Winter Tires for my new Crosstrek

[Scruffy]

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.

+1

I know it's a big hit, but get em now or you'll make another excuse next year. I bought my 2017 Subie Forester in Dec. of 2016. Right away I ordered 4 17 inch rims ( my Forester has 18 inch for summer tires, stock ) and 4 Nokian Hakkapeliitta snows. It was a big hit to the budget on top of just purchasing the car, but I knew if I waited I'd just get snows and mount them on the stock rims once the car was year or two old. Having snows mounted on their own rims makes the change over a piece of cake--20 min in your driveway.

That first winter they paid for themselves. I was going up a steep twisty mountain road in a snow storm trying top get to a powder day. It was a wet snow that compacted to slickness on the road. Every vehicle, trucks with 4x4, SUVs of all stripes, cars, anything with "All Season" tires where all over the road spinning out and many of them into the ditch. It was a sh!t show. I was fine and had all the traction I needed, but I was stuck behind the mess. Finally a big opening opened up in the opposite lane, the down mountain lane, and I just went around all the mess. Forester with Hakkis performed like a billy goat up that slippery mountain road.

Another time last winter: my wife and I were headed out to a jazz concert in another town about 20 miles away. We had already paid for the tickets. Just as we were about the leave our house it started snowing heavily. We were concerned, but didn't want to waste the money and I knew we had good tires. On the way there we saw no less than 9 accidents with several off the road in the ditch within a 7 miles from our house. My car kept on trucking and I had plenty of stopping power with the Hakkies. At one point we where behind several cars going slowly as the lead car in the grouping was driving cautiously. All of a sudden, this very new looking Audi 8 that was ahead of us but following the cautious lead car went sideways and humped up in a bit. We stopped just fine behind it because we had good traction. For a moment we were perplexed at what happened. Then the owner of the Audi gets out of his car and approached the front of it with that "oh sh!t" look on his face ( palm to head ). He had rear ended ( slid into ) the cautious car in front of his new Audi 8, probably with "All season" tires. At that point, I turned to my wife and said, screw the concert, there's too many idiots on the road. We wipped around and headed home.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

@Scruffy I hear you and I'm sorry you've had such harrowing incidents. I'm definitely not invincible that's for sure. I did the same thing with my Jeep. Drove it through winter with it's stock tires and the following October/November got outfitted with my Duratracs. I'll certainly try to get snows by this winter but I'm not worried about it as my SO drives his all seasons all year long and we alternate cars when we drive to Vermont and beyond so we're always careful and have fortunately never had an incident. If the stars align I'll get snows before winter but if I end up waiting til next fall than I'm good with that too. I'm a woman of my word so if I say I'll get snows by next fall you bet I will

 

[surfsnowgirl]

These are what I have on my crosstrek

http://www.tractionnews.com/falkens-ziex-ze001-picked-oe-tire-subaru-crosstrek/

They are NOT winter tires nor would I ever say they were. However, they've got major rain covered. I drove home in some big rain last night and went through a couple of decently flooded streets. Le Pumpkin did amazing and she never wavered once. Still looking to get winter tires at some point but so far I'm digging the way these handle.

 

[jzmtl]

I have WS80 on my Forester, they do well in anything that's not ice, but if you see any ice oh boy you'll be sliding like a puck on air hockey table. If I could've done it again, I'd get studded Hakka instead.

But if you think the Jeep tires were good in winter, you'll be in for a shock. I ran mud tires all year on my Wrangler and they don't even come close to WS80. Funny enough WS80 had no problem starting even on ice with half inch of water on top, it's the stopped part that's the problem.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

The stock wrangler tires were terrible so I ran duratracs on my it thus the bar has been set very high. In rain and semi deep water the tires on the crosstrek were dandy. Looking into Hakka's likely.

 

[Muleski]

I think you’ll get a lot of comments based on personal experience with a number of tires, and not to be overly harsh, but some people even inventing some experience.

We have had four cars/SUVS/trucks in service over each of the past 10 ski seasons. And long before that, but tire technology has changed so much that the experience is pretty “stale.”

A number of those cars were Subies. We love where our “normal” winter driving {before we head north} is bare pavement. It can also be ice, slush, and the occasional foot of snow. In addition, we can be dealing with real winter in April up north, and the occasional 75 degree days at home. It makes tires a challenge.

I feel VERY strongly that you will need winter tires to feel really comfortable in ski season. The ONE tire that I would consider as an all season is a Nokian WR. They are pretty unique. We used to run them from Oct through Dec, then Mid March though April onna couple of cars.....and they did fine with AWD through two winters when we left them on.

Our experience with Nokian Hakkas is that they have really great performance for a long life. I’ve had a variety of Blizzaks, and when new, they seemed invincible. Incredible ice tire. However, they also seemed to just melt when spring warmth arrived. And year two was not as good as year one. Year three, even worse. I have found that with similar mileage, I get four good seasons out of Hakka’s....and a fifth decent one on needed. Just my experience.

