New Tires Advice

[sadarahu]

What would be your recommendation fro Subaru Forester 2007 to get god new tires. I want full season tires (probably not the top and most expensive but also not the cheap crap). Usually there is  point where the effectivness VS efficiency cross. I would tend to get the tires which are good for light off road driving. There are known brands (which I'm familiar with) and they are pretty expensive but there are also brands that are new ( I do not know them) but perhaps might be good as well. I would definitely prefer tires which are less noisy (not concerned much about guaranteed millage as I might have new Subaru at that time...)

I appreciate your insight.

 

Arthur

 

[idosubaru]

Michelins are the awesome. Nearly every tire they make is really good, IMO they're across the board quality is untouchable by big suppliers. All the others make great tires too...and some rather poor performers.

 

But they're pricey. general altimax are a good price performer for what you get and a few other lesser known brands have good reviews and you can read other reviews by searching online - perusing 100 threads is more helpful and less anecdotal than one thread with 8 responses.

 

That said the altimax and yokos or whatever I've bought with good ratings perform great out of the box but do seem to wear quicker and degrade performance a little each year. Not a ton and I run dedicated snow tires in the winter anyway so I don't care, but enough that I wouldn't want them for Winter use. First winter great....after that I notice a difference.

[1 Lucky Texan]

dunno about any off-road comparisons, but you might take a look at Pirelli Cinturato . For cheaper/'value' tires, look at Kumho.

 

tirerack has a tire selection guide that might be worth a look too.

 

GG and other members here that experience snow should have good suggestions I'd think.

Edited July 22, 2016 by 1 Lucky Texan

[Legback0203]

I run Yokohama YK580's on my 02 outback. Pretty affordable and I've been very happy with performance.

[heartless]

I have been super happy with my Mastercraft all season touring tires. These are made by Cooper without the Cooper price tag.

They are wearing very well - have been on the car for a couple of years now. I purchased a set of dedicated snow tires when I first got this car (was winter when I got it), but have not used them since that first winter as the all season tires are quite capable in crappy weather...

 

The ones I have on my 95 Legacy are comparable to the Cooper CS4, but are being replaced with ones comparable to the CS5 now. I am looking at getting the new version for my new to me 2002 Forester soon.

http://mastercrafttires.com/Tires/Passenger/LSR-Grand-Touring.aspx

 

the other half is also running the same type Mastercraft tires on his 2006 LL Bean Outback and is quite happy with his as well.

[idosubaru]

I have been super happy with my Mastercraft

.

 

Mastercrafts are really popular around here as well, i see them all the time.  i should give them a whirl some time. 

 

Kelly Safari Signature on my friends XTerra are amazing - i assume it's mostly the tires. He's ran them forever, warn down to the bars, rubber is looking old showing signs of cracking, and did great this winter for his profession where he can't adjust or not show in bad weather.  They're meant for SUV's and larger vehicles and "light off roading" i presume and maybe would resist rock chipping from offroad use.

[heartless]

Mastercrafts are really popular around here as well, i see them all the time.  i should give them a whirl some time. 

 

Kelly Safari Signature on my friends XTerra are amazing - i assume it's mostly the tires. He's ran them forever, warn down to the bars, rubber is looking old showing signs of cracking, and did great this winter for his profession where he can't adjust or not show in bad weather.  They're meant for SUV's and larger vehicles and "light off roading" i presume and maybe would resist rock chipping from offroad use.

 

I ran Kelly's on my 90 Legacy and was happy with them, too, for the most part. (i don't remember the exact model anymore)

 

But Mastercraft just seems to be better all around - wear, traction, fuel mileage doesn't suffer (it did a little with the Kelly's - softer compound perhaps?) they are quiet (unless you are on grooved concrete - then nothing is quiet! LOL) and I have done a little light off-roading with them with no problems. Probably not the best tire for a lot of off-roading, but they are capable enough for some trail running.

 

The Mastercraft website has a tire selector - enter your year, make & model and it will bring up the suggested tires for that vehicle (side note: Forester is listed as "Subaru Truck")

[Rooster2]

I have been running Ohtsu tires on my Jeep, daughter's Hyundai, and my 98 OBW. I have been happy with the price, performance, and wear. Ohtsu is made by Falken tires,or maybe the other way around. It is a Japanese tire. They perform well, and cost about $80/tire. I highly recommend them.

 

Michelin tires are all good, wear like iron, but are at a premium price. Seemed like after running them about 25K miles, the rubber gets hard, so performance falls off, but that hard rubber lasts forever.

[ccrinc]

Falkens and Yokohamas are great tires.

 

I have run Goodyear RAs on 2 Foresters now.  It's a light vehicle and I just wanted the better "grab" I got from them.  As long as you get a true all season that is M+S and at least S speed rated, you should be good.

 

Emily

[Fairtax4me]

I'll agree on the General Altimax. I've put those on a few of the vans we use at work and they are good quality tires. They do well in the rain and have good wear ratings.

 

I generally like any tire made by BFGoodrich, but I've used their Advantage T/a tires in the past and have not liked them. They tend to last quite a while, but the rain performance drops immensely after about the first 10k miles.

Even in light rain they can hydroplane. In heavy rain they're borderline dangerous. Not something that you would expect from a tire that still has more than 3/4 tread left on it.