Which replacement tires for Subaru Forester?

[yngver]

I had an unrepairable flat and had no choice but to replace all four
tires on my 2006 Forester XS. Since I was using the small-size spare
Sears kind of had me over a barrel because I didn't dare drive to work
on the highway on the spare. I bought Michelin Primacy MX4 tires but I
am not happy with the steering response. For one thing, there is a
slight lag at low speeds when turning, which I am not used to (the
Yokohama Geolanders seemed to have instantaneous response). It is also
harder to turn at low speeds, which means parallel parking is harder.
Sears already fiddled with the wheel alignment which helped a little,
but not much.

I have 30 days to exchange the tires--Sears used up almost two weeks
of that, however, by first saying they could order the OE Yokohama
Geolandars for me and then deciding they couldn't. Since I can't get
Yokohamas, any suggestions on another tire that would handle better
than the Michelin Primacy? Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S seems to have
good ratings in this regard on TireRack, but I don't want to exchange
the tires and then find out the handling is even worse.
-yngver

 

[Catherine Jefferson]

I have 30 days to exchange the tires--Sears used up almost two weeks
of that, however, by first saying they could order the OE Yokohama
Geolandars for me and then deciding they couldn't. Since I can't get
Yokohamas, any suggestions on another tire that would handle better
than the Michelin Primacy? Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S seems to have
good ratings in this regard on TireRack, but I don't want to exchange
the tires and then find out the handling is even worse.
-yngver

We use Michelin Harmony tires on our 1999 Subaru Forester. We bought it
about fifteen months ago, and almost immediately replaced all four tires
because one of the previous tires was badly damaged when we bought it.
(The car was otherwise an excellent deal and the dealer knocked off part
of the cost from the purchase price.) In the last fifteen months, we've
driven the car about 25,000 miles probably about 90% on road and 10% off
road. (We have fun with it.) ;-) Both city street and highway handling
are excellent, and the tires have performed well off-road as well.
(Including over some "Mitchell scale" class four roads that took about
everything this vehicle and its drivers have to manage.) :>

Your mileage may vary, but we've been quite happy.

 

[yngver]

We use Michelin Harmony tires on our 1999 Subaru Forester. We bought it
about fifteen months ago, and almost immediately replaced all four tires
because one of the previous tires was badly damaged when we bought it.
(The car was otherwise an excellent deal and the dealer knocked off part
of the cost from the purchase price.) In the last fifteen months, we've
driven the car about 25,000 miles probably about 90% on road and 10% off
road. (We have fun with it.) ;-) Both city street and highway handling
are excellent, and the tires have performed well off-road as well.
(Including over some "Mitchell scale" class four roads that took about
everything this vehicle and its drivers have to manage.) :>

Your mileage may vary, but we've been quite happy.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the Michelin Harmony. If you didn't buy
the Forester new, do you know how it is supposed to handle with OE
tires? One of the main reasons we bought the 2006 Forester was the
nimble handling--or it seemed very nimble compared to my husband's
1999 Legacy. After only 25,000 miles on the Forester I am not prepared
to give up on the kind of responsiveness I like about this car. I had
no idea the tires had a lot to do with that. A lot of people might
like the Michelin Primacy tires because they do give a smooth, quiet
ride but I think they would be a better match for a sedan. I want my
Forester to be fun to drive too!

We don't take the Forester off-road but it has been on some primitive
dirt roads and I like the way it handles in the snow as well. Most of
my driving is city and highway, though.
-yngver

 

[Howard]

Thanks, I'll take a look at the Michelin Harmony. If you didn't buy
the Forester new, do you know how it is supposed to handle with OE
tires? One of the main reasons we bought the 2006 Forester was the
nimble handling--or it seemed very nimble compared to my husband's
1999 Legacy. After only 25,000 miles on the Forester I am not prepared
to give up on the kind of responsiveness I like about this car. I had
no idea the tires had a lot to do with that. A lot of people might
like the Michelin Primacy tires because they do give a smooth, quiet
ride but I think they would be a better match for a sedan. I want my
Forester to be fun to drive too!

We don't take the Forester off-road but it has been on some primitive
dirt roads and I like the way it handles in the snow as well. Most of
my driving is city and highway, though.
-yngver

Not on a Subaru but I bought Kuhmo Tires from Sears. They were great and
priced about 1/2 comparable Michelins (for a 5.0 Mustang). You might see if
the Sears outlet you are using could get Kuhmo Solus tires for your Subaru.
That tire comes in the Subaru size.

 

[Catherine Jefferson]

Thanks, I'll take a look at the Michelin Harmony. If you didn't buy
the Forester new, do you know how it is supposed to handle with OE
tires?