The tires that might be most effective for the pumpkin are maybe not what worked best for the Jeep. Different vehicles. Keep that in mind.

Now, I use the exact same model Hakka on a 6000 lb Toyota Land Cruiser that I used on a Legacy GT wagon. So, that thinking does not always work.

The studded Hakka is a tank in snow and worse. And remarkably quiet at 80 mph on a du highway. I have driven cross country four times on that tire, BTW.

I think a set of black steel wheels would look exceptionally bad-ass on your new machine. The advantage of those is that the beads on both sets of tires don’t get stretched too much, and leak. Also preserves your nice summer wheels. My experience is that both Blizzaks and Hakka’s beads don’t seem to stretch. The summer tires....even costly ones, not as much.

There are a bunch of good independent snow tire reviews, from Europe that you can find on line. The usual suspects all tend to do very well. I find that reviews on a site like Tire Rack are a bit useless. Often people validating what they purchased. Particularly those with 500 miles on them. The critical ones might be more valid.

Ohh, if you go to Steelers, you are still “required” to have sensors mounted. I know many who ignore that, and have found that their tirecstire will as well. The issue for most are the dash warning lights. A couple of strips of black elec tape solve that for the winter. I know, it’s both illegal and irresponsible. I hate TPMS, on every one of our vehicles.

I guess I’d figure out what your tire store will charge to swap over fall and spring, and to store...and determine of a second set of wheels is worth it. If it makes sense, do consider a 16” wheel, with tires of the sad diameter....just a taller sidewall. You absolutely do not meed the same sized tires...I like Bill T’s recommendation.

See what they recommend and run it by this group! Good luck.

Working on Greenwich, skiing in VT, driving up to Quebec makes it a challenge that you want to try to nail!

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I think you’ll get a lot of comments based on personal experience with a number of tires, and not to be overly harsh, but some people even inventing some experience.

We have had four cars/SUVS/trucks in service over each of the past 10 ski seasons. And long before that, but tire technology has changed so much that the experience is pretty “stale.”

A number of those cars were Subies. We love where our “normal” winter driving {before we head north} is bare pavement. It can also be ice, slush, and the occasional foot of snow. In addition, we can be dealing with real winter in April up north, and the occasional 75 degree days at home. It makes tires a challenge.

I feel VERY strongly that you will need winter tires to feel really comfortable in ski season. The ONE tire that I would consider as an all season is a Nokian WR. They are pretty unique. We used to run them from Oct through Dec, then Mid March though April onna couple of cars.....and they did fine with AWD through two winters when we left them on.

Our experience with Nokian Hakkas is that they have really great performance for a long life. I’ve had a variety of Blizzaks, and when new, they seemed invincible. Incredible ice tire. However, they also seemed to just melt when spring warmth arrived. And year two was not as good as year one. Year three, even worse. I have found that with similar mileage, I get four good seasons out of Hakka’s....and a fifth decent one on needed. Just my experience.

The tires that might be most effective for the pumpkin are maybe not what worked best for the Jeep. Different vehicles. Keep that in mind.

Now, I use the exact same model Hakka on a 6000 lb Toyota Land Cruiser that I used on a Legacy GT wagon. So, that thinking does not always work.

The studded Hakka is a tank in snow and worse. And remarkably quiet at 80 mph on a du highway. I have driven cross country four times on that tire, BTW.

I think a set of black steel wheels would look exceptionally bad-ass on your new machine. The advantage of those is that the beads on both sets of tires don’t get stretched too much, and leak. Also preserves your nice summer wheels. My experience is that both Blizzaks and Hakka’s beads don’t seem to stretch. The summer tires....even costly ones, not as much.

There are a bunch of good independent snow tire reviews, from Europe that you can find on line. The usual suspects all tend to do very well. I find that reviews on a site like Tire Rack are a bit useless. Often people validating what they purchased. Particularly those with 500 miles on them. The critical ones might be more valid.

Ohh, if you go to Steelers, you are still “required” to have sensors mounted. I know many who ignore that, and have found that their tirecstire will as well. The issue for most are the dash warning lights. A couple of strips of black elec tape solve that for the winter. I know, it’s both illegal and irresponsible. I hate TPMS, on every one of our vehicles.

I guess I’d figure out what your tire store will charge to swap over fall and spring, and to store...and determine of a second set of wheels is worth it. If it makes sense, do consider a 16” wheel, with tires of the sad diameter....just a taller sidewall. You absolutely do not meed the same sized tires...I like Bill T’s recommendation.

See what they recommend and run it by this group! Good luck.

Working on Greenwich, skiing in VT, driving up to Quebec makes it a challenge that you want to try to nail!

