bull6791 Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 I wanted to know what are really good tires people who recommend for a 2011 Subaru Forester. I need new tires and wanted to know some brands or tires people would recommend. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Round ones! Seriously though, what sort of use will they see/duties required to perform? There are many good tyres out there for road and offroad, but each are a compromise in the other department they’re not so good at. So, what are you setup for/want to do? Road hugger, daily commuter or offroad “warrior”? Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 19, 2019 Author Share Posted April 19, 2019 The tires are for daily commuting. Thank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 http://mastercrafttires.com/ my "budget friendly" go to.. click on their tire selector, enter your car info and they will give you recommendations specifically for your vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 19, 2019 Author Share Posted April 19, 2019 I never heard of master craft tires. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzam Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Are you in Montco or Delco Springfield? BJ's, Costco and NTB all sell name brands at good prices. I put both Michelin or Bridgestone on our Subies as replacements for years and been happy with both. The Michelins last longer but as they age get a harder ride and traction starts to diminish. The Bridgestones perform just as well for a longer period but wear faster. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 (edited) I like Discount Tire, if you have one nearby, you could discuss your needs with them, ask what seems to be popular on Subarus in your area, discuss your budget, expectations, whether you switch to snow tires or not, etc. always had good customer service from DT. Everyone in a DT store started by slinging tires in the bay - they strictly promote from within. Edited April 19, 2019 by 1 Lucky Texan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 19, 2019 Author Share Posted April 19, 2019 How are Toyo, cooper and Yokohama tires. I heard Michelin and continental are very good but expensive. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 i am currently running Cooper CS5s on my 2002 Forester and they are fine.. put them on 2-1/2. almost 3 yrs ago, still plenty of tread life left. Mastercraft is made by Cooper but with budget in mind - so same basic tire with very minor differences in the tread patterns, but for less money. I only got the Coopers this time because they happened to be on sale when I needed to get tires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 20, 2019 Author Share Posted April 20, 2019 Heartless I have a 05 Toyota Corolla. When I was looking for tires for my Toyota, some people recommend the cooper cs5 tires. I did not get them. I did not know they would be good on a 2011 Subaru Forester. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 4 hours ago, bull6791 said: Heartless I have a 05 Toyota Corolla. When I was looking for tires for my Toyota, some people recommend the cooper cs5 tires. I did not get them. I did not know they would be good on a 2011 Subaru Forester. Thanks. if your primary use is commuting, then yes, the Cooper, or Mastercraft equivalent, would be fine for your needs. the CS5 is an all-season "touring" tire, which means longer treadlife than some others. this is the 2nd set of Coopers I have had, and am quite happy with them. I have had both the Mastercraft touring and snow tires - both are great if you are on a budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 Nokian WR G4, all weather. Cooper are 'good enough' as well as Mastercraft.. But the Nokian is an all weather tire. Being in PA, that means don't worry about switching to snow tires. They are snowflake rated, and carry a 40k mile warranty plus Nokian is very good about honoring the warranty. That said, do not buy Nokians online and take them to just any tire dealer. The beads are made special ( 2 ridges ), and they run dead true and perfect but only if you take them up to ~60 PSI before letting them down to spec.. Buy a Nokian from a Nokian dealer. The Entyre 2.0 is a nice tire as well but it's a ho hum all season. It's better than something like a Mastercraft LSR, but an LSR will run straight enough and is just a good cheap tire. Some Cooper/ MC tires are scary how much they runout side to side they have. We sent back probably 5 sets of Courser MSR ( Discover M+S sister tire ) because they were just unusable this winter.. I work at a Mastercraft/ and Nokian tire dealer. We do sell about every other brand as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) On 4/18/2019 at 6:40 PM, bull6791 said: I wanted to know what are really good tires people who recommend for a 2011 Subaru Forester. I need new tires and wanted to know some brands or tires people would recommend. Thanks. Get Michelin - nearly everything they make is excellent, safe, and durable. They cost more but the traction durability and longevity you get over the 5-10 sets of tires you’ll buy in your life are worth it for many people mastercraft is probably the best low cost option. You can pretty much pick one of those and never think about tires again. Get Michelin for quality or Mastercraft for price point.... and still good quality Other companies have really good tires - but duds to. They can be annoying to sift through unless it’s a specific well known AT or off-road tire, etc. choose carefully if you’re going that route. Read lots of online reviews (but reviews have issues I’ll mention later) I’m not a shop but I’ve worked on over 100 subarus, more than a few personal cars. I’ll favor Michelin but recommend/buy lower cost tires for certain vehicles but it depends on the vehicle and use. Not all lower tier tires are the same but some clear trends I’ve seen: lower cost tires can age poorly. They don’t take the elements as well (namely sun exposure) and can show degradation in 2-3 years as well as terribly degraded winter traction. This is rare but I’ve seen wrecked subarus in the winter with two year old tires. With the rubber cracking I would have thought the owners had bad memories except for the date of manufacture stamp on each tire. *if someone doesn’t drive a ton of miles I won’t recommend lower tier. I don’t like lower tier on most daily driver cars much beyond 3 years unless they’re garaged, out of the sun, not snow critical. So if someone doesn’t drive much and are likely to have the tires 5 years I want higher end. The cheaper tires snow traction at year 3 isn’t nearly as good as it was at year 1 or 2. *if someone wants really good snow traction for years I don’t recommend them. They’ll do great year one, but year 2 or 3 could be way worse in the snow. My guess is it’s related to the same materials compounding issues eluded to in the aging issues so take note of what kind of snow