And....we're junking the shitty OE tires on my wife's Impreza (UPDATED)

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 12/16/2016 at 15:07 • Filed to: None

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Not quite a month ago I !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! about the supposedly-awful Yokohama Avid S34D tires that came as original equipment on my wife’s Impreza. We took a wait-and-see approach with them to see if they were going to be decent enough. Well, we’re going to get new tires for the thing.

Since then, I’ve driven her car in the snow once. I was pretty disappointed in the tires: I got the back end to step out a couple times going around turns just by applying the throttle gently, and got into the ABS with not much pedal pressure at all. But I didn’t want to push the issue with her so I didn’t bug her about it.

Last night we were talking about which car we’d take to dinner tonight when it’s supposed to be snowing. I said mine since I’ve got snow tires. I got her talking about her tires and turns out she’s not a fan of them either. At the moment, there’s a bunch of frozen-solid leftover snow on our secondary roads, and she’s been slipping around on those roads. She actually said the Impreza’s tires feel less grippy than the OE tires on her previous car, a 2013 Honda Civic. That car had Firestone Affinity Touring tires on it which have !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to the shitty Yokohama S34D tires on her Impreza. But she always liked how that car handled in winter. I never drove it in snow so I don’t have a point of reference.

I sold her on the idea of getting new all-season tires with good winter test ratings (she already kinda hates my always having a stack of wheels & tires in the corner of the garage for my car so another stack for her car is a non-starter) and we’d sell the stock shitty tires to recoup maybe half the cost.

I’m going with the General Altimax RT43. Nothing fancy, but an all-season tire that’s pretty cheap with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and user reviews to back it up. I thought about the Pirelli Cinturato P7 A/S+ but apparently !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! than the General RT43 and my wife is anxious about driving in the rain.

So...my local Discount Tire is going to get even more of my damn money. I should ask them to give these to me for free with how many tires I’ve gotten from them over the years.

UPDATE 1: My local Discount Tire says they can’t get the RT43s. They’re showing as on back order from the manufacturer in their system. They’re in stock other places online so I have to decide if I’m going to get them from another source or pick another tire that Discount Tire can get.

UPDATE 2: Changed course and went with the BFGoodrich g-Force Comp-2 A/S. It’s an “ultra-high performance” all-season with good ride comfort and noise ratings along with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . They’ll be a lot sportier handling in dry/wet conditions. They give up some tread life but she puts such low miles on her car that’s a non-issue. Especially since they were only $89 each after price matching a coupon code that TireBuyer.com is running at the moment.

P.S. Good lord people, snow tires for her car really are not going to happen, that’s just how it is.

MonkeePuzzle > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 11:50

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AWD burnouts are best burnouts

Textured Soy Protein > MonkeePuzzle 12/16/2016 at 11:55

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148 hp and a CVT don’t exactly lend themselves to burnouts.

vicali > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 12:06

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Subarus are more fun with winters - it’s much better having it step out on purpose than by accident..

Our Forester has Xice2 on it but they are getting down, it’s getting easier to lose grip than I like so next fall we’ll be looking.. I think Blizzaks might be next.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 12:19

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Our outback came with some crappy continentals, might have gotten 20k out of them and they were done. Literally anything aftermarket is better than their OEM tires. My favorite tire thus far were some Perelli P zero’s on our 2002 impreza. Downright awesome in dry and rain. Never drove them on snow, probably would have been scary.

Textured Soy Protein > vicali 12/16/2016 at 12:20

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I know all about winter tires and awd, I have them on my 335xi. My wife doesn’t want another stack of wheels and tires crowding up the garage next to the stack of wheels and tires that aren’t on my car at a given moment.

vicali > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 12:25

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Getting tire bags has cleaned up our garage; also made a few caster plates to stack them on so I can move them around. 215/60-R16 are much easier to handle than the 265/65-R17 off the Tacoma.

CalzoneGolem > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 12:28

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That’s a quitter’s attitude.

Takuro Spirit > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 12:34

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I had Altimax Arctics on my Legacy. Hated how they sucked all the fun out of winter driving. When I lifted it and put on Grabber AT2s it was much nicer to slide around.

Not that any of this helps in your case. RT43s seem like decent tires. OE tires for the most part suck, but I get how they have to put ONE tire (usually) on a car and make it work from the sweaty swamp of Florida to the desert of Arizona to the frozen wastelands up da YOO PEE.

Textured Soy Protein > vicali 12/16/2016 at 12:36

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These are all reasonable points but none of them are going to overcome my wife’s desire to not have a second set of wheels & tires taking up space. Even though I’d be the one changing them, it ain’t happening.

vicali > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 12:50

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More ideas;

and as a last resort;

My bird IS the word > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 12:52

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I have Bridgestone potenza pole position rifts and while they are great in the snow, they go bald entirely too quickly. Kinda stuck with run flats so I’m not sure what to do.

Textured Soy Protein > My bird IS the word 12/16/2016 at 13:05

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Unless you have a leased car that needs to be turned in with run-flats (which I have had in the past) you’re never really “stuck” with run-flats. They suck. My 335xi has no spare and I don’t mess with run-flats.

J_P_Cars10s > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 13:11

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I just installed General Grabber AT2s on my Outback 6MT. They’re loud, but handle nice due to the stuffer sidewall. It is now an unstoppable battle wagon.

Textured Soy Protein > J_P_Cars10s 12/16/2016 at 13:35

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I was very happy with AT2s on my Grand Cherokee when I had it as a dedicated winter vehicle. Now I’m driving 1 car year-round so it gets snow tires for winter.

