AWD_Rules3830 Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 Ok today the mountain pass after the eisenhower tunnel (colorado) was closed unless you had 4WD or Chains. Under these conditions, how well would our legacy GT with stock tires fair? I love my car ... basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaruowner840 Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 with the stock Brigestone Potenza'a not that great. I live close to the foothills west of Denver so I know what snow storm you're talking about. I took my car out today and was able to do multiple doughnut pretty easy. The AWD will help you from getting stuck but with our tires I would say a FWD car with snow tires would do much better. AWD drive is great at pushing the car forward but when it comes to cornering and braking it all comes down to tires. The Brigestone Potenza stinks in the snow (look at its rating on Tirerack.com) so to answer your question: Subaru AWD - great Bridgestone Potenza - terrible Overall snow driving - acceptable (i'd give it a C) I wouldn't mess with driving through the Rocky Mountains right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD_Rules3830 Posted November 29, 2006 Author Share Posted November 29, 2006 with the stock Brigestone Potenza'a not that great. I live close to the foothills west of Denver so I know what snow storm you're talking about. I took my car out today and was able to do multiple doughnut pretty easy. The AWD will help you from getting stuck but with our tires I would say a FWD car with snow tires would do much better. AWD drive is great at pushing the car forward but when it comes to cornering and braking it all comes down to tires. The Brigestone Potenza stinks in the snow (look at its rating on Tirerack.com) so to answer your question: Subaru AWD - great Bridgestone Potenza - terrible Overall snow driving - acceptable (i'd give it a C) I wouldn't mess with driving through the Rocky Mountains right now hmmm ... would better all-seasons do the trick? I love my car ... basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaruowner840 Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 possible. keep in mind my tires are 1/2-2/3 through the tread - so they arent in the best shape. check out tirerack.com for different reviews on all season tires. there are better ones out there. but i think you get more out of SUV & truck all season tires. with our GT's we lose too much perfermance when we go with an aggresive all-season. if I had the money I'd get a set of summer and winter tires to switch out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishPoo Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Man oh man.. for the cheap bastards who don't want to shell out for winter tires for driving through snow covered mountains... I offer you one suggestion: Take a plane! I can understand not being able to afford it tho, I can't afford dedicated snow tires yet. If you can afford it, get dedicated snows. Cornering and general stability (dealing with patches of ice or hitting slush for example) will be seriously improved with proper snow tires. If you can't afford a second set of snow tires but see snow regularly throughout the winter, get the Nokian WR's. You can run them all year and they will still be good in the snow, and meet the severe weather requirements for snow tires. The stock tires (and most all-season tires) have crappy and unpredictable grip when dealing with winter conditions. Sure the WR's aren't as good as a Summer tire in the Summer, but you can't complain about that while at the same time not complaining about poor winter qualities of all-season tires. Second that. WR's are probably your best bet if you're looking for all seasons decent enough on snow/ice. Currently, we had quite the chill up in Alberta... and some roads were ice sheets. I have the stock Yokohama Advans on my Legacy... and they were so-so. I fish tailed occassionally; at one point from a standstill, my tires spun pretty bad too. So far, no close calls, but when these stock tires wear out, I'll definitely consider something like the Nokians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD_Rules3830 Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 Well im starting to lean on the Nokian WR, The Avon Tech M550 are putting me out because of their high noise and short life. If the nokians are as good as the RE 92's on dry then im getting them. Are they? lol. I love my car ... basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KayGT Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Toyo Proxes 4 handle very well in the snow for all-season tires and offer great performance during other seasons.....IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShockerGT Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I've had no problems driving on R-Comps and summer tires during winter months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Charlie Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 We get snow in New England, too. I've only ever seen one road closed, though. I had one snow mishap in my Legacy. The day after I bought it I goosed it to kick out the rear. Now (by way of excuse), I literally hadn't driven anything in 14 months and wasn't used to the power. I had to call my wife to come pull me out of the snowbank. It wasn't the car's or the tires' fault- it was mine. I'm a big fan of using the proper tool, but in the snow I simply refuse to have any confidence in my tires and drive accordingly. I know it's a vicious circle- I won't spend money on them because I won't have confidence in them anyway and I don't have confidence in them because I never spent money on them. Still, I've never had a car that didn't go where I told it when I told it to go there. The only times I couldn't get where I was going were when I just didn't feel like digging my car out of my driveway. Great