checked the
board there was an answer. A guy 10 miles north of me had five nearly new GS/A's
that he'd taken off his Jeep after about 6000 miles. On top of that, he had the five
mags still mounted. I wrote back saying I was interested and he called late that
night. He told me what he needed to get for them and it matched what I was willing
to spend to I told him I'd be up to pick them up the next day.
I went and got them after
lunch the next day. Along the way I saw two different vehicles off the road in need
of a strap or a winch cable. But in both cases I would have put myself in harms way
so I left it to professionals. I spent some time talking to Tim, the tire seller and
checking out his Jeep. Then I loaded the tires and headed home. Once there I
got them mounted.
Then I took a ride to see if
the tread was going to be any better. It was much better. To say I am pleased
would be an understatement!
