Winter Tires for my new Crosstrek

[surfsnowgirl]

Just picked up my orange beast yesterday and I've a couple months to price out some snows.

I'm coming from Goodyear wrangler duratracs on my wrangler and the look and performance on those is going to be hard to beat.

I like an aggressive tread and supreme performance on nasty, wintry hilly Vermont roads is a must.

Tire size is 225/55R18

What say you?

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Bill Talbot]

Bridgestone Blizzak WS80

• 225/65R16
• Sidewall Style: Blackwall
• Serv. Desc: 100T

On 16" Steels, mounted and balanced, NO sensors, for $803 (after rebate). These are minus 2 sizing. Pure function, no frill. Switch over @ home.

 

[Castle Dave]

Nokian Hakka 9 are the ultimate. Check the reviews. I have have a 4000 foot climb every trip to the hill and run Hakka 8's the last two winters. They are amazing.

 

[Philpug]

Dropping to a 16" wheel with a taller, narrower tire will open up a ton of options and probably will give you better traction too.

 

[Wendy]

Dropping to a 16" wheel with a taller, narrower tire will open up a ton of options and probably will give you better traction too.

What I did. The best thing ever.
I do have sensors on mine which is a PITA because if I change the rims myself, I still have to get the TPS reprogrammed.

 

[Wendy]

Dropping to a 16" wheel with a taller, narrower tire will open up a ton of options and probably will give you better traction too.

What I did. The best thing ever.
I do have sensors on mine which is a PITA because if I change the rims myself, I still have to get the TPS reprogrammed. I live on a rural road with poor plowing and often 2-3’ drifts after storms.

FWIW, I spent a snowy VT winter driving my Subie on just my all weathers, with no problems. And a winter in CO doing the same thing. Road maintenance in those 2 locations was actually better than here.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

FWIW, I spent a snowy VT winter driving my Subie on just my all weathers, with no problems. And a winter in CO doing the same thing. Road maintenance in those 2 locations was actually better than here.

I'm contemplating doing this for this winter while i research and decide what I'd like. Then I'll get my setup before next winter.

 

[VickiK]

Congratulations on the new car!

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Congratulations on the new car!

Thank you

 

[Bill Talbot]

I'm contemplating doing this for this winter while i research and decide what I'd like. Then I'll get my setup before next winter.

So you want to slide it off the road while it's new and get that out of the way?
No season tires = NO WAY!
While I can't say how disappointed you will be with the OEM tires, I can say they are light years behind top rated winter tires for the use you have planned.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

So you want to slide it off the road while it's new and get that out of the way?
No season tires = NO WAY!
While I can't say how disappointed you will be with the OEM tires, I can say they are light years behind top rated winter tires for the use you have planned.

I hear what you are saying but my SO has all season Michelin ties on his rogue and we take that to vermont every other weekend. My wranglers had hybrid duratracs and we've never had an issue.

I'll still likely get snow tires by next winter but i have time.

 

[pete]

congrats again on new car ...

+2 on the downsizing rims. Usually a lower cost on tire and rims. Some of the "pretty" rims aren't too pricey given plain steel ones seem to have gone up in price.

Not sure of your stores in Vermont but the Discount Tires, Belle Tires, etc will swap out for free and I believe reset TPS for free. Maybe something to ask where ever you get em.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

congrats again on new car ...

+2 on the downsizing rims. Usually a lower cost on tire and rims. Some of the "pretty" rims aren't too pricey given plain steel ones seem to have gone up in price.

Not sure of your stores in Vermont but the Discount Tires, Belle Tires, etc will swap out for free and I believe reset TPS for free. Maybe something to ask where ever you get em.

Thank you . I'm very excited. I love my pumpkin. I usually price out my tires on tire rack and then get town fair to price match. However, I'm not terribly impressed by their offerings. In found a tire shop not far from us that stores them and swaps them out so I'll likely use them. They sell tires as well. I'm going to see what they have. On a superficial level i love the rims that come on my 18" tires so I'll have to look and see what my options are if i go smaller in tire size.

 

[pete]

Thank you . I'm very excited. I love my pumpkin. I usually price out my tires on tire rack and then get town fair to price match. However, I'm not terribly impressed by their offerings. In found a tire shop not far from us that stores them and swaps them out so I'll likely use them. They sell tires as well. I'm going to see what they have. On a superficial level i love the rims that come on my 18" tires so I'll have to look and see what my options are if i go smaller in tire size.

Nice deal if they can store too. Locals here don't, I have space and while my Discount tire will swap out, I get lazy as I can do it myself in the time it takes to load and do the round trip. Gives me chance too to once over the car/truck for brakes, etc so in my mind - a justification.

Course, you got a nice new shiny car that likely comes with warranty .. a pretty nice set of wheels at that.

 

[Ken_R]

Thank you . I'm very excited. I love my pumpkin. I usually price out my tires on tire rack and then get town fair to price match. However, I'm not terribly impressed by their offerings. In found a tire shop not far from us that stores them and swaps them out so I'll likely use them. They sell tires as well. I'm going to see what they have. On a superficial level i love the rims that come on my 18" tires so I'll have to look and see what my options are if i go smaller in tire size.

On my Subaru Forester I decided to stick to the stock 18" rims and just swap out the stock tires for the snows during the winter. It has worked out great. The stock size on my car is identical to yours but I decided to get 225/60/18 Blizzak DMV2's since they were readily available in that size and fit perfectly even though the stock size is 55. They were awesome last winter.

 

[cantunamunch]

So you want to slide it off the road while it's new and get that out of the way?
No season tires = NO WAY!
While I can't say how disappointed you will be with the OEM tires, I can say they are light years behind top rated winter tires for the use you have planned.

Esp. on VT dirt roads and QC black ice roads.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

On my Subaru Forester I decided to stick to the stock 18" rims and just swap out the stock tires for the snows during the winter. It has worked out great. The stock size on my car is identical to yours but I decided to get 225/60/18 Blizzak DMV2's since they were readily available in that size and fit perfectly even though the stock size is 55. They were awesome last winter.

Thank you. I will look those.

 

[JohnnyG]

On my Subaru Forester I decided to stick to the stock 18" rims and just swap out the stock tires for the snows during the winter. It has worked out great. The stock size on my car is identical to yours but I decided to get 225/60/18 Blizzak DMV2's since they were readily available in that size and fit perfectly even though the stock size is 55. They were awesome last winter.

My wife does the same thing, but it will stretch the bead, causing leaks if you keep switching twice a year. Right now I've got to fill the FL and RR tire every 2-3 days.

 

[François Pugh]

Unless you are trading in your car every three years, it makes far more sense to mount your Hakka 9s (see what I did there on an extra set of rims.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I will hunt down an extra set of rims to go with the snows for next winter at the latest.