I can't say. We got the vehicle with very low mileage -- just under 45K
miles, which for a 1999 purchased in 2007 is unusual. The tires on it
were not the tires Subaru sold it with, though -- they were some "high
performance" tires that were wider than spec. I don't know whether to
attribute the poor condition of those tires to the tire manufacturer or
the previous drivers, but suspect the second.

My previous car before the Forester was a 1998 Outback Sport, by the
way. It handled like a dream, crisp and responsive. The Forester
handles very well too, but I don't find it quite as much fun to drive on
road. (Off-road it's definitely superior.)

One of the main reasons we bought the 2006 Forester was the
nimble handling--or it seemed very nimble compared to my husband's
1999 Legacy. After only 25,000 miles on the Forester I am not prepared
to give up on the kind of responsiveness I like about this car. I had
no idea the tires had a lot to do with that. A lot of people might
like the Michelin Primacy tires because they do give a smooth, quiet
ride but I think they would be a better match for a sedan. I want my
Forester to be fun to drive too!

Well, our Harmonies have taken us up a washed out jeep track to the back
door of Bodie, California, an old mining town at around 9,000 ft.
altitude. The road was a bear, and the car made it over two washed out
areas that would have been too much many trucks. We were glad for
the aftermarket skid plates that day!

The only time I've wanted different tires on the car was this winter
when we had to drive over iced-in roads. And even then, I doubt that
studded snow tires would have met the need; we needed the cable chains.

We don't take the Forester off-road but it has been on some primitive
dirt roads and I like the way it handles in the snow as well. Most of
my driving is city and highway, though.

Same here. "Off-road" refers to those types of dirt roads too,
apparently, although I always called them "on bad road" instead. It
sounds as if you want to do the same type of driving we do. There have
been some significant changes between the 1999 and 2006 Foresters, but I
don't really know how much that would affect the proper tires for them.
Maybe someone else here who has a 2005 or 2006 Forester can add to this.

 

[hippo]

I had an unrepairable flat and had no choice but to replace all four
tires on my 2006 Forester XS. Since I was using the small-size spare
Sears kind of had me over a barrel because I didn't dare drive to work
on the highway on the spare. I bought Michelin Primacy MX4 tires but I
am not happy with the steering response. For one thing, there is a
slight lag at low speeds when turning, which I am not used to (the
Yokohama Geolanders seemed to have instantaneous response). It is also
harder to turn at low speeds, which means parallel parking is harder.
Sears already fiddled with the wheel alignment which helped a little,
but not much.

I have 30 days to exchange the tires--Sears used up almost two weeks
of that, however, by first saying they could order the OE Yokohama
Geolandars for me and then deciding they couldn't. Since I can't get
Yokohamas, any suggestions on another tire that would handle better
than the Michelin Primacy? Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S seems to have
good ratings in this regard on TireRack, but I don't want to exchange
the tires and then find out the handling is even worse.
-yngver

What pressures are you running with these? and on the old ones? and di
they do a 4 wheel align or just the front end? Cheer

 

[bigjimpack]

dont get kumho made in china they suck- made in korea are fine

 

[Todd H.]

Not on a Subaru but I bought Kuhmo Tires from Sears. They were great and
priced about 1/2 comparable Michelins (for a 5.0 Mustang). You might see if
the Sears outlet you are using could get Kuhmo Solus tires for your Subaru.
That tire comes in the Subaru size.

I had Kumho's on my Outback for a couple very miserable vibrating on
teh high way years. Never could balance those pieces of crap after
they had 8000 miles on them.

And they were the darlings of tireack.com reviews at the time. Never
again.

I've got Michelins on my Outback now, and for the first time in the
car's 125k mile life, I haven't had any balance problems with the
tires. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

Best Regards,

 

[Howard]

I had Kumho's on my Outback for a couple very miserable vibrating on
teh high way years. Never could balance those pieces of crap after
they had 8000 miles on them.

And they were the darlings of tireack.com reviews at the time. Never
again.

I've got Michelins on my Outback now, and for the first time in the
car's 125k mile life, I haven't had any balance problems with the
tires. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

Best Regards,

Sorry you had such poor service from your Kumho's. Mine have been great.
Luck of the draw I guess. Better to be lucky than smart.

Howard

 

[yngver]

yngver <(e-mail address removed)> Jul 28, 2008 at 09:08 AM
wrote:




What pressures are you running with these? and on the old ones? and did
they do a 4 wheel align or just the front end? Cheers

On the Primacys, they originally put the pressures at 29 all around,
which is what Subaru recommends. We bumped it up to 32 psi which
helped some. Should I go higher? I kept the Geolandars around 30-31.

