Need help choosing tires? Look HERE!

[Bu11dogg2]

TIRES!!!
As we all know, there are many tire companies out there.
and finding the right set of tires at the right price can be difficult.
Allthough I can't tell you exactly how much tires will cost you, I can steer you in the right direction.

When you buy your 2005+ Subaru you get a set of Potenza RE92's.
The majority of the subaru community will say that these are the worst tires SOA could have chosen for this car.

Before you go out and buy there are several things you need to consider.
1. What are my driving habits?
2. What type of weather will I be driving in?
3. What is my Budget (important)
4. Will I be racing?
5. Most important SAFETY!!

There are several types of tires.
Fro example: SUMMER
Summer Passenger Tires
1.Extreme Performance Summer (may not be good in wet or snowy conditions)
2.Max Performance Summer (may not be good in wet or snowy conditions)
3.Ultra High Performance Summer (may not be good in wet or snowy conditions)
4.High Performance Summer (may not be good in wet or snowy conditions)
5.Grand Touring Summer (May be ok for some wet conditions)
6.Track & Competition DOT (May NOT BE STREET LEGAL!!!)
All-Season Passenger Tires
1.Ultra High Performance All-Season (If you prefer all seasons, these are your best bet)
2.High Performance All-Season
3.Performance All-Season
4.Grand Touring All-Season
5.Standard Touring All-Season
6.Passenger All-Season
7.Winter (should be rated at "H" for speed NAD NOOOO HIGHER!)

The Tires that are on a new Legacy/WRX (2006-2008) are 215/45/ZR17.
The "Z" is the rating of the tire.
For example:



P - 93 MPH
Q - 99 MPH
S - 112 MPH
T - 118 MPH
U - 124 MPH
H - 130 MPH
V - 149 MPH
Z - 149+ MPH (our tires)
W - 168 MPH
Y - 186 MPH
So as you can see our stock tires are rated for 149MPH +




With our car I would highly recommend sticking with the "Z" rated tires.




Different tires will have a different "stickyness" to them. It all really depends on the type of driving you plan on doing.
For example:
if you love the twisties, you want a tire with alot of stick, on the other hand, if you love to drag race, you may want a softer tire.




Once you decide what type of tires you want, you have to decide what brand.




Here are a few brands that carry Tires for our car.
Avon, BFGoodridge, Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Firestone, Fuzion, General, Goodyear,
Hankkok, Hoosier, Kumho, Michelin, Pirelli, Sumitomo, Uniroyal and Yokohama.

[jessickascarling]

this is wicked informative considering i'll probably need new tires next year!! i'll def be looking to this thread when that time comes. is there a particular brand you recommend over another? i drive an 05 lgt

[xxthat girlxx]

Jessica, check out tirerack.com. You can do side by side comparisons of all the tires they offer in the size you want for your car! It was over whelming when I did it but the information is unreal. Dry track results for accelerating, braking, turning and wet track results for accelerating, braking, turning. Information on how loud the tires are on the road and soooo much more.

[Bu11dogg2]

Jessica, check out tirerack.com. You can do side by side comparisons of all the tires they offer in the size you want for your car! It was over whelming when I did it but the information is unreal. Dry track results for accelerating, braking, turning and wet track results for accelerating, braking, turning. Information on how loud the tires are on the road and soooo much more.

+ 1,000,000

I chose my current tires, Continental extremecontacts 235/45/17 based off the head to head comparison on tirerack.

I am VERY pleased with them.

[Blix]

Do you guys have any recommendations for all-season tires? Winter's approaching and I'm keenly aware that my car came equipped with high performance summer tires, which won't do me a damn bit of good when the weather takes a turn for the worst.

I'm down to the following 3 on Tirerack - all high performance all-seasons:

Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S
Bridgestone Potenza G 019 Grid
Dunlop SP Sport Signature

If you have any thoughts on these and/or the brands, please let me know.

I had Continental ContiProContacts on my Saab and they were ok - a bit noisy and seemed to wear quickly. Noise doesn't really bother me, but wearing and handling are the areas that are of the greatest concern to me.

It looks like the Exaltos have the highest review and I may wind up with those, though at $173 a pop they're a bit pricier than the others. :(

Where I live, it doesn't snow that much (a foot max, usually), but black ice is prevalent. I'd rather not put snows my car b/c I just don't have the space in my apt to store 4 extra tires and/or wheels. And in any event, I don't think I do enough snow driving to make snow tires a necessity. Based on my situation, if you have any other recommendations, I would love to hear them. Thank you.