As always, a detailed and thoughtful post. Duratracs are a truck tire and would look silly on my crosstrek. I want something super functional and if they look badass as well would be an added bonus but not critical. I will take some time to digest your post and then likely pm you with a question or two. Thanks @Muleski

 

[sparty]

Just a thought on TPMS: I was able to get what appear to be OEM Ford TPMS sensors (with valve stems) for about $60/set on eBay, and my local small-town mechanic was happy to install them when putting my tires on. Obviously check with your mechanic before ordering (some don't like installing parts they didn't source, for reasons both good and not so good), but it doesn't need to cost the $60 per wheel some places want to hit you for.

Granted, my truck is also smart enough to reprogram itself when I swap wheels, so YMMV if there's a necessary programming step. Given that I get per-wheel pressure information, I rather like the TPMS feature (I wasn't a big fan on previous vehicles that just threw up a "low pressure" idiot light without telling me which tire, or how low, and that would detect a low-pressure condition all damn winter).

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Thanks. I'm waiting to hear back from my tire guy. He's putting together some quotes for wheel/tire packages so that I can just keep the rim with the tire. I love the look of the limited rims so I'd love a spare of those if I can find a winter tire that works for me. if I did it this year I'm looking around November-December. My SO ran 18" snows on his Audi and it was a machine in the winter. We'll see. I'll see how my tires do as I move along the year here. My SO has been running Michelin after market all seasons on his Rogue for 2 years now and we've been fine most of the time. My ultimate would be to find a a "duratrac" equivalent tire for my Crosstrek. I know the duratrac is a truck tire and I'm not looking to put that on my crosstrek but just looking for the superb functionality and aggressive tread that the tire brought me.

 

[pete]

Not nixing any of the suggestions as I've bought into the winter tire use but enjoy a buddies comment on when he bought a 2wd Mazda CX-7.

He simply said if the weather is bad enough, he'll stay put the day. Maybe not a great option for some but given life and limb ... a good choice for many.

 

[mdf]

I drove many years with all-seasons on my Subaru, including during the height of blizzards on my powder-chasing year. I finally gave in and bought snows last year after a long and exhausting ride home (on Vt 100) -- every time I went over 25 mph the car started to go sideways. It was amazingly reproducible. Well that, and a VRBO rental whose listing said "snow tires required for the driveway."

But I just bought the cheapest in-stock snows I could find. I figure any real snow is going to be a step up from what I was used to. I'll admit they didn't meet any real challenges after they were installed. (The driveway in question wasn't that bad, and no big storms for the rest of the season.)

 

[François Pugh]

You are probably better off with the best all-seasons than with the cheapest snow tires.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

My tire guy is putting together some package options for me with rims/tires so that I can just do a simple swap 2x a year. He said most people go with steel wheels with or without hubcaps. Waiting for numbers from him.

 

[Philpug]

My tire guy is putting together some package options for me with rims/tires so that I can just do a simple swap 2x a year. He said most people go with steel wheels with or without hubcaps. Waiting for numbers from him.

FORGET the hubcaps!

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Looking at something like this with 16 inch Rims, Winter Blizzaks, TPMS Sensors Installed.

 

[Philpug]

Go for the Ronal Teddy Bears!

 

[François Pugh]

FORGET the hubcaps!

I've always gone with plain black steel wheels and no hubcaps because I'm cheap.
I do regret it on my Mazda 3 because the summer wheels it came with look so much better. If I had to do it over again, I would get some good looking wheels. The car wears those wheels for about half the year up here.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I've always gone with plain black steel wheels and no hubcaps because I'm cheap.
I do regret it on my Mazda 3 because the summer wheels it came with look so much better. If I had to do it over again, I would get some good looking wheels. The car wears those wheels for about half the year up here.

I'm frugal too but I kinda want to spring for these but it's an extra $100. We'll see, not doing this for another 2 months so perhaps my frugalness will change. Good news is tirerack priced out the same as the price he gave me so he's competitive at least.

 

[Bill Miles]

I went without TPMS on my winter tires on steel rims on my Forester due to initial cost and cost of reprogramming twice a year (don't know cost, but it isn't free.)

Les Schwab would otherwise swap the snows on at no cost, but won't do it because it is illegally disabling a safety system. It is perfectly legal to do it myself.

I am in the anti-TPMS camp except in cases like the run flat tires on my Corvette. I looked up the rulemaking and the required cost analysis was sort of a joke. It lowballed replacement costs and did not even address the winter tire situation. Another factor is that I have to keep tire pressure a bit above book pressure to avoid false alarms.

 

[Tom K.]

I've got a lot of snow tire experience over the decades, but only with three brands. My thoughts:

1. Hakkas: Probably the best performance, and inarguably, the best feel for what's going on. They "talk" to you when the limit is close.

2. Michelins: Also awesome. I don't get the same communication from them. They last 4 of my seasons. The Hakkas last 3.

3. Bridgestone: Awesome for the first third or so of their tread, then not so much. It's been awhile with these, so this may have improved. It needed to.

All gleaned from a variety of Saabs, VWs, European Fords, and most recently a slew of Dodge, Honda, and Toyota minivans.

NOTE: The orange car with black wheels looks badass, which you'll know is important if you've ever caught "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".