sdeeter19555

Been away from the tire scene for long enough that I'm out of the loop on the current tire selections. That said, we will need new skins for the Wife's 2009 FXT for next spring.

The OE Geolanders are pretty thin right now, but I have dedicated snow tires for the interim. Haven't really had a problem with the Geolanders, other than the snow traction sucks...but they seem to do everything else fine.

What seems to be the preferred three season choice? This is a daily driver, completely street driven...wife is a fairly aggressive driver, but she hasn't had any problems with the OE Geolanders either...at least that she's told me...

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX

If you have snows, why bother with "no"-season tires (as I like to call them)?

"summer" tires offer a wide range of prices and options and perform better than "all seasons" ...... typically CHEAPER too..

Rescuer

this gets asked too much and there are plenty of threads about it


just one from a quick glance New all season tires for my XT

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My Car

sdeeter19555

Thread Starter

Sorry that I came to a Subaru Forester forum, with a tire section, to ask about tires for a Subaru Forester. I won't do it again...

adpsmp

I have Continental Extreme Contact DWS on mine. I put them on my Legacy GT last year and they were excellent in the rain and snow. They were also rated very well on Tire Rack and Discount tire sites...so when it came time for tires, I went with them again.

I did look at the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus, but they weighed 3 Lbs more per tire than stock, where-as the DWS were 1 Lb less than stock. They have very few reviews as they are a pretty new tire, but the previous gen Bridgestone Turanza Serenity's rated pretty well in all seasons, but lacked a little in the snow. (the "Plus" in the new tire is suppose to be for "added winter traction")

Hope it helps.

ConnorLug

I just put Continental Extreme Contact DWS on as well, and I already love them

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Slowbaru Tuned VF43'd 2007 FXT Limited MT

Inspector

I have Michelin MXV4's. I think they're a great tire when they're pumped up to the high 30's.

Aaron, are you saying that summer tires are safe during the many cold/wet weather days you encounter in the spring and fall? thats laughable. My summers on my fun car become useless below 45...add a little drizzle and it's like driving on glaze ice.

good dog

While these types of questions do get asked fairly often and never have I seen a conclusive decision on one or two models of tires (everyone has a preference), I would recommend checking out Tire Rack. They have compiled some great information over the years from actual customer reviews into surveys both on the single tire and a comparison of other similar tires. So when you get an idea of what you might consider check out their surveys and reviews. Sometimes the comments and ratings will surprise you.

Also when you have decided on a tire, check out Supporting Vendor, Discount Tire and see if they carry it and their pricing for comparison. Recently member ConnorLug found Discount Tire cheaper than what he could get the same tires wholesale from the dealership he works at.

Good luck in your tire search.

Cheers
Doug

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2008 2.5XS 4EAT

adpsmp

That is true...Discount Tire is cheaper than Tire Rack for the Conti DWS's, and I actually like Discount Tire better, and have bought regularly from them in the past including the Conti DWS's and wheels that I have on my 08 Legacy GT...but Discount Tire doesn't carry the 225/55-R17 for the FXT, so I had to purchase from Tire Rack.
Plus, there is a national back order for that size, and Tire Rack seems to be the only place to get them until the end of Jan, 2013 because they bought a ton of them early.

DaveB420

^^I guess I am lucky I got my DWS when I did. I had no problem getting them put on at the end of October(then 2 weeks later replacing one after 500 miles from a puncture after the storm, called at 5:30pm and had a new one at the shop 1st thing next morning).

From what I was told by my tireshop, the DWS series is to be phasing out sizes and replaced by the Purecontact series.

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2010 Forester XT Limited - Silver Spark

Smooth

The Conti DWS seem to be very well-liked. You probably can't go wrong with them. Some other options I found when I was shopping are the Kumho Ecsta 4X, the Cooper Zeon RS3-A, and the General G-Max AS-03. The Generals aren't rated as highly as the others in snow/ice so I'd probably rule those out for PA.

I went with the Coopers, and I really like them. Very good dry and wet performance. Haven't tried them in snow yet. Consumer Reports rates them very highly, if you put any stock into that. Only problem is that I don't think they make them in 225/55/17. You could consider 215/55/17 as Cooper tires seem to run quite wide; my 235/50 Coopers were actually wider than a set of 245/45 Kumhos that I had, and barely fit my 07 XT.

No matter what tire you go with, I definitely recommend DTD as a vendor in general. They have always provided me with great service, online and at my local store. Also they currently have an instant $50 off a set of 4 tires through Monday for their Thanksgiving sale.

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'07 FSXT WRB ¤ protuned VF39