My '99 OB needs crampons.

I'll let you know as soon as we get our first snowfall. I drove through = the winter with the Bridgestone Potenza All-seasons, and they absolutely = and positively SUCKED! I just bought Michelin Arctic Alpins and will = have them on by this weekend. As soon as the snow hits, I'll post.

June

Are these tires really that bad?

Todd

If you are looking for traction, you need snow tires. it doesn't make much difference if you have 2 or 4 tires turning if they are all slipping.

Stu

Harman wrote:

I don't know about your original XW4s but my '02 WRX wagon came with stock Bridgestone Potenza All-seasons and they are some of the worst tires! So Subaru has a reputation of putting crappy stock tires on their cars. (example: the new Mitsu Evo is rated much higher than the stock WRX in lateral grip, YEAH no kidding, the Evo comes with stock Summer ONLY sticky tires, the WRX comes with all season crap tires) Makes you wonder if you are supposed to take the evo to the snow! Anyway, enough with the mitsu bashing.

The Bridgestone Potenza All-seasons sucked in corners on dry (folded over if pushed too hard), the rear end stepped out in icy corners, and I spun all 4 from a stop on snow. But if you weren't doing over 45 on ice they were predictable, and now with 22k miles on them they are starting to let lose nicely for 4 wheel powerslides. Destroying tires is great.

The point being, don't expect much from the stock Suby tires. If you want winter traction buy a nice set of winter tires, if you want summer traction by a nice set of those. That's my two cents.

Ed

It looks like I'll be calling my local Nokian distributor for a price on a set of their all weather WR tires.

Does anyone have anything good to say about the XWRs?

Todd

subaru's (as well as most other car companies) oem tires absolutely suck. that's one place where the car makers can cut costs and people really don't notice until it's too late. if you want dedicated winter tires, look at the bridgestone blizzak, i have the winter dueler (truck version of the blizzak) on my 4runner and it's great. if you're looking for all season tires, i recommend the goodyear eagle hp. i have them on my legacy and they performed great last winter. one day i was driving home before the plows got out and i was going down the highway at 50mph using the bumper as a plow and had no issues at all.

mike

OE tires suck? Hmm, I haven't had that experience with Subie OE tires. I had a blowout and to get a matching new tire, I'm spending $145.00, installed. That is not a cheap tire, and I've priced tires in the discount places here. I can buy Michelins/Goodyears, etc. for $124 or so. I"m still leery of any tire with the word "stone" in the name, even though "the problem" was probably Ford's.

But I rarely drive tires beyond 30K miles unless they are exceptional and the car is very light and easy on the tires. I have always liked good brakes and great tires for security. 30K miles and they slip, what's to ask? Buy new ones!