Tires for Forester

[Paul Oberin]

I like the look of those Geolandar tires, they look like an option.

Paul, i had heard stories of the risks of not replacing all tires at once on a soob. I will make sure to do this, having heard that story.

Is the liberty manual? is it that funky new shape?

Yes, it is the new shape and is a 6 speed manual.

Subies don't like tyres that are not all the same circumference, they have a clutch like arrangement in the gearbox that slips to even out the drive to the front and back wheels, if they are not very close in size this clutch wears quickly especially on a winding road like going to Falls creek.

[Mizu Kuma]

Paul,
The new shape has only been out for 9 mths, how did ya wear out the tires that quick? How many Kms have ya clocked up? Do ya drive it like it's stolen?

Found this info quoted on another site,

"Because of the all-wheel-drive, the maximum acceptable difference in tire circumference is 1/4 inch. After you divide by 2 x Pi, this corresponds to a difference in tread depth of a little more than 1/32 of an inch. Considering that new tread depth is 11/32 of an inch, the allowable mismatch isn't very big.

After replacing two sets of half worn tires on our Subaru because one tire in the set had been destroyed, I checked with Subaru customer service. They confirmed the 1/4 inch limit. If you drive with mismatched tires, damage is inevitable and will cost far more to repair than a set of tires. This is one of the down sides to all wheel drive."

p.s.. I have always replaced all 4 tires on our Subie's for the very same reason (except the old dual range wagon) it also pays to rotate (even with the spare) and get regular wheel alignments!

[Paul Oberin]

I haven't worn out the Liberty tyres yet, they are only just over 9,000kms old in almost 6 months, it is the Outback that has gone through many sets of tyres over the years and before that a Forester, I do like my Subies.

[Mizu Kuma]

My mistake!

I also am a die hard Subie fan having started with a Dual range wagon, a Sherpa, A Forrester and an Outback, plus both my daughters have Liberty's (first cars)

[Coopski]

It's one of the unfortunate downsides of our beloved AWD's. Whilst they are great cars if you like getting out and about, they munch tyres like they are going out of fashion. Mind you i've only just replaced mine at 52000kms on my xtrail so it was better than I expected (and they could have gone a little longer). Mind you I can recall a Nissan murano once whilst I was at the dealer and the owner was livid as he was about to replace the tyres for the second time and the car had only just done over 20000km. He wasn't impressed by their response that AWD's go through tyres more quickly than your average sedan :-)

[Pollo]

I like the look of those Geolandar tires, they look like an option.

Paul, i had heard stories of the risks of not replacing all tires at once on a soob. I will make sure to do this, having heard that story.

Is the liberty manual? is it that funky new shape?

Off topic but is "funky" the right word. New Outback looks OK, however the Liberty? I'll stick with my MY08. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[24]

Off topic but is "funky" the right word. New Outback looks OK, however the Liberty? I'll stick with my MY08. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

its growing on me. it certainly is different to the forester.

the bridgestone rubber is holding up well on the foz.

[Paul Oberin]

Off topic but is "funky" the right word. New Outback looks OK, however the Liberty? I'll stick with my MY08. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The new liberty is one of the ugliest cars I have ever seen, the GT however is quite a good looking version, when we wanted to get a new car we had a few key criteria, 5 star safety rating was top of the list, reliable was another, reasonably economical and as both our sons are over 6' tall and still growing it had to be more roomy than our Outback, we looked at other brands but kept heading back to Subaru, we have owned 3 BMW's and found them very unreliable and costly to repair far too often, after testing one of the ugly Liberty cars we decided it had the legroom and also ticked the other boxes, then decided to spend the extra to get one that at least looked nice, to our surprise it is way more economical than the Outback on a trip, around town the turbo does use a lot of fuel unless you really drive it carefully.

[John Deere]

For the record, last time I looked at the queens english dictionary, we had tyres on our cars....not tires!!

If you want a tyre that lass a long time...BF Goodrich All Terrain, ours have been on our Xtrail for around 80,000k and are about 50% worn. Good in snow too.

Downside are, they are noisy....real noisy!

[SA]

Personally, I think the new Liberty and Outback have been hit with the ugly stick, big time.

I recently changed from the stock Yoko Geolanders to Yoko C-drives on my Outback. A bit quieter, better road holding in the wet. Probably won't be quite as good in snow (esp. deeper snow) - but I'm going to drive in the wet far more often than snow.

