I put crossclimate2s on for driving in PA and north to Maine and down to SC . They have been good. I have had Blizzaks it the past. They gave up on the ice I encounter localy. So I carry the low clearance chains and put them on when it's nasty. Girl friends 2014 is on weather ready for second year after doing tire swaps for 10 years.

 

I have Nokians on cheap closeout Tire Rack 17” alloys in the garage I bought for my 2015. Tire Rack shipped the wheels with spacers and TPMS senders installed. I bought Nokians locally. I’ve had the Q, R, R2, and R3 over the years. I think it’s the best studless friction tire. I’m in New England where black ice is the safety issue so I run a good friction tire. I just bought my Touring XT so I haven’t swapped in new TPMS senders yet but the Nokian R3 tires have almost no miles on them.

My stepdaughter lives at the bottom of Beaver Creek. She runs Nokian all weather tires on a 5 door Impreza all year. If I lived in a place without black ice, I’d do that.

I was looking for my car. I have the turbo. The load rating for the 2.5 is 100 and that matches the Nokian WR G3 in 18”. The 2.4 has a 102 load rating. I’m guessing because of the extra towing capacity. I technically am not supposed to put the WR G3 on my car.

I used to have a body on frame SUV and VW GTIs as my commuter car. I wintered in Vermont for years. The driveway coming back from skiing every day was a full downhill stop from 30 mph and a left turn into the driveway. It was typically snow covered half the time. My GTIs with Nokian friction tires would stop without skidding. When I change to a heavier Outback, the car would skid a little. Friction tires are very dependent on weight for downhill cornering and braking. I ran studded tires on the much heavier SUV. It was way too heavy for friction tires. It drove like farm equipment with the studs on in the winter but it was a total pig on snow covered roads if you needed to brake the car.

This might not be well received but I ran Blizzak friction tires once. Their ice grip failed at 12,000 miles. I got rid of them with tons of tread life left. In my personal experience, Nokians keep their grip much longer. My parking spot was usually an ice floe where I had to back uphill to get out of the spot. It was pretty obvious on a FWD car when I had to replace tires.

 

I’d add that I didn’t have the option of cloneable TPMS senders in 2015. For a 2021, I’d be calling the local tire shops to see if they can clone senders. It would be stupid to buy a tool you use once to clone senders. I own an ATEQ TPMS QuickSet I got from Tire Rack for $120 to plug into the ODB II port to reprogram the car. I’d much prefer to have cloned senders.

I’ve read here that the 2022 auto detects the senders so it’s not an issue. I’ll find out for myself in November.

 

I've had good luck with Bridgestone Blizzaks on my previous Subarus even on solid sheet ice. I just got a set for my OBW and just ordered another for the spare.

 

How does a spare work with a directional tire? You rotate 3 tires on one side and 2 on the other. Won’t the tread depth difference go out of spec? You can run the spare backwards for a while in an emergency but you won’t get good grip.

I guess it doesn’t matter because you throw them into the trash after a season when the grip fails.

 

If studded tired are legal then get them. I tried regular winter tires and they don't even come close to the bite studded tires give. Who cares if they are loud. I kinda like the noise. It acts like an audible cruise control.

 

Currently run Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 in winter, on dedicated rims, for both Outback and Forester. Rims are OE alloys with OE TPMS sensors, that I bought used. These are truly excellent on ice and snow, and better than early generation Michelin X-Ice tires I've had on other vehicles in past years.

If I were buying new winter tires this year, I would go with "performance winter" category Vredestein Wintrac Pro if I could get them at a decent price. This is based on quantitative published test results. These tires give much better grip on wet roads, at a tradeoff to slightly worse performance on ice and snow. Unfortunately, my favorite tire retailer-- Discount Tire-- does not carry them.

 

I wondered about directional tires and the spare. Tire Rack said just use the spare even on the wrong side temporarily. I think the issue would be less hydroplaning resistance spinning the wrong way but the traction on ice would probably still be better than AT tires.

My nephew had studded winter tires on his Forester and I had Blizzaks. The Blizzaks were better on the solid sheet ice we get on the dirt roads here. He went to Blizzaks for winter tires on his new OBW.

This is after breaking it up with a hammer:

 

Nearly all winter tires are directional

 

CrossClimate2 Tires have a following and support of Consumer Reports. These tires seem to be acceptable in some snow driving conditions. If you are in a heavy snow area and the roads are often plowed then consider a complete set of studded winter tires.

It appears that the CC2 Tread design has been around for sometime as evidenced by this horseless carriage..

 

CrossClimate2 Tires have a following and support of Consumer Reports. These tires seem to be acceptable in some snow driving conditions. If you are in a heavy snow area and the roads are often plowed then consider a complete set of studded winter tires.

I wouldn’t rely on Consumer Reports for snow tires. They’re in Connecticut. That is not a good place for evaluation.

I wintered at a Vermont ski resort where I got 200” of snow in my driveway. A good friction tire is fine. If I lived on a long dirt road with a big hill and sketchy plowing & sanding? Sure, studs are appropriate.

For wheels, I’d just monitor 17” alloys on Tire Rack and grab something on closeout. Right now, the cheapest closeout alloys are $113 but they don’t have four of them.

 

If you’re good with all weather, check out the Nokian Encompass which you can actually leave on in the summer, they’ve been great for me. If you’re going with a second set, I’d get a true winter tire like the Blizzak. Encompass, by the way, is not directional but the tread is also not symmetrical, a very interesting and well performing tire. All weather slots between dedicated winter and all season 3-peak, and yes the Encompass is 3-peak also.

 

Crossclimates 2 are the best. Even for the harsh Canadian winter.

 

Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 (225/65R17)
I've used Dunlop 'Performance' snow tires on my last car and had no complaints,
but this time around I'm going with the same Blizzak's I just bought for my daughter's Forester.

 

I have been very happy with Michelin X-Ice and Blizzaks over multiple sets. Just got a killer deal from Discount Tire for new Blizzaks so they go on this weekend.

 

I have been very happy with Michelin X-Ice and Blizzaks over multiple sets. ...
...

Michelin X-Ice was the other top contender I considered based on multiple reviews I saw/read.
I chose the Blizzaks because my daughter's Forester had Bridgestone all-season tires from the dealer and I wanted to keep her on Bridgestones (more so because of all the positive reviews I've seen over the years for Blizzaks).

I was going to get the X-Ice's for my wife's Legacy to compare against the Blizzak, but my wife didn't want to spend the money since our Outback will be wearing Blizzak this winter. Maybe next year I'll put them on her Legacy.

 

'22 Touring XT, just installed a set of Sparco Terra's in Rally Gold - 17x7.5 ET45 with Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 225/65 R17

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Since they are just going to be on during the winter going up and back to Lake Tahoe, I figured why not try something fun.

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@Dugs Sin, I'm glad to hear you were able to take advantage of some good pricing for some Blizzak tires.

 

I'm very happy with these Sumitomo Ice Edge tires here in Minne-so-colda. (Sumitomo is parent company to Falken) Originally had them for my '20 Forester on their own dedicated set of Forester wheels. And they worked fine with their OEM TPMS sensor on my wife's previous '22 OB Premium and now my OBW here.