driving you see. Do you drive no matter what, do you get off when it snows, are the roads well maintained, do you have flex hours? I have seen dozens of tires with side wall bulges (granted the roads here are awful). Im talking dozens of times. This happens most of the time on the lower cost brands. I’ve probably had it happen once or twice and forgotten but Michelin’s and nokians rarely do that. and reviews can easily miss this. Since degradation and snow traction are long term issues 3 years down the road, reviews are nearly worthless because they don’t bear this out. Or they are so few you can’t distinguish them from the anecdotal reviews which are probably inaccurate or blaming tires for user error, rotations, alignment, car condition, etc The lower cost tires work well in certain situations but make your choice around physical realities and your expected use and need for safety, rough roads, time and mileage, not just opinion and price. The altimax RT43s are a great example. People love them. They are decent. But they side bulge easily on terrible roads and snow traction in my area isn’t as good by year 3 as year 1. I’ll run them sometimes on certain vehicles and not others. I’ll run them if they’re not needed for snow (have dedictaed snow tires) and on subarus with better road conditions or if it’s a larger tire and not low profile. due to road conditions here I have to mostly avoid them in this area but they’re a good fit for some college students who are here temporarily and not driving much or on roads like I drive. Edited April 21, 2019 by idosubaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 Idosubaru How are Toyo, Yokohama and cooper tires. You said Nokian tires are good. I heard continental tires are good but never tried them. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Also - why are you not buying whatever tire your previously had or have bought? What’s the factor causing you to post here ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 Idosubaru my 2011 Subaru Forester came with Bridgestone duler. I have kumho solus tires on it now. I did not like either of these tires. My Forester needs new tires and I want to put a set of good tires on it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 Idosubaru I appreciate your reply. So what would be good tires for daily commuter. I know Michelin I really good but expensive. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 2 minutes ago, bull6791 said: Idosubaru How are Toyo, Yokohama and cooper tires. You said Nokian tires are good. I heard continental tires are good but never tried them. Thanks. You have to sift through them. I’m not a well versed tire expert on all brands or any brands really. Quit thinking about whether continentals are good or not. it’s specific tire dependent. They will have some very good tires and some big loosers. Choose carefully. I avoid them because it’s annoying trying to tell which are good or bad and keeping up with tire product name changes. As for the other ones - honestly I have no idea. I’ve seen them and haven some general opinions but nothing more than anecdotal and not trends. So I’ll keep them to myself as there’s enough tire Babbage online. In general - If they’re lower cost I’d guess they’re prone to a mix of the issues I mentioned above. They’re not lower cost because they’re using the same high end materials, compounds, manufacturing and designs as higher cost tires. A lot of tire design comes down to materials and construction towards ultraviolet and oxygen degradation. Circumstantially it seems better tires excel here And that makes sense since it doesn’t sell so cheaper tires don’t need what consumers can’t tell or care about. It’s a good market fit. That’s all subjective guessing on my part though what I’ve seen seems to suggest something like that is happening And for that the cheaper tires have great uses - just choose accordingly and I wish we knew the data to make it easier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 8 minutes ago, bull6791 said: Idosubaru my 2011 Subaru Forester came with Bridgestone duler. I have kumho solus tires on it now. I did not like either of these tires. My Forester needs new tires and I want to put a set of good tires on it. Thanks. We can’t help if you ignore real information. Why didn’t you like them? buy something that overcomes what you don’t like. Don’t just guess or assume random comments on the internet will magically address your unspoken and unknown concerns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 Matt You said the Nokian tires are good. What other tires are very good for daily driving. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) Michelin is overpriced junk IMO. The rubber stays soft for years, so if you don't drive often Ig that's a plus. But for the same cost or less, there are better options General/ Continental ls the same company. Continental is generally overpriced, and General is fairly priced. An Altimax RT43 is an ok tire My vote will always go to Nokian after running them personally, and seeing how they balance. They are not cheap but also not expensive.. Also if they do knot or have belt seperation, getting them to do something for you is pretty easy. pretty uncommon but, they stand behind the product If you want something a little less expensive, I would probably recommend the Mastercraft LSR Grand touring. It's their 3rd tier up product line. It's a pretty good all season, cheap and reliable Edited April 21, 2019 by matt167 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 Matt How are Toyo or Yokohama tires. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) Yokohama is used at the shop my parents go to in MD in a significant snow area. But the roads around there are in pristine condition so this wouldn’t say much about durability. It’s a family owned shop that is really good and been around for decades, I doubt they’d go with annoying tires. I’ve had good personal experience with yoko but not enough to say anything about them Go to online tire stores like tire rack and discount tire online and read reviews and ratings for the tires you’re interested in. Some of the individual comments will be terribly inaccurate so don’t focus on those but the overall ratings . Start there. you never answered what you didn’t like with your previous tires. Edited April 21, 2019 by idosubaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 10 hours ago, bull6791 said: Matt How are Toyo or Yokohama tires. Thanks. adaquate tires. Yoko's are stock on a number of Subaru's. A Forester would have Geolanders. Toyo is good but they were bred from racing and that is where they are best at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull6791 Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 A lot of suvs in my area have the geolander tires. I never had them before. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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