I was leaning towards a set of 16" rims with Blizzarks.  My brother is a huge fan of them on his Quattro, and I know these OEM tires will not do the trick.  I travel to NE a lot, so it is time to actually invest in real snow tires.

From what I've read and heard, the continental contiextremes are your best bet for everything. Well priced, good all-weather, ultra high performance, and decent treadwear while maintaining low weight.

Trade-offs seem to be flatspotting in the cold and (possibly) a little more likely to bubble in the sidewall from potholes/ruts.

Available in a wide variety of sizes, I'll probably get them for the 9-2x when I can talk my fiance/wife into it "But hun....these tires suck and I want new tires!"

SilverSubaab wrote:

they had a ton of rolling resistance, I lost like 2 mpg when I had these on from other tires I ran, etc..

FWIW, I've found that almost all dedicated snow tires have a ton of rolling resistance.  That goes for the Bridgestone Blizzaks, Pirelli 190P and 210P, Dunlop WinterSport M2, Conti Contact Extreme, Nokian, Haks, and Yokohama Guardex that I've used over the years.

My favorite of all of these have been the Dunlop WinterSport M2s.  Great combination of snow traction, handling, and quietness.

I have heard very mixed opinions regarding Falken. Some people thing they're the greatest, some think they're absolute crap.

Before I traded my Protege5, I had JUST put on a set of Bridgestone Potenza G009s, which weren't bad.  Actually the were free, since the charge has not yet appeared on my online credit card statement, after more than a month :-)

I am giving thought to the Nokian WR. It is an all-season, but with strong winter performance. It has the "severe service" emblem on it (snowflake & mountain), yet it is warranted for 50k miles, and can be left on year round.  I had these as my winter tires for my Protege5. They were a bit squishy, and didn't handle so great on dry pavement, but that maybe due to the fact that I used a 195-65-14 when the stock tires for that car are 195-50-16. That's quite a difference in sidewall, but I did appreciate the smoother ride. The tires were also very quiet, much quieter than the stock Dunlop Sport 5000s and I suffered no gas mileage penalty, it actually improved.

I've seen a few Subaru forums where people have used the WR and liked it.  I'm wondering if year-round dry pavement handling will be good enough for me. I'm not a speed racer, this is my daily driver/commuter car.

While I like the AWD and ABS that the 9-2x has, I like the fact that a good winter-ish tire gives you added lateral stablity and improved braking.  This time around though, I want to only have one set of wheels, so I want to pick that one set carefully.

I sell tires part time (10 years +).  Continentals are pretty crappy tires.

Look at BFG traction ta's (great tire), or michelin sport a/s (ditto), for a performance all season.

When these tires wear out on my car I will replace them with one of the 2 above tires.

I have had bf goodrich traction t/a's v speed rated on my volvo 850 turbo for about 8000 miles....my volvo has a slightly tweaked frame...

I will say this about them. They don't balance out perfectly, but can get pretty damn close. They don't have a centered feel because from 205 width up they have no continuous tread. And mine exacerbate a pull to the right, as proven with rotation and from previous tires (probably caused by the frame bend).

They got me through EVERYTHING in the winter with no problems. Steep hills with plowed and unplowed snow, ice, wet...not a single problem all winter. And I got into some sticky situations where sliding would've resulted in an accident. I even deliberately drove into piles of snow and ice to test the limits of the car. No problems.

Same on wet and in the dry. I've never lost traction, even when I've slammed the gas while making a sharp turn from a stop. You'll feel some slight spinning but you're launching.

But, they are not that comfortable, moderate noise, and not a good straight line feel. I would not buy them again personally...but they do live up to their name, great all season traction.

Rod,

Are these the  BFGs youa re talking about?

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp … mpare1=yes

I ask because one reviewer says they arent that great in the snow.  Thanks!

When I had a original (1990) Subaru Legacy Wagon (beater car, renovating a Condo), I replace it's tires with BFG
Traction T/A's based upon reviews on TireRack's website. When they were first put on the car, I thought, "these
things are mush" (I am an aggressive driver, with a couple of SCCA Regional Championships under my belt), but
as they broke in they turned out to be really a very nice compromise tire. Decent dry, wet and surprisingly (I don't believe in "all-seasons") snow traction, especially if you're only doing snow work on local roads. Made the car (in heavy
snow) abit tail happy, but in a fun way (although you could, under drop throttle, cause yourself to spin out, rally style), and it would be slightly more so on the 9-2X due to the shorter wheelbase. But overall, a strongly suggested all-season tire that is truely, All-Season. Weared well, too. Other's I've suggested the tire to are quite happy with them, although that only happened this spring so the tires haven't seen snow yet. I do run dedicated snows on my Audi (and will on the 9-2X Aero) but that's also because I run summer tires only for the other three seasons, and those won't work in snow, AWD or not. As for the RE-92s, they totally suck. Consider they were OEM on the 1990 Legacy and they sucked then. Even my dad (whom I bought the Legacy from) dumped the RE92's early (like within 2 years) and he was a conservative driver.

Living where competent snow travel is a must, and where the dreaded "wintry mix" is the most common winter affliction, I'm a strong believer in the proposition that an extra set of rims and real snow tires are the only way to go.

Last year my SAAB dealer offered a terrific deal on BBS rims and  Winterforce snows for my 9.5; the tires were close to free.  I'm hoping for something similar this fall for the 9.2x.  If not, I plan to get a set of Nokian Hakka Q's and some rota rims, and then when the Bridgestone's wear out, replace them with a set of Yokahama ES 100's.

Hi Izzy,
On your Impreza do you know you if you have H-Rated or V-rated Nokian WR's?? Would you feel comfortable with their handling if you used them all year?

I had them as my winter tires on my Protege5. Great traction, quiet, but kind of mushy in corners. I was using 195-65-14 T-rated, so I'm guessing that a 205-55-16 V-rated would probably be a lot more crisp.

yogi92x wrote:

I have the Falken Ziexs on my WRX and they are awesome.  Great performance in wet and dry and they do the job in the snow.  I thought they were the 215s but maybe im dyslexic and they are the 512s.  They are their all-season.  Ive also read great reviews on the Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S.  FWIW.

Im currently using falken ziex 512's on my subaru and it made an amzing difference by just changing tires on this car. When I trade in im going to see if I can re-mount my steelies and keep the wrx rims I have for track days, If not Im just going to buy new tires when I get the car.. thats how big a difference I felt.

CryderSpeed wrote:

Anyone know about these Avons? 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp … mpare1=yes

They have rave reviews on tirerack, but they're really cheap.  The perfect tire?

I bought a set of 17 inch ASA wheels with Avon 500s mounted.  the 500 is the summer version of the 550.  After 750 miles I am very happy with them.  Good grip, quiet and not too harsh even though they are 225/45-17s.  Great handling improvement over the stock 16 inch RE92s.  Avon is British company known for supplying tires to Rolls Royce and Bentley.  Recently bought by Cooper tire.  Can't comment yet on wear, etc.  I plan on running the RE92s in the winter.