My experience has been that narrower tires work better on snow and ice.

I'm considering the Michelin X-Ice in 215/60QR17 in place of the regular sized Bridgestone Potenzas whch are 225/55HR17. But the Michelins would be 0.5" in diameter larger than the original equipment. Due to this being a leased car I am reluctant to purchase new wheels too. Anybody know if there will be clearance problems with these tires?

I asked a similar question last week. I have an '05 XT as well and after checking the book and tirewarehouse.com I think I'm going with new 16" steel rims and, probably, the Winter force snow tires. Harder rubber and since they use so much salt up here the roads are usually bare pavement. My son has Blizacks on his Legacy and loves them, but he ran them in Montana last year where the roads aren't usually bare.

My experience has been that narrower tires work better on snow and ice.

I'm considering the Michelin X-Ice in 215/60QR17 in place of the regular sized Bridgestone Potenzas whch are 225/55HR17. But the Michelins would be 0.5" in diameter larger than the original equipment. Due to this being a leased car I am reluctant to purchase new wheels too. Anybody know if there will be clearance problems with these tires?

I put 225/55r17 Nokian RSI's on my 06 3.0R. No clearance problems. The X-Ice is available in 225/55r17.

 

Narrower tires usually work better in snow and not as well on ice or dry roads. When buying dedicated snows I usually optimize on ice traction/stopping and wet road handling as snow traction is seldom a problem for an Outback. It's the black ice in a corner that makes the hair stand up on the back of my hands.

 

We have X-Ice on one of our minivans. They are a little quieter on the highway than the RSI's but the dealer (who sells both) says the Nokians last longer. For high mileage drivers and lots of highway driving on bare roads, a lot of folks are starting to use the Nokian WR, which isn't quite as capable as the X-Ice or RSI, but has a 50,000 mile treadwear warranty - the only passenger all-season with the Severe Duty snow rating.

i have the same car, i'm going to swap on some Dunlop Graspic DS-2's on there, 215/60/R16, from the 225/55/R17's it's roughly the same Dia.

I had those snows on my impreza, and they would go anywhere, i'd rank them up against blizzaks any day. AND tirerack.com has a pretty good deal on that size, something like $81/e

I'm going to throw them on the forester alloys i have...

Due to this being a leased car I am reluctant to purchase new wheels too.

 

Compare the cost of steel wheels to the cost of remounting and balancing your tires twice a year. You'll probably break even in a year, definitely less than 2 years. Even better if you get used wheels. When you turn the car in at the end of the lease, you should be able to sell the steel wheels for at least $25 each.

I went with 16's and they were 215/55 which is the same the same diameter as my stock 215/50 - 17's on my legacy. I also went with the Winterforce tires because they are pretty grippy in all snow and ice conditions but they also last and drive well on dry pavment. The studs make them almost as good as nokians and better than the blizzaks....without totally breaking the bank.

 

so ready for it to start snowing:headbang: