Seeking Tires for 01 OBW LTD

[Bradley Walker]

Hello all,

For a while now I've been searching for new tires for my Outback Wagon. It
still has the original OEM Firestone Wilderness tires on it and the car now
has a total 96,000 miles and finally... my left rear developed a flat. I
knew it was coming just a matter of time and thankfully it happened while
parked in the garage vs being on the highway. I'll just borrow my moms car
until mine is fixed in the next day or so. I figure I'll put a can of
"Fix-A-Flat" in it to get me to the garage to have them swapped out.

For the last few weeks I have been looking and the Goodyear Assurance
Tripletreads have peaked my attention as an amazing tire for deep snow,
light snow, and ice traction WITH dry/wet/ and other great traction ratings
on TireRack.com. However as I started to buy a set this week, I called
everywhere, Walmart, Sears, all the local shops, etc. Everyone told me that
due to a Goodyear strike that appearantly won't end soon, ALL Goodyear tires
are disappearing fast. Stores are out of and can't order TripleTreads, and
a few are trying to track down any tires in stock in other stores in and out
of the region.

However the way it looks... I'm going to have to find something alternate.
I stumbled across the Michelin Hydroedge and those had nearly the same
ratings as the TripleTreads on tirerack.com, but appearantly they are not in
the 225/60-16 size. Does anyone know what a suitable replacement would be?

Brad

 

[Oscar_Lives]

Hello all,

For a while now I've been searching for new tires for my Outback Wagon.
It still has the original OEM Firestone Wilderness tires on it and the car
now has a total 96,000 miles and finally... my left rear developed a flat.
I knew it was coming just a matter of time and thankfully it happened
while parked in the garage vs being on the highway. I'll just borrow my
moms car until mine is fixed in the next day or so. I figure I'll put a
can of "Fix-A-Flat" in it to get me to the garage to have them swapped
out.

For the last few weeks I have been looking and the Goodyear Assurance
Tripletreads have peaked my attention as an amazing tire for deep snow,
light snow, and ice traction WITH dry/wet/ and other great traction
ratings on TireRack.com. However as I started to buy a set this week, I
called everywhere, Walmart, Sears, all the local shops, etc. Everyone
told me that due to a Goodyear strike that appearantly won't end soon, ALL
Goodyear tires are disappearing fast. Stores are out of and can't order
TripleTreads, and a few are trying to track down any tires in stock in
other stores in and out of the region.

However the way it looks... I'm going to have to find something alternate.
I stumbled across the Michelin Hydroedge and those had nearly the same
ratings as the TripleTreads on tirerack.com, but appearantly they are not
in the 225/60-16 size. Does anyone know what a suitable replacement would
be?

Brad

Take those Wilderness tires in and get them replaced under the recall.

Goodyear tires are OK if you get the top-of-the-line tires, but lesser
Goodyear tires are junk.

Best bet: BF Goodrich Radial Long Trail T/A or Michelin Cross-Terrain
tires.

 

[Bradley Walker]

There was a recall for thise Firestone Wilderness tires??

 

[Body Roll]

Hello all,

For a while now I've been searching for new tires for my Outback Wagon. It
still has the original OEM Firestone Wilderness tires on it and the car now
has a total 96,000 miles and finally... my left rear developed a flat. I
knew it was coming just a matter of time and thankfully it happened while
parked in the garage vs being on the highway. I'll just borrow my moms car
until mine is fixed in the next day or so. I figure I'll put a can of
"Fix-A-Flat" in it to get me to the garage to have them swapped out.

For the last few weeks I have been looking and the Goodyear Assurance
Tripletreads have peaked my attention as an amazing tire for deep snow,
light snow, and ice traction WITH dry/wet/ and other great traction ratings
on TireRack.com. However as I started to buy a set this week, I called
everywhere, Walmart, Sears, all the local shops, etc. Everyone told me that
due to a Goodyear strike that appearantly won't end soon, ALL Goodyear tires
are disappearing fast. Stores are out of and can't order TripleTreads, and
a few are trying to track down any tires in stock in other stores in and out
of the region.

However the way it looks... I'm going to have to find something alternate.
I stumbled across the Michelin Hydroedge and those had nearly the same
ratings as the TripleTreads on tirerack.com, but appearantly they are not in
the 225/60-16 size. Does anyone know what a suitable replacement would be?

As one poster on mitsubishi ng once put it: unless you specify what you
are
looking for in a tire you are going to get crap answers (and non model
specific brand bashing, but I repeat myself),
You asked this here before, haven't you? And there was something like
what, 20-30
replies to your post? I don't mind you asking over and over again. I
just mind
the lack of a new twist on the conversation that's all. I think
I remember recommending ContiExtremeContacts. I could probably
add RE960A/S and Wintersports M3 to that recommendation.
Just to be random enough. I'm not sure what Oscar meant by "crap tires"
since he did not expound on that notion.
To me crap tires are tires that don't grip AND don't last at the same
time
while carrying an exorbitant price tag. Case to the point is RE92.
Sooo, what are crap/good tires to you?

 

[Todd H.]

There was a recall for thise Firestone Wilderness tires??

The Wilderness truck tires had a recall iirc. The ones on the
outback were passenger car tires however, and were not (to the best of
my knowledge) affected by that recall.

