Having issues with replacing original (and great) tires on wife’s 2013 Impreza. Came equipped with Yokohama Avid S30D P205/55/R16 89V that have been very reliable. I am unable to find, in my area, cost effective replacements and am asking for recommendations. Local businesses have offered alternate tires that upon research have numerous issues including longevity. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
You may be making this difficult. The tires that are on new cars are sometimes special runs just for that year. Even Walmart has a good selection of brands for your vehicle.
I’d go to tirerack.com and research tires for your car there. I pay extra attention to the tire rack tests, a bit less to owner ratings. Put together a list of top tires, see what you can get near you. If you have a discount tire/tire America, you can do the same thing, and buy from them.
I’ve had good luck with Yokohama, Pirelli, and Michelin.
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+1 to texases’ recommendation.
Even if the OP wants to buy his/her tires locally, the Tire Rack website contains a wealth of information about essentially every make of tire that is available in the desired size and speed/weight rating.
If you intend to keep the car for a fairly long time, I suggest that you go with Michelins, as their initially higher price is easily offset by tread wear that is usually far longer than their competitors. I’ve also had decent luck with Yokohama and Goodyear tires.
The brands that I now avoid as a result of bad experiences are Continental and Bridgestone, but everyone has his own favorites and his own despised brands.
You generally get what you pay for with tires. If you want better tires (and you should want better tires!!!) you will need to spend more money.
I am a bit OCD about tires. Those 4 rubber lumps are the only things keeping you on the road with rain, snow, sun and idiot drivers. They carry your life, spend accordingly.
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Follow the good advice given you by Texases and VDC.
Good luck.
Tire Rack sells the exact tire you have on now at $138.45 each. If you buy four, they should ship for free. Installation, balancing, disposal, and alignment are extra. That extra cost is set by the shop that does the installation. I used Tire Rack and my usual shop for installation. I have been happy with this arrangement.
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I’m a big fan of Yokos myself. I was recently disappointed that it was difficult to obtain the Envigor model to replace those installed on my truck. I ended up choosing the Geolander equivalents. I’m very happy with them so far. It appears the S30D are still available. What issues have you had with getting the exact replacements? You could visit tire retailers online and have them shipped to your preferred installer. Or choose an available equivalent in the Yokohama lineup that is available…
I like Yoko and am still sad that they discontinued the very excellent ES-100 series.
But I don’t like all Yoko tires. I’ve found some of them to be less than optimal in the handling department.
For a touring sedan (as opposed to something that’s mean to be driven aggressively) I’m a fan of Michelin’s Pilot Sport A/S series, but they’re spendy.
It’s fairly rare to find a cheap all season tire that’s also a good all season tire. It’s easier to find summer-only tires that are less expensive while still doing the job well, but then you’d need to get a set of winter wheels/tires if you live where it snows, and you’d end up spending even more going that route.
If I were absolutely on a strict budget, I’d probably be looking at Kumho, but with the awareness that they tend to start out good and get progressively worse as they age - moreso than the higher-end brands. In my experience, you get a lot of tire noise off of them that you don’t get in the better brands, but the tradeoff is that they’re pretty cheap, comparatively.
Yokohama Geolander tires are also OE on my Forester.
Wear is fantastic. At 27k wear is 2/32 out of 10/32.
At that rate they should last over 100k miles to 2/32, or 80k to 4/32, my usual replace point.
I’ve never tracked wear. Do you find it is fairly linear throughout lifespan? I suppose like most things in life- it depends but curious about your experience.
This is the first time I tracked wear, and I don’t have enough data to determine linearity.
I’ve been very happy with Hankook Ventus tires. But the longevity isn’t great. I believe they use a softer compound. Great for traction, but not for wear.
The best traction I’ve ever had, bar none including Michelins, was with Coopers… but the wear was terrible. However I could clearly feel the added traction in bad weather, while cornering, stopping and starting. However it also caused a drop in mileage. I suspect they were not only softer, but heavier. While their section width may have been the 215mm of the original tires and subsequent sets, the tread was clearly and visibly wider. That adds more rubber, and I believe enough more weight far enough away from the rotating axis to adversely affect acceleration. And they were noisy. But damn, did they have great traction and cornering! I won’t buy them again, but if you seek traction and cornering and are willing to compromise longevity, gas mileage, quietude, and acceleration they might be just what you want.
My personal favorites are BF Goodrich. I used them for years on multiple vehicles and found their ride, wear, and price to be great, with acceptable traction and handling. Unfortunately I couldn’t find them for my car 12 years ago when I bought it.
If you live where there is significant wintry weather, consider splurging fro a set of actual winter tires on rims (for winter use only; you’ll still need a set for the rest of the year). The difference in traction is amazing.
I’ve taken a liking to Dunlop Signature 2 or “II” however it’s printed.
General Altimax RT43. They come in V speed ratings. Look them up on consumer reports and tirerack. PS there is a $50 rebate on a set of 4 till the end of this month.
Take a look at Consumer Reports tire ratings which are based on independent testing of a number of performance factors. If you will be using them on snow and ice in winter pay particular attention to those rankings, areas where a number of otherwise high performing All Season tires fall short.
The new issue of CR just arrived today. Very extensive on tires and on winter driving. Keep in mind that not every tire comes in every size - so a visit to tirerack’s or discount tires’ website will help whittle down your choices to those tires that match your OEM size.
I like the General Altimax RT 43 tires we put on our van a year ago. Made in Czech Republic - I am guessing by Barum - a brand of bicycle tires we imported and sold in Milwaukee back in the 1970s.
I usually use Bridgestones as they have served me very well.
However, a few years ago I bought an inexpensive set of tires called Westlake. I had never heard of them but figured what the heck I’d give them a shot at less than half the price of Bridgestones. They have a UTOQ of 500AA.
The tires have been absolutely excellent in all conditions. When tire time came for another vehicle I bought a set of Westlakes for it too.
They still show no wear at all in spite of many miles and rough roads, and one of the things most important to me: they hold their balance. I’ve never had the need to rebalance any of the 8 tires.
Considering the washboard roads and humps around here due to wind farm rock haulers that is amazing to me.
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