I Would Like to Meet the Engineer Who Chose These Tires

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Hi All
I'm new here so this might have been discussed already. I just purchased a 2023 Outback Limited XT to replace my 2011 Outback Limited. This is the first car I have ever owned that I would buy another one of. The 2011 has 156K on it with nothing more than regular maintenance. Since we live in the North East we travel in some inclement weather with never a problem. So with that said the other night in some pretty hard rain the car got squirrely on me (the traction control light came on and I felt the car correcting it self) now this wasn't a 3 inches of standing water it was just a wet road on a turn. The next morning I started doing some research on the Yokohama Avast GT tires these tires have a dismal ratings I saw as low as 4.2 out of 10. Why would an engineer working for a car company that builds the best all wheel drive cars, notorious for rally racing and go anywhere driving, use such crappy tires? So I asked. I was told the Yokohama is a low resistance tire to save fuel. You know what will save fuel? When I slide off the road and this ends up in the junk yard. Today I spent $1000 for 4 new Bridgestone. I think its crazy to have to replace tires with less than 600 miles on them I wasn't the first guy to replace these Yokohama according to my tire shop. If these are on your car and you live where it rains and snows be careful the car is great the tires are crap.
 
Unfortunate you had that experience and the Subaru did react as expected with the Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) active. With the models I drive, there is a remarkable difference between all-season and winter tires.
Yokohama Avast GT:
https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/avid-ascend-gt

Your experience:
Hydroplane
https://www.caranddriver.com/shopping-advice/a26311127/hydroplaning-definition-prevent-recovering/

All-season tires are not winter tires especially with the winter conditions lately.
What Yokohama may advertise in their propaganda is not realistic while living in the North East.
All-season tires and the rubber treads, become much harder than the winter compositions.
Above the 49th parallel, it will always be winter tires (studded) if allowed between jurisdictions.

Fortunately my experience was with 4 new (6 month old) all-season and 4 new studded winters in the last two months. The differences are profound.

It's not the engineers, it's the marketing departments and what eds up being the "best bang for the buck".
 
I just bought a new 2023 Outback Onyx. With less than 300 miles on them, I ditched the stock Yokahama Avid GT's and replaced them with the Bridgestone Weatherpeaks. Why would Subaru put such a garbage tire on an all wheel drive car which is marketed for snowy northern climates? The stock Yokahamas were worthless on snow and ice and down right dangerous. You shouldn't have to layout $1000 on tires for a brand new vehicle. The Weatherpeaks are awesome on snow and ice and actually improved my fuel economy (3 lbs lighter than stock).
 

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