Textured Soy Protein > vicali 12/16/2016 at 13:48

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Unless you can bend the laws of physics to make them take up negative space, or store them in the Phantom Zone , then no amount of organization is going to change her mind.

vicali > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 14:06

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As someone who has gone off a stage just like these guys I cannot condone OEM all seasons on a Subie in snow..

Also a lot of tire shops offer winter tire storage.. I wouldn’t give them mine because I’ve also heard of shop selling them all off when they go out of business.

Mid Engine > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 14:17

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Had the same issue when I bought a new Jetta in 2013 (RIP, it was bought back in the Dieselgate program). I absolutely hated the tires on the car, I traded them in to America Tire with 2000 miles on them and got some Michelin Primacy tires instead. Very pleased with the Primacy choice, with the trade-in they cost me $425 for all four tires.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 14:36

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The conti pro contact, or something like that, got a set for my MILs car and they seem decent.

Textured Soy Protein > vicali 12/16/2016 at 15:04

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You’re trying to offer rational reasons why she should get snow tires. There is no rational reason for why she refuses to have another stack of tires in the garage. She just does. Like I said before, I have snow tires on my car and I know full well that they are a Very Good Thing™. But her car is getting better-than-stock all-seasons.

deekster_caddy > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 15:22

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Wow those OE Yokos get awful reviews on TireRack. Really, it all comes down to tirerack reviews with similar vehicles to yours. That’s the best way to make a decision if there are too many choices. Otherwise...

Continental all seasons tend to make people really happy, and they are usually less expensive than other tires (but do wear a little faster).

Best way to go is with dedicated winter and non-winter tires. Summer tires can make a car oh so much fun when it’s not winter, and winter tires are just awesome in winter. It’s all about braking distance on snow and ice, and winter tires will always win.

Interesting how OE tire requirements can so badly miss the mark for a lot of people.

deekster_caddy > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 15:23

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This - you can always put on non-runflat tires. Worst case scenario, carry a 12V air compressor and plug kit with you.

A lot of new cars are coming without spares, even ones that don’t have runflats. I hate runflat tires, they are awful.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 15:24

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Why does it have to be another stack? Just put them on top of yours to make a stack of 8. Doesn’t occupy any more floor space than your stack of 4.

Textured Soy Protein > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 12/16/2016 at 15:27

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The storage part of the garage has a low ceiling because of ducting to the a/c unit out back.

diplodicus > J_P_Cars10s 12/16/2016 at 15:28

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Dammit can’t get these in the right size for my e30.

Textured Soy Protein > deekster_caddy 12/16/2016 at 15:31

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Yeah that’s what I do, check the reviews from other Subaru owners (among other things). In the case if the BFGs I chose, it’s mostly from WRX, other assorted turbo model, and BRZ owners. But the consensus is they’re a solid winter option if not up to the level of real winter tires. I just want something competent for her, if the weather’s super bad she won’t be driving anyway. Benefit for me is they’re grippy when I drive her car although there’s only so much aggressive maneuvering she’ll tolerate as a passenger haha.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 15:34

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Wait, you have a dedicated storage space and she doesn’t want to store more stuff in it?

Textured Soy Protein > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 12/16/2016 at 15:42

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That part of our garage is all of our storage space. We live in a cheap rental townhouse and the basement is the laundry/utility room and large 1-car garage. The side of the garage is where we store anything and everything. Luggage, extra kitchen stuff, Christmas decorations, grill, patio furniture, car crap, all of it. We already have a fair amount of assorted crap there and she wants that space available for that assorted crap. The amount of car crap I’ve got in there has progressively grown over the years and it’s at about the limit of what she will tolerate.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 16:21

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Shame you couldn’t get the RT43's, I’ve got them on my Mercury Milan and they’ve done quite well in the snow here around Metro Detroit, we barely have any hills and I have no complaints about them through the winter.

I raced on them at RallyX too.

Quadradeuce > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 16:26

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Anyone who is telling you to get snow tires is clearly not married.

J_P_Cars10s > diplodicus 12/16/2016 at 18:09

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I was happy to find that they come in the stock size for my base model steelies! Definitely gives the vehicle a more SUV like feel and appearance. The AWD system is incredible when it’s not compensating for crappy all seasons.

dogisbadob > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 20:50

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I don’t like directional tires because you can’t rotate them. If you must get them, get them installed at Walmart because their free rotations includes flip/remount for directional tires, free lifetime balance/rotation. That said, the comp-2 is like the Official Tire of The Smoking Tire. Almost every car he one-takes has comp-2's!

I just got the Falken Ziex ZE950 last month, and they’re awesome so far.

Most OE tires suck, not just yours. They’re designed to just be cheap.

Textured Soy Protein > dogisbadob 12/16/2016 at 21:07

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You can rotate directional tires front to back and I get free rotations in my garage with my jack and lug wrench.

dogisbadob > vicali 12/16/2016 at 22:06

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those are some awesome images!

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Textured Soy Protein 12/16/2016 at 23:21

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My OE Yoko’s lasted 17k miles. Such POS

Textured Soy Protein > jvirgs drives a Subaru 12/16/2016 at 23:34

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There are so many great tires out there, from all kinds of different companies. It amazes me that the same companies make such horrible ones and that car companies pick the shitty ones on such a regular basis.

dogisbadob > My bird IS the word 12/17/2016 at 09:18

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Bridgestone DriveGuard :)

dogisbadob > deekster_caddy 12/17/2016 at 09:18

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OE tire requirements are mainly to just be as cheap as possible