This year's snow tire thread

[emulous]

I don't think they are made in an LGT friendly size. Tire Rack doesn't show them as a fitment (not that that means much)

 

According to Yokahoma's website, they are listed when you enter in the Legacy GT and 215/45/17

 

http://www.yokohamatire.com/SearchBySizeResults.asp?SectionWidth=215&Aspect=45&RimDiameter=17&VehicleYear=&VehicleMake=&VehicleModel=

 

http://www.yokohamatire.com/SearchBySizeResults.asp?SectionWidth=215&Aspect=45&RimDiameter=17&a=2005&b=Subaru&c=Legacy+2%2E5+GT+Ltd%2E+Wagon

[PGT]

see post above yours..... prices are from 1010tires.com, the only vendor I could find who sells them. I'll pass at those prices.

[BoxerGT2.5]

found em.....$$$$$:

 

215/45R17 H 91 BW $238.99

 

$282 for an 18" fitment

 

 

Jesus Christ.....thats $400+ more than Nokians and Blizzaks.

[Wattage]

found em.....$$$$$:

 

215/45R17 H 91 BW $238.99

 

$282 for an 18" fitment

 

Who are you looking at? Locally they are 142.98 installed for the 215/45R17, 140.98 for the 205/50.

[PGT]

prices are from 1010tires.com, the only vendor I could find who sells them online

[biturbowagon]

On my Audi, I preferred the M2 to the WR. The M2 was better in the snow and didn't give up much if anything in the dry or wet. But the WR has better tread life.

 

Your call, depending on the winter conditions you get where you live. I probably won't go for the WR for the LGT.

 

 

Dunlop M3 versus Nokian WR

 

One is a performance winter tire

The other a winter all-season tire

 

Thinking the WR will do a bit better in the dry, but a little worse in the snow. That true? Worth the price difference?

 

-B

[RockyMtnGT]

I posted this on another "Ice Bear" specific thread, but I thought more people would see it, and therefore find it useful in this thread so here it is:

>>>>>

 

I am running the Ice Bear 300's on my LGT. After anxiously awaiting some cold snowy weather, we finally got some here in Denver.

 

I hit some ice on the way to work. Basically, the local country club left their sprinklers on, and thus created HUGE patches of ice across the entire road. The road was basically an ice rink.

 

Well, as i saw the first "patch" of ice, I was a bit nervous, I let off the gas and coasted over the ice with no problems. The next few yards I gradually gave the car some gas and blew through the ice without any trouble at all.

 

As a final test, from a traffic light, I gave the car a good amount of gas as I took off from a stop. I have to say that the AWD plus the Hankooks launched the car perfectly, straight and true!

 

Towards the end of the ice, I floored the gas and was able to brake the tires loose finally, the ass stepped out a bit but the car continued to pull. I love these tires...and I love this CAR!! At $112 each, shipped from tires.com, I don't think you can go wrong with the Ice Bears!

 

As far as dry and wet weather they beat the hell out of the RE92's. The side walls are stiff and they feel like a sticky all-season tire to me. They are also pretty damn quiet....no louder than the RE92s were!

[RockyMtnGT]

I got this post off a local (Colorado) forum...Another very good review of the hankooks in some SERIOUS snow. (The mountains got 30 inches over the weekend)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Little follow-up on the Hankook IceBear 300 Snow tires.

 

Well we were up in the mtns for the weekend (sat-tues) and got to feel the full wrath of 2 feet of snow over night.

 

When we left on Saturday morning at 5am CDOT was only allowing 4wd and commercial vehicles with chains up to Eisenhower tunnel until they had a chance to clean up and treat the roads a little more (1-2 hrs). Luckily we had the A4 instead of the wife’s car so we kept on trucking. The tires hooked up great and we were able to keep going at 45-55mph in the snow pack up the to the tunnel, down and then over to Vail pass. Never once did we have any traction problems. There was 4-5” of snow on the road as we approached Vail pass so we had to slowed down to 30ish mph. Even in the 4-5” of snow the car had NO problems. There were a few places that were deeper and the car plowed a little bit, but nothing that any other lowered car wouldn’t have done. We pulled off at a few exits to get drinks at bathroom stops. We didn’t have any problems getting back on the highways. The car just pulled like a champ.

 

Monday night the mtns got dumped on again. We were heading into it and were some of the last cars to go before they closed I-70 at Vail. Visibility was bad and the roads were horrible. There were snow banks of 12-15” in between the lanes and trucks were driving down the center of the road just trying to stay on the road. Snow was piling up and we ended up pulling off in Frisco since the roads were so bad. When we pulled off the snow was deep enough that the front bumper was a plow. We had a few traction issues since the snow was so deep that we just didn’t have the clearance needed and the wheels wells were full of crap. When we pulled off, we pulled around several SUV’s and cars that were in the ditch and 2 tractor trailers flipped on their sides.

 

Yesterday we spent the day driving on hard pack snow/ice and the tires did pretty well. I was able to get the ABS to kick in at an intersection where the surface was pretty polished. We pulled away from the intersection will a little spin and the ASR light flashed on the dash. I think if the tires had a slightly softer tire compound they would have done better there. But they are still v-rated and still a pretty hard compound compared to past snow tires I have had.

