Best All-Season Tire

Hey folks, new here - sorry if this is a redundant topic...In the market for the best possible all-season tire for my 2005 Legacy living up here in New England - much snow, ice, rain throughout the year...do a lot of highway driving, but also do quite a bit of snow driving (snowstorms, ski trips, etc.)...any suggestions? I currently have the OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE92s on right now...Thanks!

The only All Season with the Severe Duty snow rating is the Nokian WR.

I hear a lot of praise about those Nokian WR tires. My question is this - how will they hold up on hot summer days when your are traveling at highway speeds or on a curvy stretch of highway and it's hot as hell out. Wouldn't they tires wear down ultra fast?

Pzero Nero M+S

or

Michelin pilot Allseason

or

Kumho Ecsta ASX

RE960 A/S? But maybe not for Mass.

As in all season - he means a tire that will be used in every situation - no swapping to winters or summers.

I think I am gonna really look into the Nokian WR for myself, since I am gonna get my Legacy new tires for Christmas.

only reason to buy WR's is if you will deal with snow on a regular basis. I have them on my MINI now for winter use. Overkill for normal DC winters, but out here by me, we get hit 4x as hard as DC for some reason.

 

my wife's car has Avon M550 A/S this year - she complained about the WR's being too 'light' when pushing the car hard, so we went with a more sporting choice. if the weather gets bad, we'll ride in my car with the WR's or just work from home.

 

WR's + AWD = teh win. I had a hard time slowing down on a slight downhill with snow last year on Toyo's, while Highwaydrifter never broke loose with WR's on his wagon right behind me. They work.

Pzero Nero M+S

I have these on my car right now... They are GREAT... As for the snow, sure it doesnt snow in Texas... But the one occassion it DID snow (1 week ago), then it iced over, then it snowed more, then iced over hard... Yea... 2 days of it... we got almost 4 inches I think... lol. But I have to say, they held up VERY well, in the snow I had quite a bit of traction... The ice obviously was tricky since you cant get any traction on pure sheets of ice (unless you have studs, and even then its a little tough) but Im VERY impressed how well they held up. It was also a blast to be able to actually go out and have a bit of fun with the AWD But thats for another thread.

Definately a great tire though.

only reason to buy WR's is if you will deal with snow on a regular basis. I have them on my MINI now for winter use. Overkill for normal DC winters, but out here by me, we get hit 4x as hard as DC for some reason.

 

my wife's car has Avon M550 A/S this year - she complained about the WR's being too 'light' when pushing the car hard, so we went with a more sporting choice. if the weather gets bad, we'll ride in my car with the WR's or just work from home.

 

WR's + AWD = teh win. I had a hard time slowing down on a slight downhill with snow last year on Toyo's, while Highwaydrifter never broke loose with WR's on his wagon right behind me. They work.

 

 

I've read the WR's can be used year round.

 

 

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Question - how much do Nokian WR's go for in US dollars in 225/45/17 size?

Hey, after all of the suggestions & some diligent research by myself, I think I'm going to throw some Pirelli PZero Nero M&S on my '05 Legacy 2.5i...both TireRack and 1010Tires rate this tire pretty high, and your help with suggesting it was equally as important...like I said, I'm new here, and this was a great experience - thanks for your help!

I think I am gonna really look into the Nokian WR for myself, since I am gonna get my Legacy new tires for Christmas.

 

Didn't you just buy some Toyo Proxy 4s , you didn't lke them?

P-Zero Nero M+S FTW!

I think the best choice in this category is the Michelin Pilot exalto A/s - dont know about the winter traction, but this tire outperforms a lot of summer only performance tires both in the dry and in the wet.

 

Check it out at tirerack, look at the tirerack tests - not the consumer reviews.

 

If I had to get an a/s - this would be it.

I'm very pleased with my ContiExtremes. Quite good in the dry, excellent in the wet and very good in the snow/ice I've so far encountered. The tread is fairly aggressive for an A/S (I'm actually using them as my winter set up) so if you don't see too much snow then a tire more suited to dry/wet conditions might be more appropriate. I say that because my gas mileage dropped off somewhat and I put that down to more rolling resistance due to squirm from the aggressive tread pattern (or it could be from crappy winter gas).

Overkill for normal DC winters, but out here by me, we get hit 4x as hard as DC for some reason.

 

That's cause you folks are 4 hours away from DC! (J/K - I'm guessing anything 15-20 miles outside the city and you'll get an extra two inches or more. Every ten miles outside of that gets you another extra inch or two.)

 

Back to the topic of all-seasons, I'm looking forward to my first winter on ContiExtremes (but admitedly, at 18" I'm at a disadvantage vs. 17"). Off-snow, ContiExtremes are VERY comfortable, but you can feel the softer sidewalls on hard cornering.

That's cause you folks are 4 hours away from DC! (J/K - I'm guessing anything 15-20 miles outside the city and you'll get an extra two inches or more. Every ten miles outside of that gets you another extra inch or two.)

 

Back to the topic of all-seasons, I'm looking forward to my first winter on ContiExtremes (but admitedly, at 18" I'm at a disadvantage vs. 17"). Off-snow, ContiExtremes are VERY comfortable, but you can feel the softer sidewalls on hard cornering.

 

I bumped the psi up in mine which helped the sidewall feel as I'm running 215/50/17 to approximately match the OEM Spec.B 215/45/18 circumference. I figure the extra sidewall will help during pothole season.

Kumho ASX's.......better in every aspect than stock (for the price) except snow.

 

I have not had enough snow here to make a judgement.

Didn't you just buy some Toyo Proxy 4s , you didn't lke them?

 

I have a year and a half with them now. I was looking for something that would give me a smoother more comfortable ride. Plus, I loved the Toyo's when it is warmer out, but cold weather - I'm not sure about - maybe it's because they are a little worn now.

Bridgestone Potenza G-009 have done well in the snow so far

sebberry - how would you rate them in terms of comfort? I'm looking to make my Legacy a bit more comfortable. It's a GT sedan - looking to keep the fast since that's the fun part, but also more comfortable than what the current set up is now.

Bridgestone Potenza G-009 have done well in the snow so far

I've been doing a lot of research on that tire, and am curious how much you've driven on it...Up here in MA, we get our fair share of snow, and we do a lot of ski trips, so by the looks of the tread pattern, it looks like it would be a great improvement over the RE92...any info would be greatly appreciated!

Also, anyone here done any work with Town Fair Tire? I think they're found primarily in the northeast...Well, they push Toyo's on you like they're the only tire MADE...are they a good product? Worth $149/tire? Thanks!

 

I am running 39 37..you are good for even higher.

 

I'm actually at 42/40 cold. They still look flat