So did I do an okay job explaining everything? I tried to get as much info as possible.

Thanks for the offer, but it's not my car and it has already been repaired. The repair was thousands of dollars cheaper than it could have been ($370 I think). Just trying to figure out why.

I've had all kinds of suggestions thrown out there. Perhaps the factory tires are 215s and the owner got a great deal on some 205s and now the spare doesn't match. Maybe, but it is a space saver spare to begin with, and the two tires on the rear would be the same size, so it wouldn't matter anyway.

I think the best way to look at this is by isolating the rear differential. Looking at nothing else but a rear diff, what could cause it to get so hot that it would melt all three bushings?


Oh yeah, I did a quick google search as well, and found a thread where some kid put a spare on his 2005 Forester in the front, and the front diff caught on fire (white smoke), and was binding. That thread looked promising, but it was the front axle with the odd sized tire and the front diff that failed, so no help. Very strange.