vic Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I am about to replace my tires on my 1999 Forester (205/70 15). I live in rural central Iowa. My commute is about 30 miles each way, five days a week. At least 10 miles per day is on poorly maintained gravel roads that get very muddy whenever it rains. We usually have cold winters with snow and ice, but not yet this year. Most of my driving is at speeds of 60+ mph. I don't do any real off road travel, but the "roads" to some of my canoeing accesses can be pretty rough. I am looking for all season tires. I don't want to run snows all the time, and my traction problems on wet poorly maintained gravel are similar to the problems on snow covered roads. Based on my TireRack research so far, it seems that the Goodyear Assurance Triple Thread is rated the highest as an all season tire. However, I have heard about "cupping" problems with directional tires. Does anyone have experience with these tires? With Goodyear's strike and the backorder on the Assurance Triple Threads, I am also considering the Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenzas. They are rated second behind the Goodyear Assurance Triple Threads. Does anyone have experience with these tires? I would appreciate your experiences and suggestions about these two tires and any alternatives that would fit my needs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petersubaru Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 I have met 3 people with these tires on the car or truck and are very happy with them...certainly a very good all round tire..I expected to get these tires for my Outback, but I could not wait for the strike to end.... I went ahead with michelin hydro edge instead ...wait if you can ... quote=vic]I am about to replace my tires on my 1999 Forester (205/70 15). I live in rural central Iowa. My commute is about 30 miles each way, five days a week. At least 10 miles per day is on poorly maintained gravel roads that get very muddy whenever it rains. We usually have cold winters with snow and ice, but not yet this year. Most of my driving is at speeds of 60+ mph. I don't do any real off road travel, but the "roads" to some of my canoeing accesses can be pretty rough. I am looking for all season tires. I don't want to run snows all the time, and my traction problems on wet poorly maintained gravel are similar to the problems on snow covered roads. Based on my TireRack research so far, it seems that the Goodyear Assurance Triple Thread is rated the highest as an all season tire. However, I have heard about "cupping" problems with directional tires. Does anyone have experience with these tires? With Goodyear's strike and the backorder on the Assurance Triple Threads, I am also considering the Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenzas. They are rated second behind the Goodyear Assurance Triple Threads. Does anyone have experience with these tires? I would appreciate your experiences and suggestions about these two tires and any alternatives that would fit my needs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwinnbob Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Hello: I have had the Goodyears on my 00 wagon for about 10K now. They are excellent in everything we have had here in OH. Have not had them in any kind of deep snow though. I had a problem getting them balanced (took six tries) but finally was able to. One thing is they pick up rocks like nobodys business. Ride is a little stiffer than the OEM Firestones but not bad at all just different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger83 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 There is one All Season passenger tire with the Severe Service Snow rating - the Mountain/Snowflake icon. It is the Nokian WR. Nokians are not sold mail-order so tirerack does not review them. It is usually tested against dedicated snow tires, where it does fairly well. But the big difference is that it has a 50,000 mile treadwear warranty and good performance on wet roads, where most dedicated snows fall down. They are more expensive than the Tripletred, but you get what you pay for in this instance. One review is at: http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/hl/nokian.htm You can find other user reviews at: http://www.snowtire.info/ I have Nokian WR's on my Subaru now. I have a set of RSI's as well but I think I'll wind up using them as my dedicated snows from now on. We use them year-round on our Mazda MPV. It is probably the ideal all-year tire for New England where we only have 5-15 days a year where snow tires are needed. It is much better on snow and ice than the Michelin HydroEdge or Goodyear TripleTred, but has low rolling resistance and performs well on wet roads. In addition to using them as dedicated snows, two other Subaru owners at work are using them year-round, plus a Chrysler Pacifica and our Mazda MPV. Haven't seen any reviews of the WR on gravel roads, but another co-worker emailed me this (he has Nokians on his FJ Cruiser), from fjcruiserforums. So, my 99 nissan pathfinder has run 2 sets of Toyo Open Country AT's and have never had a single complaint. Upon buying my third set, I heard of these Nokian tires, so i gave the Vatiiva's a try since they were only 60% the cost of a new set of Toyo's. I never drove them too much since I now drive the FJ (with stock Dunlops) and Kari now drives the Pathfinder. Here's the situation: I'm out in the woods with dogs and decide to take the path less travelled. Make the story short, the sun didn't dry the trail as much as I expected = I get hung up on a log left in the middle of a bog full of mud. I call everyone i know with a capable enough vehicle to pull me out but turns out they went to work that day. Last resort...call the wife...at work. haha. I convince her to leave work early to see if she can even get in the trail with her cheaper Nokian tires. She made it to the trail, then I hopped in and trekked through the muddy trail with ease. By this time a few buddies show up to watch (and laugh) at the rescue attempt. I stayed in the Pathfinder and she hopped in the FJ. To my embarassment, I pulled myself out with such ease I am now the laughing stock of my friends and wife's office workers. Are these Nokian tires this good? because now I've gotta swapped these Dunlop's very quick to avoid this situation from happening ever again. The Vatiiva is the light truck version of the WR. Vatiivas are available in 215/70r16 but not 205/70r16. http://www.nokiantires.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPattison Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Wait a minute. How much do you want to spend? 04 Baja = BFG Touring T/A ; noisy on smooth roads, great traction 02 Forester = BFG Traction T/A ; quieter than above, daily driver Both can be bought at wally world. Stock rims. Tennessee roads..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtbe Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I just put TOYO Open Country on my '99 Forrester with 120k miles. Have about 5k miles on them and they seem pretty good so far. Haven't seen snow or ice in Ohio yet.... Had Michelin X-ones prior and they were great but can't find them anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I had cupping on aquatreads, but that happened because when i had brake work done, they put the tires on backwards. I was pissed. When you have directional tires, anytime the car is serviced, make sure the tires are all going the right way, and you will never have cupping (assuming you dont blow a strut). nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Boncyk Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Anybody know where I can get Nokian WRs locally here near Denver? After years of driving all-seasons that were less than good in snow, I'm looking to get a bit more "bite" into the white stuff that appears to be sticking around for the whole winter this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 Anybody know where I can get Nokian WRs locally here near Denver? After years of driving all-seasons that were less than good in snow, I'm looking to get a bit more "bite" into the white stuff that appears to be sticking around for the whole winter this year! Check out the dealer locator tab on the Nokian website: nokiantires.com there seems to be more options in your area than mine. I am now considering the Nokian WRs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Boncyk Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Check out the dealer locator tab on the Nokian website: nokiantires.comthere seems to be more options in your area than mine. I am now considering the Nokian WRs Thanks, vic! I didn't think to check the corporate website!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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