Winter Driving - 2004 Forester

Thanks for this review; how many miles have you put on these tires so far? I'm really interested in knowing how they perform after 20k and

I got rid of the Geolandars at 17,000km (10,500miles). I now have 59,000km on the vehicle so 42,000km on the TripleTreads (2 winters). I am finding no descernible difference from last winter to now. Note that "coast" snow is often slipperier than the really cold stuff in the interior. The wear rating on the Goodyears is 840 (I'm pretty sure) while the wear rating on the Geolandars is 420 or some such low number. The Traction rating on the Goodyears is A while the Geolandars is B. There really is no comparison. I cannot understand why Subaru would continue to put such a poor performing tire on anything. IMO, only the sophisticated AWD system keeps their decision from being a total disaster.

Consumers Reports and TireRack.com both report the TripleTreads as the Top All Season tire.

Grolsch

How do you rate them on ice?

CR says only if icy roads are NOT a consideration the go with the TripleTreads.

I would agree that if icy roads are your PRIME concern then go for a true ice tire or studs. For me, I drive all manner of highway and backroads in coastal weather. That can mean many things including mountain passes, heavy rain, snow, slush, gravel and so on. In my opinion these are the best all around tire I have yet driven. I had a set of Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice tires on a 90 Legacy. They were very good on icy surfaces but really poor in wet braking. They felt sloppy too and changed radically after about 10,000km. The Triple Treads don't feel sloppy at all and actually feel more like a performance tire. Cornering is awsome as is wet and dry braking.

Grolsch

Hey, so you guys in BC finally got a chance to try out your AWD, right? We're having a bit of BC weather here in Montreal and Ottawa at the moment. Of course it looks like you guys are having our weather instead. :-)

How superior do you feel in your Subie vs. your neighbours? :-)

Yousuf Khan

My Outback originally came with Nokian Hakkapeliitta NRW's. Those were just amazing all-season tires on snow. But of course there's not much in the all season variety that's any good on ice. They're kind of expensive though. When they wore out, I replaced them with Canadian Tire Motomaster LR's. With the Motomasters, you can take them into any Canadian Tire and get free wheel rotations and tire patching if you have a puncture.

Here's the Nokian description:

Nokian Hakkapeliitta NRW All-Weather Tires from Tire Factory