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recommended tires for 2003 forester


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just purchased a 2003 forester with 13,000 miles. very noisy. driver and passenger mirror gussets to be replaced. also the geolander oem tire generate much road noise. any tire suggestions. dealer rec michelin. any suggestions thanks.

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Guest lothar34

Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus if you don't mind paying for them. I had a set on my old Volvo. They were very quiet and still had plenty of tread left on them after 50,000 miles (which is pretty good for Texas).

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Michelin HydroEdge - The only reason I don't use them on the Legacy is because they aren't available in a 50-profile which I am now running with the WRX wheels.

 

 

B/F Traction T/A - I run these on the legacy. Good balance of treadwear and performance.

 

No comments on snow performance as I run a separate set of wheels with snow tires in the winter (but you shouldn't have to worry about this TOO much for a little while...)

 

-Heikki

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B/F Traction T/A - I run these on the legacy. Good balance of treadwear and performance.

 

No comments on snow performance as I run a separate set of wheels with snow tires in the winter (but you shouldn't have to worry about this TOO much for a little while...)

 

-Heikki

 

I run these on an Outback Sport and an Altima, they have amazing traction. The Altima feels amazing in the snow with these things as does the OBS. I can't really vouch for the tread life because I've only had them for about 20,000 miles on both cars. To most people these would be my first tire to recomend, but Barry said the noise was his concern and on both of the cars I run these on they are very loud tires, i guess that is often a trade off for the traction.

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I'm throwing in my vote for Goodyear Regatta II's. People that can afford a little more would say the new GY Triple Treads. By all reports, these are probably the finest consumer tires ever made.

 

Check out Consumer's Reports for some good information.

 

 

I would not use GY tires if they gave them to me. I had a set of 4 on my old Mercury Sable. Right out of the box I noticed "dimples" on two of the tires. The manager of the GY company store told me that was ply separation and that they would be replaced free under the warranty. The next month I noticed the same problem on another tire. Another manager told me that was caused by the way they were stored and it would be resolved in x miles of use. YEAH....RIGHT.

 

Next up GY closed all of the company stores in the Philly area. I had to call corporate and find out where to take my car. Independent dealers would not honor my regular warranty or my road hazzard warranty. Just Tires is owned by GY.

 

I spoke to the manager at Just Tires about the same problem which happened on another tire and he said to bring the car in which I did. He would only replace one tire with one that did not have the same thread pattern (my model was discontinued) and he would not give me a break in purchasing another for the same axel.

 

GY tires in my opinion are nothing but JUNK.

 

~Howard

:D

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tirerack.com has the most comprehensive reviews. The Michelin HydroEdge and Goodyear TripleTread are the top two rated last time I looked in the size/style.

 

I have HydroEdge on my 97 OBW. They have 34,000 miles on them and still show 9/32nfs tread depth - 11/32nd is new.

 

As far as any of these tires being as good in snow as a dedicated snow tire......we put Nokian RSi's on our Honda Accord and it stops and turns dramatically better than the Subaru on snow and ice. The Subaru has better starting traction compared to the FWD Honda, but that's the only area where it's better.

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I was just stating my opnion which is held by at least a few other people. I could have bad mouthed the 500, or the Potenza, or talked about all the people that died in their Firestone/Bridgestone Explorers. But I didn't.

Just because you don't like 'em, doesn't make Tire Rack, CReports, and everyone else wrong. Try the Triple Tread and see what you think. Everyone else seems to like them according to the feed back I read and dealers I've talked with.

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I Have a 99 Forester S and i right now am running the Bridgestone Turanza LST's. I have to say these tires do quite well. I have about 20k on them and they look brand new. I wanted some all terrains but they do not come in the 215/60/16 size i have to run. I live in Mexico and i put alot of highway miles on them and a bit of offroading and i can keep up with my brothers xj jeep.

 

Ben

______________________________________________________________

 

"Its amazing what you can do with duct-tape and ziptie's"

-Me-

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This seems akin to asking 10 lawyers a question and getting 10 different responses.

 

I have a 99 Forester and put some Toyo Observe G-02 plus tires on for the winter. I tried and tried (and tried), but couldn't get stuck in the snow. Totally love them.

 

For the summer I have Michellin Rain-X, and I don't really love them. Almost looking forward to when I can buy something else.

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I was just stating my opnion which is held by at least a few other people. I could have bad mouthed the 500, or the Potenza, or talked about all the people that died in their Firestone/Bridgestone Explorers. But I didn't.

Just because you don't like 'em, doesn't make Tire Rack, CReports, and everyone else wrong. Try the Triple Tread and see what you think. Everyone else seems to like them according to the feed back I read and dealers I've talked with.

 

The tires I mentioned have a good rating at Tire Rack. I just feel that GY was unresponsive to my problems.

 

~Howard

:D

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i run Dunlop Sp5000's

 

if they come in a size appropriate for your Forester

 

snag em up.

 

Excellent grip in the wet stuff... great in the dry

 

keep the tire pressures up (40psi)

rotate them often

 

and they'll last

 

cheers

Jamie

 

I also like these tires. I didn't think I got the best treadlife out of them and the sidewalls are a bit mushy when run on "standard" air pressure but the wet traction is GREAT! Much better than the SP8000's in wet weather and in treadlife.

 

-Heikki

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This seems akin to asking 10 lawyers a question and getting 10 different responses.

 

I agree. I've had tires based on recomendations from Tirerack, and have disagreed with some of the opinions. Did I get "dud" tires or is everyone else wrong? icon10.gif

 

The original poster asked for quiet tires. I don't know which Michelin was recomended to you, but I suspect you cant go wrong with them (except for $$$). On one of my cars, I got the GY comfortred- just because I wanted a "comfy and quiet" tire and was willing to sacrifice some traction/performance.

 

I'm guessing being in STL, snow isn't a big deal and the AWD will take care of any traction needs fairly well. Also the forester isn't a sports car, so performance isn't a big deal. And if you're like 99% of 'suv' drivers, the only offroading you'll do is a gravel road. So I guess you got to decide how much you want to spend, treadlife, and noise. IMHO, I wouldn't get a hi mileage tire since I always seem to get at least 1 flat tire every couple of years which is unrepairable- so I would be throwing away 3 perfectly good tires. So that just leaves price since we know you want a quiet tire. So that just leaves Michelin vs some other all-season touring tire.

 

wow, I just made a lot of assumptions, and we know that making assumptions just makes an a$$ out of me i guess. I guess a shorter way of saying this is, think about what 1 or 2 attributes are important to you and just about any tire that fits those criteria will probably suit you just fine.

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