Almost too many tire options.

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2003 Subaru Outback 2.5 boxer with 4EAT. Stock tire size is a 225/60/16 H rated.

Location is the east TN/west NC area for most of the time. Occasional trips to visit friends and family wherever they may be.

Currently have Michelin Primacy MXV4 with about 60,000 miles on them and still have about 7/32 of tread left. Tires are from late 2009 and are starting to show plenty of sidewall and tread area cracking, so I'll be replacing them probably in the fall.

If they were not being discontinued, I'd get another set of MXV4 but I don't want to have an issue of needing a tire due to damage and not being able to get a matching one shaved to match (as most AWD requires tires to match in diameter and wear).

All that out of the way, this is my wife and I's primary vehicle. It's used as a daily driver in town and any road trip. Really, it isn't going anywhere until the rust from spending 12 years in Chicago finally kills it.

225/60/16 gives me a ton of options, so I'm almost stuck when researching. Tire needs to be capable for year round use, although we only see snow about a half dozen times a year commonly.

Considering these options mainly:
Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring. Get good reviews, but I'm skeptical of their winter abilities.
General Altimax RT43. Have these on the beater Olds, but only have about 1,500 miles on them. They handle wet and dry quite well, haven't had them in snow, they pick up rocks like crazy, and I took a slight MPG hit with them.
Continental TrueContact. Also good reviews, although I've never personally run the brand.
Michelin Premier AS: Good initial tests, but dang these are a lot more expensive than anything else I'm looking at.

All are H rated, all in the 700-800 tread wear marks, none of them seem like a bad choice. Go by sale prices when I'm shopping?
 
I would probably go for the Cooper or Michelin. I have the Generals and think they are fine but a bit soft riding for me. I have always liked all Cooper and Michelins very well.
 
Both the Cooper and the General have gotten good marks form other memebers here for snow driving.
With a Subie, it hardly matters, though.
If you want to spend a little more, we really like the Pure Contacts on our Forester.
The Michelins probably have a bigger premium in price than they do in performance.
My car, I'd go with the RT43 if price really mattered and the Pure if it were less important.
It does sound as though you don't put enough miles on this car that treadwear matters at all, so I'd ignore that as a factor in choosing any tire.
 
Originally Posted By: mattwithcats
Kelly Charger GT...


Ran those on my old Thunderbird. Good performance, wore real fast though.

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
It does sound as though you don't put enough miles on this car that treadwear matters at all, so I'd ignore that as a factor in choosing any tire.


I dunno. The MXV4 are 60K tires, and I still have 7/32 at 60K. Just getting nervous about all the cracks.

My priorities are mainly solid traction, and hopefully no MPG hit.

Hoping to have enough miles on the Generals to have an opinion by the fall. Still too early to tell.
 
I would be all over the Cooper touring out of the ones u listed. Good tire for the price.I don't k is much about snow as I live in socal
 
If you consider the Cooper CS5 UT, here is a link to a good deal on them to contemplate. I have the CS5 UT, but only dry road and rain experience with them, they are great touring tires in those regards.

http://tirecrawler.com/tire/cooper/cs5-ultra-touring/90000020214/

You mentioned the Michelin, so I included this link to price shop.
http://tirecrawler.com/tire/michelin/premier-a-s/67121/

Don't forget the Pirelli P7 Plus was rated good in Tire Racks recent snow test. I had them on my Scion for twenty thousand plus miles, and they were my all-time favorite tire until I tried the Cooper CS5 UT. I give the edge to Cooper for better rain traction, and a much lower price. Both are very quiet and comfy to drive on. The P7 has a slightly stiffer sidewall. Tough call, their both really good touring tires.

http://tirecrawler.com/tire/pirelli/cinturato-p7-all-season-plus/2253500/
 
Don't doubt the CS5 winter ability. I have the Grand touring and they were awesome in the snow. I actually had them installed while there was tons of snow on the road that day and drove home no problems without so much as a tire track in the road I was able to maintain 35 MPH in the 40 MPH highway area.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
If those choices I'd go with the RT43, but personally id choose the Pirelli P7

Another vote for P7... Make sure it's the plus version.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
If you want to spend a little more, we really like the Pure Contacts on our Forester.
The Michelins probably have a bigger premium in price than they do in performance.
My car, I'd go with the RT43 if price really mattered and the Pure if it were less important.


I can't find PureContacts in that size, 225/60/16, otherwise I would recommend them too. I just retired a set of MXV4's in favor of a new set of PureContacts, and while I've only had them a few days, I really, really like them! Very quiet, good handling, smooth ride. The wet and snow ratings are super. If they hold up OK I'm going to love having these tires.

The MXV4's were good tires for the first 30K, but went quickly downhill after that. They still had a lot of tread left on them but weren't worth anything in rain or snow.
 
I've never gotten a bad set of Cooper tires, although I've never bought their lowest-end models. They have always been quiet, eve-wearing and good traction. The CS5 is getting great reviews, it would be my pick.
 
Update: I'm going to be looking at Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals for these. After about 5000 miles on the RT43 on the beater Oldsmobile, I'm probably not going with them for the Outback. They pick up rocks and gravel like crazy, and I have a gravel parking lot currently. It drives me kinda nuts. Also, been hard to balance but that might be the beat up steel wheels on the Olds.

So my 2 right now look like Continental TrueContacts or Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring, in 225/60/16H.
 
I have Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring 235/45-17 on my E430 since last Labor day weekend to replace Kumho 4X.

The ride is a little quieter and softer and absorb bump better, performance/handling is good but not quite as good as Kumho 4X. Since this is my wife car so the ride quality is more importance to her.
 
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