[DennisC]

Winter will soon be over .
What are your favorite (and not-favorite) non-winter tires for stock fitment?
Please factor in:
Road noise
Ride quality
Handling (wet/dry/snow)
Wear
Type of driving you do
Ready, set, GO!

 

[bbottomley]

The first recommendation is always to check www.tirerack.com . They have a vast body of user ratings on many important attributes of the tires that they carry. Find some that rate high in things that you care about, and then drill down into the user comments to see if there are any from Subie owners that might be particularly relevant.

I've been happy with my Conti Premier Contacts. They rated high on tread wear and snow, both of which were important to me. They still look and ride great at over 30k miles. They have never disappointed me in snow, rain, or dry conditions.

My driving style is pretty moderate. A lot of around town driving plus quite a few 500 mile trips between NH and MD.

 

[XT4ME]

I am considering these tires in the spring. They are a bit expensive but have an excellent+ rating and stock size only weighs 21 lbs.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot+Exalto+A%2FS&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=16HR6EXAS&fromCompare1=yes&place=8

 

[SenorSubie]

Traction T/A

 

[SubaJew]

Bridgestone Potenza G009 in 225/60/16.

 

[wrx_now_forester_xt]

check out the avon tech m550's...

Avon Tech M550's

oh - and a link to a good avon thread on nasioc:

Nabisco Avon M550 Thread

 

[Jeffn]

check out the avon tech m550's...

Avon Tech M550's

oh - and a link to a good avon thread on nasioc:

Nabisco Avon M550 Thread

2nd on the Avons-great on our SVX.

 

[Retserof]

I tossed the Geolanders and installed Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S tires in the stock size 5,000 miles ago. They are superior in every way, on dry, wet and snow. They are more responsive to steering inputs and the ride is a bit more firm, as you'd expect. Cost was comparable to stock Geolanders.

 

[SuperRu]

I'm running these and they are very nice. Great handling, good ride quality, quiet on most surfaces, too new to judge wear. I drive all city with a few mountain runs to spice things up.

 

[ferret]

Dennis, I also have an 04XS. At 35K I replaced the Geo's with Kuhmo Solus KH16. These are replacements for their older Ecsta's. I has Ecsta's on MY02 and was very happy with them.

I now have 9K on these and they are every bit as good if not better than the Ecsta's.

On MY02 I replaced Yoko Avid's with those Ecsta's and they were far superior in every aspect. Best part was the price. For the std 215/60/16, Tire Rack now has them for $56. I put them on in late October, so I also can tell you in the snow, they were also great. I know it's your decision, but you asked for opinions......end of my $.02

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Solus+KH16&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=16HR6KH16&fromCompare1=yes&place=0

 

[Seven]

TRaction T/A

Dunlop SP5000

 

[Subifreak]

Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads...Came in first overall in a recent CR test of 18 all season tires. Simply awesome in bad weather & 80,000 mile warranty to boot!

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Assurance+TripleTred

 

[hunts]

Another vote for the Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads. They did pretty good in the snow and ice a few weeks back. While everyone was crawling at 40 mph in the snowy 65 mph zone, I was able to safely go at 50 without any loss of traction of slippage.

 

[Porter]

For a low cost, high performance all-season on 17" wheels, the new Hankook Ventus V4 ES H105 in 235/50R17 is a good solution.

That size gives almost exactly the same rolling radius as the stock 215/60R16.

 

[Subifreak]

Any decision made DennisC?

 

[blitzoid]

Traction T/A

+1 :clap1:

 

[Porter]

Shameless plug

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/forums/showthread.php?t=2907

 

[NYRanger79]

Bridgestone Potenza G009 in 225/60/16.

+1 for these also sticky as hell

 

[DennisC]

Getting closer - I'm still using my winter tires (skiing), but will spring for all-seasons in the next few weeks.
The Michelin HydroEdge sounds intriguing, but not much water on the roadways here, east of the Cascades. Goodyear TripleTreads have my attention, but are not the correct speed rating (I know what I really need, but I would be filleted by insurance if I were in an accident).
Les Schwab has a sale on their Z800 Ultras.
I do want quiet ride and decent wear; I'll sipe whatever I get. I'm a very conservative driver.

 

[subxt]

I’m planning to slap 215/55-17’s Avon M550 A/S on Velox VX6-R’s
(which I had on my other car).
The rims are super light and look great 5X100 @ 17X7 w/ +42 offset.
- My Q is; will the +42 offset hurt suspension / safety / driving in any way???
- Are there any drawbacks of having slightly wider stands and/or offset different than SOA prescribed???
- In other words is’t OK to put these rims on???

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thanx,

Cody