dbrunone Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 So we got a blizzard this last few days, but I had to drive to Newark from upstate NY to get my brother from the airport, since all the flights into Albany were cancelled. It was really bad on the way back, but the ol' Spec.B handled it like a champ. Then today I went skiing, and drove through the same sorts of conditions through a mountain with no problems at all. Other people were sliding all over the place. I go slow of course but I never lost control ever. Then I got back to my place and the landlord hadn't plowed my parking lot, so there was about a foot of snow, and I was able to get through that into a parking space without too much trouble. This thing rocks. Torsen diff + Pirelli Sottozero tires FTW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesae Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 About 2 feet of snow today and did a 40 minute commute on unplowed roads- easy-peasy. Michelin x-ice xi2 here. Some enterprising individual could pull off a bank heist in this kind of weather and get away scott-free in a Subie (assuming the police don't drive Subies also:)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrunone Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 Are the X-Ice's ok? They were in a lower performance category on tirerack when I was looking. How are they on dry pavement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siper2 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I ran two sets of Nokian winter tires on my old RS, but opted for A/S for the new GT. Just bought a new house, I guess I was hoping to save a little bit. A new set of Nokian WR G2, which I considered first, were over $900 and I had a hard time justifying that. Looked around for over a month for a used set, but no luck. Went with the Bridgestone RE960, which is a great tire and will probably be fun in the summer. But I'm not impressed with its winter performance, so far. Not expecting miracles from an A/S, considering what I'm used to, but jeeeeeeez I don't like it!! I have Bridgestone G 009 tires on my wife's OB that are much better in winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05GT Guru Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 My buddys convertable mustang made it though a parking lot with 12inchs in it with his blizzaks. Everyone at work was cheering as all you heard was the rwaar of a 4.6liter v8 trying its hardest but he made it about 200feet through 12 inchs to the exit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Are the X-Ice's ok? They were in a lower performance category on tirerack when I was looking. How are they on dry pavement? The wifey's WRX is currently on 215/50/17 X-Ice Xi2s. She's only put about 250 miles on them, so they've still yet to break in. It's currently already much better than my 225/45/17 3Ds, on icy hardpack. I haven't gotten much chance to test them on dry or wet roads, due to the fact that they're so new, and I didn't want to push things before the mold-release has been scrubbed-off. I'd say that they are pretty much the equal of any decent all-season tires, only with a bit more tread-squirm. All tires are a compromise, so you'll have to decide what's the compromise you want to make. For my wife, I got her the Xi2s as I wanted her to be more surefooted in the icy stuff that we sometimes get here, as well as the occasional Lake-Effect "dump." At the same time, she doesn't push the car hard enough for me to worry about absolute dry/wet handling, and she rarely does any extended highway driving. For me, I wanted decent dry/wet roadway performance, including highway stability/predictability, while still enjoying good foul-weather capabilities - hence the 3Ds. Overall, I *really* loved what VVG had to say in this recent post: If you live in true Nordic conditions, with extreme cold and ice all season, then the Nordic-style tires will work the best for you. But if you live South of Concord, NH in New England, you aren't going to be facing those kind of conditions. Good dry road handling, wet road handling, and snow and ice conditions become more important than strictly ice and snow. One way to get a tire that does well in lots of conditions is to spend lots of money..... This is in addressing the Nokian WR and G2. <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polo08816 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I ran two sets of Nokian winter tires on my old RS, but opted for A/S for the new GT. Just bought a new house, I guess I was hoping to save a little bit. A new set of Nokian WR G2, which I considered first, were over $900 and I had a hard time justifying that. Looked around for over a month for a used set, but no luck. Went with the Bridgestone RE960, which is a great tire and will probably be fun in the summer. But I'm not impressed with its winter performance, so far. Not expecting miracles from an A/S, considering what I'm used to, but jeeeeeeez I don't like it!! I have Bridgestone G 009 tires on my wife's OB that are much better in winter. At first I was skeptical about that until I checked Tirerack for a picture (of the G019) of the tread design and realized that what you found is probably true. Nevertheless, both tires are still better than RE92's by a huge margin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outahere Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 About 2 feet of snow today and did a 40 minute commute on unplowed roads- easy-peasy. Michelin x-ice xi2 here....................... Do you have an 18" lift kit on your Legacy? Or a plow? Because I can't see how a Legacy can drive through 24" of snow for 40 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocHolladay23 Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 I just picked up some Bridgestone Potenza G019 drift's today and they killed it in the snow. My stockers with ~ 30K miles on them had zero grip, but these things did great in Parleys canyon during a storm, very surprised considering they're an A/S [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] You want stickers? Hit me up here!!! You want a shirt? Hit me up here!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesae Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Do you have an 18" lift kit on your Legacy? Or a plow? Because I can't see how a Legacy can drive through 24" of snow for 40 minutes. I actually got into an argument today about the snow, it looked like 2 feet to me, a friend says 1.5 feet. In any case, the most snow I've seen here in my lifetime How are the X-Ice xi-2? I haven't driven the Legacy on any other snow tire so can't compare, but I have no complaints whatsoever. I can basically drive highway speeds on unplowed roads and grip or slide at will. They're quieter than my Bridgestone G019 A/S tires and I tend to get better fuel economy! Of course, you're not going to pull high Gs with them. I have a friend with an impreza on Toyo winters and the michelins seemed more stable and grippier, though there could have been other factors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fonts Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 If you live in an area that gets a significant amount of snow then getting the proper tires makes a world of difference. I have a dedicated winter setup for the SpecB and the wife has a dedicated winter setup for her 03 Toyota 4Runner. After experiencing the difference with winter vs all season tires there really is no comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Do you have an 18" lift kit on your Legacy? Or a plow? Because I can't see how a Legacy can drive through 24" of snow for 40 minutes. I think the plow! I did that (OK, so it was probably like, only 15 inches, but heck, I like to tell tall tales) for a bout 5 minutes, last winter. The entire front-end was a huge plow. As soon as I could pull off, I did, and dug-out my front end. <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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