They did a four wheel alignment. I don't really understand the
alignment parameters all that well, but my husband did some research
and went back and had them change the toe-in, (I believe). A little
more responsive but again, not like the original tires. I'm wondering
if it would be worth it to take it to the dealer for an alignment.
Sears just does the alignment to be somewhere within the specs, but my
understanding is there's a lot of room within the specs and that can
affect steering response. They were supposed to give us a printout of
the original alignment specs, which I would have liked to have seen,
but they had the excuse that there was no black ink in their printer
so I don't know what they were before or if I even needed an
alignment.
-yngver

 

[yngver]

I had Kumho's on my Outback for a couple very miserable vibrating on
teh high way years. Never could balance those pieces of crap after
they had 8000 miles on them.

And they were the darlings of tireack.com reviews at the time. Never
again.

I've got Michelins on my Outback now, and for the first time in the
car's 125k mile life, I haven't had any balance problems with the
tires. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

Best Regards,

What kind of Michelins? My husband has a 1999 Legacy Wagon (here in
Chicago) and will need to buy new tires soon.
-yngver

 

[Todd H.]

What kind of Michelins? My husband has a 1999 Legacy Wagon (here in
Chicago) and will need to buy new tires soon.
-yngver

Symmetry it seems. I got em at a Wal Mart tire center (and shockingly
service there was very fast to boot). I was so frustrated with a
long string of tires that had gone our of round I just said, "screw it
if it's a Michelin and in stock I'm buyin it." It was in stock at
a near by Wal Mart tire center, price wasn't too hateful, and they're
still round. I'm happy.

Best Regards,

 

[yngver]

Symmetry it seems. I got em at a Wal Mart tire center (and shockingly
service there was very fast to boot). I was so frustrated with a
long string of tires that had gone our of round I just said, "screw it
if it's a Michelin and in stock I'm buyin it." It was in stock at
a near by Wal Mart tire center, price wasn't too hateful, and they're
still round. I'm happy.

Best Regards,

Thanks. My husband and I have both always favored Michelins. I just
made poor choice with the Primacys--I didn't realize a soft, comfy
ride is less important to me than nimble handling. On other cars, I've
never noticed so significant a difference in handling when buying new
tires. But on the other hand, I never had to replace tires with only
25K miles on them before.
-yngver

 

[Todd H.]

Thanks. My husband and I have both always favored Michelins. I just
made poor choice with the Primacys--I didn't realize a soft, comfy
ride is less important to me than nimble handling. On other cars, I've
never noticed so significant a difference in handling when buying new
tires. But on the other hand, I never had to replace tires with only
25K miles on them before.
-yngver

Caveat: You may be pickier than I am. I'm biased towards not having
my steering wheel shake despite alignment and balancing with regular
rotation. These Michelings did the winter fine, and feel confident in
the rain, but I dont' exactly push the Outback or drive it
aggressively, so I can't say anything about their relative handling
characteristics. My minivan actually has a lot more horse power it
seems. LOL.

 

[yngver]

Caveat: You may be pickier than I am. I'm biased towards not having
my steering wheel shake despite alignment and balancing with regular
rotation. These Michelings did the winter fine, and feel confident in
the rain, but I dont' exactly push the Outback or drive it
aggressively, so I can't say anything about their relative handling
characteristics. My minivan actually has a lot more horse power it
seems. LOL.

My husband's Legacy hasn't had the steering wheel shake you are
talking about. The Forester, or at least the 2006, is a lot zippier
than his Legacy, and his driving style is what TireRack calls
"spirited". I don't know whether the newer Legacys are more
responsive, but I remember when I test drove the '06 Forester, it
seemed even more fun to drive than the Impreza we tested at the same
time. Didn't test drive the newer Legacy.

The Forester's Geolandars did just fine for me in the snow, but I was
used to an old Honda Civic that fishtailed if it even threatened to
snow. I was overjoyed that the Forester was able to get through an
unplowed Chicago alley.
-yngver

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Sorry you had such poor service from your Kumho's. Mine have been great.
Luck of the draw I guess. Better to be lucky than smart.

Howard

It DID take 2 tries to balance the Kumho Solus on my wife's Outback. But
I'm on my second set of Kumho Ecsta ASX on the WRX and see no reason not
to get them again.

Carl

 

[ejcookso]

I've got Pilot Exalto's on my '03 Legacy Wagon. They're pretty good
tires so far, but I've only had them a few months.. Had BFG's before
that. They were fun until the tread delaminated at about 45K miles.