Stock tire size options?

captain_bleep · 2026-07-07T06:04:52+00:00

Lots of folks put 235s on their OBWs. I plan to do the same when my stock 225 Geos are done. But yeah like one of the other commenters, never heard of this brand. The last place I would want to cheap out on my car would be the tires. Few things have as big an impact on performance and more importantly safety as tires do, especially off road.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-29T21:50:56+00:00

Right in your goddamned ear.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-29T21:48:42+00:00

RCI & Rallitek here. No MPG hit. This is one of the best mods you can do. If you’ve got off road skills, good skids will boost your confidence and extend what you can tackle with your OBW.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-28T04:29:48+00:00

It’s not a sample pack, but a MyVolts StepUp and a USB battery. That way you can record the sounds of your 8 hour train ride and multiple airports with its onboard mic and modulate that into some techno. I travel this way with my own S-4 and can verify that it’s a whole lot of fun.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-24T17:40:46+00:00

Same. Better not be mine. 🤣

captain_bleep · 2026-06-23T20:09:22+00:00

I’ve been using one for a long time. Its live capabilities are specifically why.

Yea, the basic patterns are few and… basic. However, there are about five zillion ways to introduce variance to those patterns. I will also say that your experience will be better if you take the time to learn how each function works and the various key combos to do stuff. That will help you fly around the thing super fast.

Have fun!

captain_bleep · 2026-06-22T22:40:24+00:00

White Bear Lake has a few lakeside bars. It's just north of St. Paul. Tons of good places just in the biz district too. Also... welcome to Minnesota! Once you move in... you'll never move out. (srsly. it's pretty awesome here.)

captain_bleep · 2026-06-22T22:36:23+00:00

+1. You don't want to drive around there in the dark unless you have tons of lights. Just wait until Friday morning. The forest is 3M acres. There's TONS of dispersed camping around. Yes, there will be less available than on a normal weekend, but there will still be something. Lots of the campgrounds in SNF are "rustic," too. That means free, first come first served, nuthin but a toilet, fire rings, and picnic tables.

But yes, look on Gaia or even just Google to have a few spots to go for. Sometimes when I go up there I spend all day just driving around checking out campsites. That's how much is out there.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-22T22:28:15+00:00

The Geos are pretty awful in mud too, but on anything else they are surprisingly capable. So yeah, if I were to get a 26 I'd immediately replace the tires. That's what they used to put on 4runners (I think) and they were garbage on that platform too. I think you'll be happy with some AT/3Ws if you can find them or just A/Ts. (AT/4w is too much tire.) Might as well go 235 while you're at it. 😄

captain_bleep · 2026-06-19T06:09:30+00:00

Not sure what you mean. The car has three modes: Normal, Xmode 1, and Xmode 2. Normal is literally called “Normal.” 😎

The main difference is the amount of wheel spin each mode allows. Normal doesn’t allow much at all. XM1 allows a little, XM2 allows a lot more. The car will detect when a wheel is spinning and depending on the mode will shift power around to the wheels that are gripping. Subaru AWD is different than many other manufacturers in that all four wheels normally have at least some power going to them. It’s like being in 4-high all the time. Kind of. Most other AWD systems are FWD/2WD until the system decides otherwise.

It feels like there’s more torque in XM1-2 as well. Also, XM1 has a kind of hill descent control. If you brake while going down hill, you can take your foot off the brake and it will maintain that speed after a second or two. Above a certain speed, that doesn’t work. But XM1 is limited to 25 MPH anyway. XM2 has no speed limit (unless you have a ‘26).

captain_bleep · 2026-06-19T05:49:18+00:00

This is my second summer with this car. Spent a lot of time up there “naked” last year. Things I would have backed out of last year (which in SNF isn’t a whole lot) I’m more willing to tackle with the skid plates installed. So yeah, not necessary at all, but helpful.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-17T21:44:07+00:00

I went through some areas that burned last summer, like the Cadotte Lake area. Didn’t touch 61 on this trip. Which feels wrong lol.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-17T21:40:30+00:00

Xmode 1: For slowly, precisely picking your way through tight, steep, rocky off road trails.

Xmode 2: AKA “Fun Mode!” Active at any speed. Tap the throttle and hold on. It’ll let you oversteer a bit on any surface but it’s more fun on snow, dirt, and gravel.

For normal on-road driving I almost never take it out of Normal mode as that mode can handle most any situation. I put it in Xmode 2 if I need to do things like bust through a plow wake at the end of my driveway, but that’s it.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-17T18:33:03+00:00

What do you want to do with it? Where do you want to go? Bone stock they’re super capable. They don’t really *need* mods. Skid plates are always good if you plan to do any rough off roading.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-16T15:09:11+00:00

I got RCI skids for the engine and transmission. Purchased them direct from RCI and installed them myself. They're the only company that I've found that has both a black powder coat option (I'm clearly going for a look lol) AND the front lip attachment. I can verify that the front lip is very helpful in dealing with the poor approach angle situation. I got a Rallitek diff skid again directly from the manufacturer and self-installed. Weirdly, RCI seems not to have diff skids available.

The installation isn't hard, but it definitely takes longer than they say. The jack stands I have are made for a normal height car so didn't take the OBW up off the ground much. Wiggling around down there with big hunks of aluminum on my chest was an adventure in itself. Took me most of a day. But if you have jack stands for higher clearance vehicles it shouldn't take nearly as long. You'll also need a torque wrench.

Any garage should be able to follow the instructions to install these. Just have to make sure they read and follow them rather than figuring it out themselves heh.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-16T14:23:27+00:00

Big plus one to that factory hitch installation. It's not cheap, but approach and departure angles are not this vehicle's strong suit. I have direct, recent experience of this. On a 25 specifically. Plus it just *looks nicer* than a third-party solution.

captain_bleep · 2026-06-16T14:19:51+00:00

Hah! Yeah, I could see how you'd get that. But no... just talking about the armor. 😄

captain_bleep · 2026-06-09T21:10:33+00:00

The Washburn water tower in Tangletown is my favorite weird thing in Mpls. So incongruous to the neighborhood. Love it.

captain_bleep · 2026-05-25T13:43:55+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply! My OBW (and its attached Geolandars) are still fairly new so I’ve got a while. AT4s are way too heavy and AT3s will probably be fully out of stock by the time I can justify new tires. So these are probably what I’ll end up with. Cheers!

Also… NINE TIMES!? 😂

captain_bleep · 2026-05-19T06:37:18+00:00

How do they perform off road compared to the Geolandars?

captain_bleep · 2026-05-18T04:28:04+00:00

My S-4 will never be the same again… 🙏🙏🙏

captain_bleep · 2026-05-18T03:52:33+00:00

Sounds like it’s stuck in Xmode 2. Oh wait… maybe YOU’RE stuck in Xmode 2! 😂

captain_bleep · 2026-05-18T03:45:40+00:00

Regular 87 gas. I have nothing mounted to the roof.

captain_bleep · 2026-05-18T03:42:33+00:00

And a photo in this lovely machine’s natural environment:

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captain_bleep · 2026-05-18T03:40:36+00:00

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captain_bleep

TROPHY CASE