snows would be awesome, but they would just be wasted on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianspi Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 ^^ better enough zip ties and duct tape will fix anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD_Rules3830 Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 God Nokians are EXPENSIVE !!! I love my car ... basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I've had no problems driving on R-Comps and summer tires during winter months. You must live in Florida then Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pillboy Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 God Nokians are EXPENSIVE !!! That's why I ended up with Dunlop Winter Sports. It is still ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShockerGT Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 You must live in Florida then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mechdiff Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 That's why I ended up with Dunlop Winter Sports. How do you like them so far. I haven't got mine mounted yet. Should have them on by Monday. I'm sure there will be a huge difference over the RE-92's that I am running now. Which honestly I don't find too bad, I don't drive like a maniac either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD_Rules3830 Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 You want something good for the snow? Nokians are expensive, but are also developed and tested in the arctic circle. Just like Subaru's rally heritage shows in the Legacy, Nokian's winter experience shows in their tires. well do they do have that 50k warranty. I love my car ... basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undert0e Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 That's why I ended up with Dunlop Winter Sports. Pretty sure this is what im going to get as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pillboy Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 How do you like them so far. I haven't got mine mounted yet. Should have them on by Monday. I'm sure there will be a huge difference over the RE-92's that I am running now. Which honestly I don't find too bad, I don't drive like a maniac either. I've only driven a few hundred miles on them...not hard miles either. No snow yet. Ride is comparable to RE92's. It is still ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pillboy Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Recommended for year-round use? No. I had an extra set of wheels so I decided to get dedicated snows. Looked at Nokians for snows and sh!t my pants on the price....$189 per tire. The dealer that wanted to sell me the year-round Nokians (I forget the model designations, sorry) was over $1000 out the door total. My RE92's only have 7000 miles on them...too new to throw away for a set of better all seasons. It is still ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD_Rules3830 Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 Meh, I want the Nokians, but i really can't justify getting rid of the RE 92's (which have caused me no trouble so far, i just fear what will happen it we go into the slick stuff). I think i will just replace them in June for my birthday. I love my car ... basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas751 Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I bought RSI's and drove on them for 2 weeks. I could not stand the noise or the viabration that went through the car, it made me car sick. Same with my wife. They were terrible. I replaced them with Winter Sport M3's which are much better to drive and quiet. We will see how they work in the snow next week, but I am sure that the RSI's would have been better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinski Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I'm on my second set of Dunlop WS M3's. I had the original M2's to begin with. Driven about 80,000 miles on them. The LGT runs better than Jeeps and 4x4 trucks with studded snow tires in the snow, slush, ice and other hardpack. Plus they run quiet, smooth and handle extremely well on the dry. My daily commute will start with 2' or more of new snow, hardpack, ice, wet and dry in 35 miles. The M3's never let me down. They're the best for any amount of $. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjundi Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 hmmm ... would better all-seasons do the trick? Yes on all-seasons. Just do your research in the tires forum. Personally I am not much of a fan of pure winter tires as they are cruddy on bulk of my winter in the dry. I have not tried the high performance winters though just Blizzack WS-50's(eek in the dry), Michelin X-Ice(crud in dry) and Nokian WR(current tire) which is unimpressive on the dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vimy101 Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 ContiExtremes. W rated, reasonable price, good for summer, good for rain and highest rated A/S for snow on Tire Rack though I haven't had the pleasure of testing them out on the white stuff myself yet. Maybe tonight with snow in the forecast. The tread looks pretty aggressive and they have a cold weather component in the rubber compound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garandman Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 If you shop around you can get Michelin X-Ice at pretty reasonable tires. We have them on one of our minivans. Pretty quiet on the highway, cheaper than the Nokian RSI's, but the dealer says they don't last as long. It's only our second season so we can't tell. So now we have two vehicles with RSI's, one with WR's, and one with X-Ice. All I need for a big comparo is snow..... Who Dares Wins スバル Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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