hi guys i have an 09 subaru impreza sedan and the oem rubbers are basically done (bridgestone re92a). i have basically NO tread left. while this was fine for summer time its almost winter here in canada and i need new tires asap. i have been researching a lot and have narrowed it down to bfgoodrich advantage ta. a lot of people from subaru forums disagree with me and urge me to get something like the michelin primacy mxv4, bridgestone re970as or michelin sport tires. the michelin sport and bridgestone re970 are horrible in winter from what i have read online and the michelin primacy has poor treadwear from my own experience on my acura TL. so i'm really left with the BFGoodrich advantage TA tires. reviews i have read on tireack for these tires have been excellent with only downside of fuel economy. but that's ok for me, i only care about wet traction, price and noise. i don't need dedicated winter tires i have done fine in 3 winters with crappy oem rubber on my impreza. what do you guys think? thanks.

 

The tires you are looking at are a bit all over the board with All-Season, Super High Performance All season and then grand touring...

If you want 1 tire that will be great to drive on year round, it's the Continental DWS. It'll plow through snow without an issue, it'll give excellent wet traction and the dry traction is phenomenal. It's DEAD quiet and wear is pretty good with it. You should be able to takle almost everything with this tire.

The other tires you listed are left in the dust with the DWS. I have my 2nd set on the TL and absolutely love them!

 

DWS are just another A/S tire. You have a good excuse to buy some real snow tires...
You could buy a winter tire & wheel package anywhere from $500-630 at the TireRack.

 

Winter tires IMO are not really necessary in Toronto. The city sends out its army of salt trucks to every nook and cranny even during flurries.

x2 for the Conti DWSs. Canadian Tire carries them for around $700 for 4.

 

Just bought a set of 225/45-17 Conti DWS for 572 shipped from Discount tire's ebay store. There's also a $100 rebate so I'm getting them for 472 shipped.

 

wow it seems everybody is on board with the DWS. correct toronto city driving doesn't really require winter tires, specially with the 4wd i havent had trouble before with the super crappy re92a tires. Braking is ok just got to keep my distance. from DWS reviews it seems like an average tire with poor dry performance. Treadwear is reported to be below average and some people complain of soft sidewall which makes handling poor. i know from reviews that the BFgoodrich tires have super stiff sidewalls which sacrifices ride quality for better steering response, one reason why i like it so much.

so far
4x DWS $780 including installation/balancing
4x BFGoodrich $700 including installation/balance

 

^cept me.
That's a good point. Snow tires are pretty much mandatory here in Portland as the city is ill equipped to deal with the snow (as too are the drivers), and there are many residential areas in hilly regions (AWD or not, you cannot get up the last hill to my house with a Subaru).

Lucky for me if it snows I get the day off!

 

+1000000000000

 

I just put my conti DWS on today, I love these tires. Marco likes some Michelin product but in reality they rate lower than the contis in just about every category, subjective and objective; such as tread and tire weight.

 

+another for the DWS. Wet performance was night and day to the tires my car had when I got it

 

Another DWS owner here. I've had them for about a year and they've been awesome. The sidewall is a little flexy, but I cured that with a few more PSI to get a nice balance of comfort with cornering. The treadwear has been impressive so far as well.

 

I run the Michelins because they are superior to the DWS in the summer. I don't really care how the run in the snow because I have another set of wheels with REAL studded snow tires. My wife is a critical care nurse in an ICU and must get to work no matter what the conditions, period. An all season tire just wont cut it for our needs. If you are looking for an all season tire to get you to the grocery store, I'm sure the DWS will be fine.


EDiT: The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S plus that I run is no longer available in 245/45/19.

 

I have the reverse setup, dedicated summer wheels and contis for cold/snow/ice

 

I run DWS because it's great in the snow for an all-season tire. As others have said, the sidewall is soft compared to other high performance all-season tires, but it's a trade-off I'm willing to accept.

 

Lets clear up some false statement made on this thread. Here are the actual survey results from TireRack:

Size: 245/45/18

Michelin:


Conti:


As you can clearly see, the only area in which the DWS really scored higher is in "Winter traction."

 

Actually according to your charts the Conti's scored higher in resistance to hydroplaning, wet traction, ride comfort, noise comfort and treadwear as well as your already indicated light snow, deep snow and ice traction, which I thought an "ordinary all-season" as you stated would suck in snow? It's more like the other way around. The ONLY things the Michelin's scored better in is dry traction, cornering stability and steering response. Overall the Conti's had a much better rating, #2 in the category vs #6. You fail.

 

Let me throw another into the mix since I am looking for a new set myself by early 2013...

Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS



http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....+Pole+Position

Thoughts? A bit pricey but seem worth it.

 

I looked at the DWS for my TL, but went with Nokian WR since it is a fwd vehicle. You should be ok with the DWS on your subaru with the added help of awd. However, i also had nokian wr's on my Legacy GT and I can tell you that driving in snow was pretty much freakin awesome!

 

I like the RE970 better than the OEM MXM4 Pilots or the Yoko Advan S.4 that followed.

Since I now autocross and don't worry about winter driving in SoCal, the Pole Positions were the obvious choice over the DWS.

The RE970 has very predictable breakaway with the most traction of those three tires, and it seems as quiet as the OEM grand touring tires. IDK about tire wear, but the RE970 has a 40K mile warranty, and each of my prior sets of tires went 40K+ (albeit without autocrossing).

The only question was whether I was going to go to a summer tire instead of an all-season; that may be the next set of tires.

 

Those OEM MXM4's were the worst tires ever!! They spun in wet, dry, snow, you name it. Just hearing that name brings back bad memories, ha.

I think people tend to expect too much from the DWS, they are nice, but the tread blocks are much smaller in person than they appear in pics online. Just my opinion.

 

Mr. Marco something else you've overlooked which you're a big advocate of is reducing unnecessary rotational weight.

In size: 245/45/18

Michelin: 27lbs
Conti: 24lbs

 

^ Good call. This was one of the main reasons I choose the Contis over the Hankooks I was looking at. Those beeochs were heavy.

 

love the DWS just be aware of soft side wall

you may end up destroying the quickly but they do have manufacture hazzard warranty plan

 

I ride with Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S-C's and they're nice. Good dry grip and work pretty well for limited winter driving (salted / plowed roads). But like you, my AWD Legacy tears up slippery roads pretty well.