[xxthat girlxx]

I love my all season tires but I never remember what they are. Sorry I'm no help right now. HAHA.

[07SubieQT]

I have Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season Tires. I LOVE them!! Everyone up here runs them on their subie!! In the northwest we are kinda in the same boat, not a crazy amount of snow, but plenty of rain! Lol

[MoN]

Also keep in mind ladies that when it comes time to replace one or all four tires make sure you get all four of the same tire!! With AWD it is necessary to have all four tires the SAME or extremely close. I cant tell you why but this site can ;) :

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=18

[Blix]

thanks for the tips, chicas!

[SVeXy96]

I bought some Falken Luxury Sport tires a few months ago. They are by far the best tires I have ever had on my car especially for the rain. When I go deep fording it still feels like I'm driving on dry concrete. And yes of course they are the Z rated ;)

[SnailRacer]

Do you guys have any recommendations for all-season tires? Winter's approaching and I'm keenly aware that my car came equipped with high performance summer tires, which won't do me a damn bit of good when the weather takes a turn for the worst.

I'm down to the following 3 on Tirerack - all high performance all-seasons:

Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S
Bridgestone Potenza G 019 Grid
Dunlop SP Sport Signature

If you have any thoughts on these and/or the brands, please let me know.

I had Continental ContiProContacts on my Saab and they were ok - a bit noisy and seemed to wear quickly. Noise doesn't really bother me, but wearing and handling are the areas that are of the greatest concern to me.

It looks like the Exaltos have the highest review and I may wind up with those, though at $173 a pop they're a bit pricier than the others. :(

Where I live, it doesn't snow that much (a foot max, usually), but black ice is prevalent. I'd rather not put snows my car b/c I just don't have the space in my apt to store 4 extra tires and/or wheels. And in any event, I don't think I do enough snow driving to make snow tires a necessity. Based on my situation, if you have any other recommendations, I would love to hear them. Thank you.

i noticed you were thinking about getting the bridgestone potenza g019 grids. i work at firestone and i have delt with these tires actually my fiance has them on her cobalt. DO NOT GET THESE TIRES. you will be very upset with the traction in wet, dry, or snowy weather. if i may direct you toward the potenza re-11 or the potenza re-960as. the re-11 is a TRUE high performance (DRY WEATHER) tire. with my luck i had a hard time getting them to spin with my 350+hp turboed civic. now the re-960as is a very good all season (thats what the as means) tire, with a good dry, wet, or snowy tread design i would push you toward these if you are not into the running on the track kind of person. with all that said, another good tire is the falken azenis rt615. i used to have these and i absolutely loved them. they did redo them and now they are called the azenis rt615K, it is the same exact tread design but with a different rubber compound, it is supposed to be stickier on dry roads but i cannot back this completely as i have never driven on them.

[bannerd]

Tire compound is very important, the RE92's aren't a bad tire at all. In fact their pretty decent in the summer. The winter I wouldn't say they're great(shouldn't be a all-season but just summer due to bad compounds). If you take a winter tire and a summer tire and leave them outside in the cold. Go out and take your finger and push on the rubber content. You'll notice that the winter tire is more plyable. As the all-season tire is hard and doesn't have that give. Winter tires compounds in brutal cold climates still contour to the road and give you that grip. For a winter tire I would look at General Artic tires and would really put studs in them if you can. If you want a more aggressive tire then hankook/BF makes a ralley tire. For a rally tire (I do this from time to time :lol:) You will want sidewall traction. The reason for this is if you're going down a snowy road.. the wheel wells fill up with snow and you risk loosing steering. Traction on the inside tire wall cuts the snow and removes it.

Best Winter Tire:
1: General Artic's (Studded)
2: Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3 (non-studded)

For a summer tire the compound is more resistant to heat. This makes the tire last longer on hot roads. The thing to really look for in a summer tire is "water channels". These are basically canals that go all the way around the tire. Or you have canals that look like a V pattern and whisk away water. The reason for this is to prevent hydro planing. You also need to grip in sandy conditions but also need the compound to be chemical resistant to the oil line that builds up in the roads over time on a hot day. Below is usually what I run with.

Best Summer Tire: Firehawk Wide Oval Indy 500

All-Season tire.. I can't chime in on this one.. I don't normally run "All-Season"

@ Blix I would go with the Dunlop ;)