Replacing my tires on my one day old new car

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I just bought a 2018 Subaru Outback yesterday and stopped by Discount Tire and and ordered some Nokian WRG3 SUV's to replace the [censored] OEM Bridgestone Dueler HT Sport AS's. Most of the 225/65/17 are highway touring type tires with a UTQG of 700. I wanted to put an AT tire on the Outback but they weigh 7-9 pounds heavier then the OEM Bridgestones per tire. The Nokian weigh only 25 pounds and are the lightest I reviewed.

The new tires will sent me back $400 after the $100 rebate card I will receive. They gave me a $140 credit for the OEM ones. Even the guy said those Bridgestones are terrible.

wrg3-suv-tire.png
 
In general, I've found Bridgestone tires to be noisy and fast wearing. I wanted to replace the original Bridgestones when I purchased my 2003 Honda CRV new. I just couldn't pull the trigger as the tires were brand new. I endured the noisy Bridgestones for about 20,000 miles and then decided it was time to ditch the Bridgestones for some Michelins. The noisy roar at freeway speeds finally disappeared.
 
What about buying a set of steelies for the winters and then going with a dedicated summer on the OEM wheels? It actually works out to be cheaper after 2 seasons, as opposed to the price for each dismount and mount that these tires will go through on the OE wheels.
 
If it makes you feel better, I replaced the Bridgestone tires on my Tundra with the Nokian WRG3. The Bridgestones were smooth and quiet, but not very good in snow when I had the truck in Colorado.

Just a touch of snow on my last trip to Vermont, so not enough experience to tell how the Nokians perform in the snow, but glad I had Nokians on the truck instead of the Bridgestones...
 
Originally Posted By: Finklejag
I just bought a 2018 Subaru Outback yesterday and stopped by Discount Tire and and ordered some Nokian WRG3 SUV's to replace the [censored] OEM Bridgestone Dueler HT Sport AS's.


Did you work the tire issue as a bargaining chip?
 
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We did something similar with my daughter's Impreza, replaced whatever weak rubber came on it with T rated RT43s. The indy tire shop we used consigned the OEM tires for us and we made $125 or whatever. I was OK with putting quality all seasons on her car and not buying winter tires for it because she is a student and won't have class during storms.
My Forester had some kind of Dueler (225/55/18) on it for OEM and the things were awful in a mere 2" of snow, I was already planning to get snows but was amazed to find those "all seasons" were helpless in barely more than a dusting of snow. I wore those pieces of junk out in under 20kmiles as summer tires and then bought some Eagle Sport AS tires that have been pretty fun and also give me coverage in case of a surprise fall or spring snowstorm.
 
A few other people on here said Bridgestone's tires are heavy. And of course, remember that almost all OE tires are garbage, designed just to be cheap and help with CAFE targets.

Good luck with the Nokians. I hope you get many enjoyable miles out of them
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Originally Posted By: Audios
What about buying a set of steelies for the winters and then going with a dedicated summer on the OEM wheels? It actually works out to be cheaper after 2 seasons, as opposed to the price for each dismount and mount that these tires will go through on the OE wheels.


The WRG's are a four season tire. They have a UTQG of 600 and a 55,000 mile warranty.
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
A few other people on here said Bridgestone's tires are heavy. And of course, remember that almost all OE tires are garbage, designed just to be cheap and help with CAFE targets

Hmm. Heavy tires don't help meet CAFE targets.
 
Smart choice.

I've replaced tires on brand new vehicles numerous times. The most recent I had the tires replaced, before I took delivery.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I would have run the tires until they needed replacement.


Ditto. An AWD Subaru can probably get quite far in winter even on bad tires.
 
You kept the brand new tires that came off to sell on Craigslist right? Probably could get $350-$400 for them.
 
I think the Nokian Rotiiva AT's aren't really much heavier than the typical all season. I put multimile wild country xtx's on the CRV and they were only a couple pounds heavier than an all season but they wore pretty quickly and cupped even with rotations, so I won't recommend them, unless you drive off pavement most of the time.
 
Be very aware that these Nokian winter biased all seasons turn real noisy with neglect in rotations or alignment issues.

I have various versions over last 15 years.
 
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
Originally Posted By: Donald
I would have run the tires until they needed replacement.


Ditto. An AWD Subaru can probably get quite far in winter even on bad tires.


You would think so, but it's not the case. At least from what I've experienced.

My 2012 Legacy came with Bridgestone Turanza EL400s. They were absolutely horrendous in the rain and winter conditions. They completely negated the benefits of having AWD. I eventually put a used set of Firestone winterforce snows on it and ultimately turned it in (leased) with those snows on it.

My 2014 XV Crosstrek came with Yokohama Geolanders. They were decent in all conditions with this car for the ~2yrs/38K miles I owned it.

My current 2016 Forester also came with Yoko Geolanders. I don't know if they are the exact model tire as the XV had, but they were downright scary in the rain and winter conditions. I suffered with them until ~38K miles when I replaced them with ultra high quality Walmart Douglas all-seasons which I run in the summer, then have a another set of wheels with Firestone winterforce snows.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
Originally Posted By: Donald
I would have run the tires until they needed replacement.


Ditto. An AWD Subaru can probably get quite far in winter even on bad tires.


You would think so, but it's not the case. At least from what I've experienced.

My 2012 Legacy came with Bridgestone Turanza EL400s. They were absolutely horrendous in the rain and winter conditions. They completely negated the benefits of having AWD. I eventually put a used set of Firestone winterforce snows on it and ultimately turned it in (leased) with those snows on it.

My 2014 XV Crosstrek came with Yokohama Geolanders. They were decent in all conditions with this car for the ~2yrs/38K miles I owned it.

My current 2016 Forester also came with Yoko Geolanders. I don't know if they are the exact model tire as the XV had, but they were downright scary in the rain and winter conditions. I suffered with them until ~38K miles when I replaced them with ultra high quality Walmart Douglas all-seasons which I run in the summer, then have a another set of wheels with Firestone winterforce snows.


As I alluded to above, there was some late snow up at our ski place just after I bought my Forester and I almost slid off a road right by my condo that I know very well in about 2" of light snow. Gentle curve I had driven so many times in snowy conditions with a very low speed limit that I pay extra attention to because there is a crosswalk right there. I ran all seasons only on my RAV4 for a couple of years and never had any trouble at that spot.

I got on TR and there were a great many reviews basically saying to not run those tires in the snow...I saw similar reviews for the tires that came on my daughter's Impreza and that's why she got the RT43s. Also plenty of people on subaruforester.com testifying that their OEM tires just weren't cutting it for winter driving. AWD doesn't help during turns when the tires just don't grip.
 
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