[blutek]

Learnt to be a bit quicker in fitting the chains after we spun the Liberty out at Wilsons Valley (PB) & hit the guard fence, a week after trading it in.
Was on the last 20 meters of "snow & ice". Can't be too careful on high performance tyres (brake minimally with caution!).
Wierdly I've had to fit chains on the WRX to get down our Lodge driveway in Jindie (& left them on all the way to Mitre10 & back).

[snowtyres]

If you have had a traction problem when driving up to your lodge or apartment at your resort or have had a driving safety issue on mountain roads it will be because these type of tyres are fitted to your vehicle.
Due to their width, rubber compound and tread pattern, high performance summer tyres provide unacceptable grip for low temperature snow driving.

It is also important to note that the recent advancements in electronic driver aids, such as ABS and traction control do not provide more traction.
These electronic aids only prevent drivers from over braking or overpowering the available traction of their tyres.
The correct thing the driver can do to increase traction, to actually get more grip and safer control, is to install winter/snow tyres.

[John Deere]

If you have had a traction problem when driving up to your lodge or apartment at your resort or have had a driving safety issue on mountain roads it will be because these type of tyres are fitted to your vehicle.
Due to their width, rubber compound and tread pattern, high performance summer tyres provide unacceptable grip for low temperature snow driving.

And this is when one should fit chains.

It is also important to note that the recent advancements in electronic driver aids, such as ABS and traction control do not provide more traction.
These electronic aids only prevent drivers from over braking or overpowering the available traction of their tyres.
The correct thing the driver can do to increase traction, to actually get more grip and safer control, is to install winter/snow tyres.

This statement is completely misleading. ABS and Traction Control in some situations make winter driving safer by preventing that initial complete break of traction leading to loss of control. Your comment infers that these aids are useless, I strongly disagree and I also disagree with using misleading inferences as a tool to sell winter tyres that will in fact make 90% of dry non sub zero road driving less safe.

[snowtyres]

This info from TAC may help with understanding ESC

refer

http://www.howsafeisyourcar.com.au/e...ty_control.php

How does it work?

ESC works by using a number of intelligent sensors that detect any loss of control and automatically apply the brake to the relevant wheel, putting your car back on the intended path.

ESC is of assistance to the driver in:

correcting impending oversteering or understeering;
stabilising the car during sudden evasive manoeuvres;
enhancing handling on gravel patches, such as road shoulders; and
improving traction on slippery or icy roads.
Not all ESC systems are identical.
The hardware is similar, but there are variations in how ESC systems are programmed to respond once loss of control is detected.
Naturally, the degree of effectiveness of ESC is dependent upon the amount of traction between the road and the car.
Therefore on a car with old, worn or inappropriate tyres (eg: non winter tyres on ice and snow), ESC will be less effective than on a car with new tyres or tyres specific to a road environmental condition.

[Paul Oberin]

Most of the people on here would go to the snow less than 20 times a year in Australia, the majority to a NSW resort, fitting chains would be rare I imagine, the need to fit special tyres just for winter is overkill. for those working in the snow for the season I can understand that is a different matter.

[Mizu Kuma]

It is also important to note that the recent advancements in electronic driver aids, such as ABS and traction control do not provide more traction.

Therefore on a car with old, worn or inappropriate tyres (eg: non winter tyres on ice and snow), ESC will be less effective than on a car with new tyres or tyres specific to a road environmental condition.

Which one is it? Not effective or Less effective?

[John Deere]

Yep, doesn't make your first statement any less misleading, and a rotten sales tactic!

[24]

to be fair guys the first statement is true. your traction is decided by your tyres, and suspension, not by how much braking or acceleration you are doing. That is all traction control or abs does - moderate force inputs according to the level of traction, not to increase the amount of available traction.

Not sure i like the sales technique but the statement is true..

[SnowFlake]

Other than the Yokohama Geolander A/T - S (GO 12) in my search for new all-terrain tyres in 215/65 R16 I have come across the Dunlop Grand Trek AT3. While there is quite a lot of experience out there with the Geos there is not that much on how the AT3s measure up. From what I can gather they have relative strengths either climbing gravel tracks or in the mud (shoulder design and what not). How they compare for snow/ ice driving on hard-top is anyone's guess.

[Mizu Kuma]

to be fair guys the first statement is true. your traction is decided by your tyres, and suspension, not by how much braking or acceleration you are doing. That is all traction control or abs does - moderate force inputs according to the level of traction, not to increase the amount of available traction.

Not sure i like the sales technique but the statement is true..

Trying to not be a smart arse here (may have come across as one on another Subie thread), but doesn't, "moderate force inputs according to the level of traction ", mean that it is adjusting, so as to provide, your vehicle (no matter what tire type/condition), with more traction?