 

Here is my overall rating (1-10, 10 being best):

 

Deep snow: 7

Hardpack covered by fresh snow (2-3” snow): 8

Hardpack: 7

ICE: 6-7

Rain: 7-8

Dry handling: 8

 

Overall I was very pleased. The tires allowed me to feel confident in the handling of the car in the snow and the mixed conditions we encountered. I think a tire with deeper blocks would have been a little better in the deep snow we were forced to drive into. I also feel a softer compound rubber would have been better on the ice and hard pack we encountered. Overall for the conditions that I drive in, I am VERY happy with these tires. Every tire is a compromise, and you need to find what is best for your area. They still handle very well on the dry roads for a snow tire. And they rocked the snow over the weekend. I am sure the Quattro helped out. But at no point did I not feel safe in the predictability of what the car was going to do or the connection I had to the road.

[mikeh19372]

. (Performance Automotive in Malvern). Sounded like they've modded a few Subarus lately too. For anyone in the Philly area, I'll post a note on how it goes.

 

+1 on Performance. They worked on my BMW previously, and also did a lot of work on my Forrester XT. Once I'm ready to start doing more mods on my LGT, they'll be my choice...

[firedawgs]

I just made my winter tire purchase. I was tossed up on getting rims and tires for the winter, but that was going to be too much money. So I am using my current rims with some new winter tires. I will purchase so new rims for the spring/summer time later on.

 

I found a awesome deal on winter tires. Nitto NT-SN1 225/40/18 (4 of them shipped w/ tax and valve stems for $524). They should be here on Monday.

 

http://img482.imageshack.us/img482/4785/nitto20ntsn120logo1ys.jpg

[sandwood]

just ordered me a set of nokian WRs for the stockers. $616 shipped.

[Langosta39]

I had my heart set on Nokian Hakk 2's but when I found out it would be over 700 after shipping, studding, mounting, and balancing I couldn't do it. I found a local deal on some Gislavid Nord Frost 3 (or how ever you spell that G word) in 215/65-16 studded and mounted on stock wheels for a hair less than $500. The are very similar to the new Nokians (4's ?) and after putting them through their paces in the 8" of snow that dropped this week I have to say I'm a fan. I've had them on slush covered ice, hard packed snow, fresh snow, and ~200 miles on wet/dry two lane highway. Took about a 2 mpg hit over the RE92s, but they seem to handle as well as the RE92s on the road. In the messy stuff they freakin own, and I was pushing them as hard as the little 2.5i would let me. I know you guys looking for high performance would want more dry performance and handling, but for people in the snow belt you will love these.

 

Andy

[xcskiguy]

+1 on Performance. They worked on my BMW previously, and also did a lot of work on my Forrester XT. Once I'm ready to start doing more mods on my LGT, they'll be my choice...

 

Mike, Oops forgot to post about how good a job they did. Great guys. Not a mark on my wheels. They charged me slightly more for mounting two of the tires, but explained that they broke them down again and remounted them to reduce the amount of wheel weights for the balancing. And the balancing is perfect. I was very happy with their work. I plan to get in touch with them to do suspension upgrades. I guess you must be the XT they mentioned.

 

The M3's also did a great job on the hour ride up to Allentown and back on the NE extension (Pa turnpike) on Thanksgiving. We had a mix of rain and snow on the way up and freezing temps with mix of stuff on the way back.

[highwaydrifter]

just ordered me a set of nokian WRs for the stockers. $616 shipped.

 

 

where did you order it from?

[Garandman]

I am getting Nokian RSI's for our 06 3.0R. The owners manual says 215/55x17 but they don't make that size, so I went with the 225/55x17. I purchased them from John Tires in Manchester, NH, where we bought our RSI's for a Honda Accord V6 last winter. They cost $680 mounted balanced etc etc.

 

They also sell Michelin but he said he doesn't have any feedback on the X-Ice. All the other Subarus bought the RSI's or one of the studdable versions.

 

He aid the X-Ice is already getting in short supply in some sizes.

[DeepFreeze2]

I'm running a set of Goodyear UltraGrip GW3s (225/45/17) on the stock wheels. Haven't driven in any snow yet, but they are V-rated and feel no worse than the RE-92s in the conditions I've driven in.

[thatwouldbegreat]

Just drove two identical 2005 Outback 2.5i 's

 

One had 2 season old Winterforce Studded with decent tread depth

 

The other had brand new Bridgestone Blizzak Revo 1

 

Drove the Winterforce from Vail, CO to Jackson Hole, WY to Big Sky , MT and back to Vail. These tires at half tread depth had lost most of their value as a snow tire when I was on ice and hard packed snow.

 

Drove the Revo 1 from Jackson Hole, WY to Big Sky, MT and back. The Revo 1's were outstanding. Fantastic tire... at least while brand new.

[sandwood]

where did you order it from?

 

you know where! thanks for the info on waukegan.

[miles]

Automobile Protection Association (APA)

http: //www.apa.ca/template.asp?DocID=97

 

Toyo G-02+ : The only tire truly straddling both categories: halfway between the WS50 and most European-style tires in terms of traction and stability; a good compromise. When new, its grip on snow and ice is close to that provided by the WS50 and the IG10, but the difference becomes greater after three years. Longer wearing than the WS50 and the IG10.

 

Available in 215/45R17 87H.

In Canada the G-02+ 215/45R17 tire is called the Garit HT.

 

Toyo Garit HT : H speed rated, more stable and with better performance in the dry than the G-02+, but less grip on snow and ice. In its class, it is among the best on snow because of a generous tread depth of 12/32" or 13/32", which is rare among performance winter tires. Available in lower profiles than the G-02+.

 

I used this tire last year. They are the best winter tire I've ever used. The winter tires I've used are:

- Hakka 10

- Hakka 1 (3 sets)

- Hakka 2

- Yokohama IG10