Yokohama Geolander A/T-S

As far as I can tell from www.tirerack.com, the above-mentioned Yoko Geolander is (so far) the only A/T tire available in the right size for Premium and Limited 2010 OB's. It seems like a good choice, for anyone who might want to actually go off-road, and should be very good in snow, I would think.

My favorite A/T tire (from other vehicles) has been the Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo, but it's not available in the right size.

Our ContiProContact tires are rated fairly decently, but not great, in the Tire Rack's
"Grand Touring" category. Most of the other tire choices that I've heard people talking about are actually in the "Standard Touring" category (as just one example, the Goodyear TripleTred).

What's not so clear from the Tire Rack's ratings is how to compare a highly-rated Standard Touring tire, with a less-well rated tire from a "higher performance" category (e.g. Grand Touring, or one of the "Performance" categories).

In principle a Grand Touring tire (generally intended for higher-end sedans) is being judged (whether it is via a Tire Rack test, or just buyer surveys) to a somewhat higher standard of driving dynamics and performance, versus a standard touring tire that is aimed squarely at more run-of-the-mill sedans, minivans, etc.) But a top-rated standard touring tire may still be a better choice, especially if it is treadwear, lack of noise, comfort, etc., that are the primary considerations.

This is only very loosely-related to the subject of tires for our Outbacks, but I recently bought a set of Ultra-High-Performance all-season tires for our Volvo C70 convertible. The car came totally "over-tired" from the factory, with 235/40-18 Z-rated (actually Y-rated, meaning good for 168 mph) Pirelli PZero Rosso summer-only Maximum Performance tires, which wear out very quickly (treadwear rating of 220...).

I replaced these with All-Season tires to get a better treadwear rating, and got a set of Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires, also Y-rated.

(These are also much more tire than I need, but since the car came with Z-rated tires to begin with, and fairly low-profile ones to boot, all of the available choices are pretty high performance.)

The DWS stands for dry,wet,snow, and the reviews for this tire have been very good, especially citing great behavior in snow (keep in mind that this is in comparison to other ultra-high-performance, low-profile, all-season tires). And they were also less expensive than the other comparable tires that I was considering.

So far my experience with them has been great. The handling crispness has been almost as good as the PZero Rosso's, and the ride, noise level, comfort, etc. has been a lot better. We'll see if they live up to their 540 treadwear rating....

Not really applicable to an Outback, other than the Continental tie-in.....

(I had never thought much of Continental tires, due to some prior poor experience with a small SUV, but now have three "vehicles" with them - the Outback, the Volvo, and a road bike with Continental Ultra Race 700x23 bicycle tires....)

It is hard for me to compare the ContiProContact with the Conti ExtremeContact DWS, since they are on very different vehicles, and also because the DWS's are lower profile (40 series).

So far, the DWS's on my Volvo C70 have been very quiet, compared to the Pirelli PZero Rosso's they replaced. Perhaps the DWS's will grow noisier as they wear, but so far so good. (But the ContiProContacts on my Outback are also very quiet.)

I'm not sure what to make of the "soft sidewall" comments from some reviewers. It probably depends on what prior tire the DWS was being compared to. Since many DWS applications are for fairly high-performance cars, the "standard" they are being compared to are other high performance tires, many of which are pretty stiff (in some cases, the prior tire was a run-flat, which will definitely have a stiff sidewall...).

The DWS's give up a bit of ultimate dry handling, I think, in favor of really good wet and snow performance, and also in favor of a good ride. But this is in the context of very high performance tires. Compared to more normal "touring" tires, like the ContiProContact, I would think that the DWS will outhandle them, whether in the dry, or wet, and MIGHT even be better in snow. They will also wear a bit faster.

It may be a moot point - I don't think the DWS's come in the right size for a 2010 Outback, unless you are also doing a "plus-size" wheel change.

I have been reasonably happy with my ContiProContacts so far, although that includes almost no time in the snow (so far). Bottom line - it's a tough comparison when the tires are so different in intent, and are usually used on very different cars.

Re: Re: Re: So what IS a great tire for the OB?

'05 Outback2.5i said:

Really? Cause if that's true, its a novel new step for Subaru

Click to expand...

The ContiProContact was originally developed as an OEM tire for some fairly pricey German sedans, from Mercedes, Audi, etc. But, this was the V-rated (or perhaps H-rated) version of the tire. It's not clear how different our T-rated version (98T) is. I would think that most of the characterists would be reasonably similar. In our stock size (17" wheels, anyway), there is also a 99T version, with a somewhat higher load rating. Although the higher load rating isn't needed for the weight of the 2010 Outback, the 99T version might feel a tad stiffer.

Whether the use of an all-season sedan tire is a good choice or not, the ContiProContacts are reasonably competent within their category, I think, and not total bargain-basement tires. That said, there are probably other choices that are significantly better at different things, depending on what you want to optimize.