I replaced my original Wildness tires pretty quickly since I rather
hated them.

The Kumho Ecsta HP4 716 tires in 225/60HR16 have been very good
performers for me. The Dunlop Sport A2's they replaced were
comparatively very noisy and went out of round very quickly. The
Kumho's are doing quite well and they were quite inexpensive.

Get a quote on them from tirerack.com and see how close a local dealer
is willing to match on price with installation. I bought mine from
tirerack, but won't do it again because if you factor in the cost of
rotation and balancing services through the life of the tire in, you
end up on the short end of the stick buying from tirerack and paying
only for installation. If you buy the tires from an actual tire
dealer, however, it's easy to get lifetime rotation/balance.

Someone on this group though found a place that'd install tirerack
tires and offer lifetime balance/rotation... But the place that
installed mine said "should've ordered the tires from us--we'd have
matched the price if you asked, they'd have arrived quicker with
cheaper shipping, and we'd be happy to balance and rotate them for
life."

Best Regards,

 

[KLS]

Someone on this group though found a place that'd install tirerack
tires and offer lifetime balance/rotation... But the place that
installed mine said "should've ordered the tires from us--we'd have
matched the price if you asked, they'd have arrived quicker with
cheaper shipping, and we'd be happy to balance and rotate them for
life."

Sounds like my garage, to which I've been faithful for 16 years and 5
cars and 6 or 7 complete sets of tires. Their prices are about the
same as Tirerack, and I'm supporting my honest, competent local
mechanic.

 

[John Rethorst]

The Wilderness truck tires had a recall iirc. The ones on the
outback were passenger car tires however, and were not (to the best of
my knowledge) affected by that recall.

See http://www.cars101.com/outback2001.html:

 

[John Rethorst]

However the way it looks... I'm going to have to find something alternate.
I stumbled across the Michelin Hydroedge and those had nearly the same
ratings as the TripleTreads on tirerack.com, but appearantly they are not in
the 225/60-16 size. Does anyone know what a suitable replacement would be?

Michelin makes the Hydroedge in 225/60 TR 16:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Michelin&model=HydroEdge&tirePageLocQ
ty=

I don't know the difference between R (original equip.) and TR.

 

[Todd H.]

See http://www.cars101.com/outback2001.html:

That's the sort of thing I recall having read a wile back. It wasn't
at that site, but looks like that wording got distributed far and
wide. Thanks John for a citation to support my recollection!

 

[Bradley Walker]

I checked out the HydroEdges and they are pretty close in being a very
suitable alternative. However when speaking with numerous shops, they said
they can not and will not install tires with a T or TR rating on a car
designed for an H or HR rating. I was told that the H rating is for speeds
of like 130mph and the T rating is for speeds of like 112mph, or something
similiar. Not only that but the sidewall strength is a bit weaker in the
slower rated tires. How true that is or wheather they are pressuring for
higher sales, I'm not sure.

But Sears did tell me they could... but it's a very dark gray area that
normally they say no too.

 

[David]

But Sears did tell me they could... but it's a very dark gray area that
normally they say no too.

Some places will some won't. If you want 'em, don't worry about it,
just use a shop that will.

The BF Goodrich Traction TA is a good, not too expensive tire, and it
has an outstanding AA traction rating (wet braking). Very few other
tires do better than the A rating of the Hydroedge.

When I bought a set a couple of years ago, it was top-rated on
tirerack. Isn't class leader anymore, but their customer ratings are
vague anyway: How accurately can you rate your old tires with 30000
miles on them? Or even your new tires, if you don't test other new
tires side by side.

 

[George Bame]

Interesting. When I replace the original Geolanders on my Forester 18
months or so ago, I bought Hydroedges from Tirerack and had my dealer
install them. Never heard a peep about T vs H rating. Oh, well...

George Bame
Norfolk, VA

 

[y_p_w]

I checked out the HydroEdges and they are pretty close in being a very
suitable alternative. However when speaking with numerous shops, they said
they can not and will not install tires with a T or TR rating on a car
designed for an H or HR rating. I was told that the H rating is for speeds
of like 130mph and the T rating is for speeds of like 112mph, or something
similiar. Not only that but the sidewall strength is a bit weaker in the
slower rated tires. How true that is or wheather they are pressuring for
higher sales, I'm not sure.

My biggest thing is that I'd prefer a tire with a jointless band nylon
(I think Michelin calls it "banded at zero) cap. They're sometimes
identified as a "polyamide belt" They serve to help dissapate heat
and hold together a tire that's suffered a blowout. I don't believe
the HydroEdge has a nylon cap, and that's probably reflected in
the speed and B temperature rating.

I drive a WRX, so my taste in tires runs towards a higher performance
model with moderately high treadlife. I'm currently running the
Bridgestone RE960AS, but have yet to try it out in the snow. I did
try it out in the rain, and it was pretty good when nearly new.

But Sears did tell me they could... but it's a very dark gray area that
normally they say no too.

Typically tire installers will have no problem with installer lower
than OEM speed rated tires if they're dedicated winter tires. I've
heard of some installers asking that a waiver be signed noting that
you realize you're getting a lower speed rating than OEM.