Hello All,

I'm new to this site. Wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts on this predicament I find myself in.

At 55K I needed a new set of tires for my 2000 Forester. I asked the local Subaru dealer and they recommended I put the same tires on it as there were originally, Yokohama Geo =something Highlander. Put a new set on. With 13K on the tires, I had a blowout going down the freeway at 65 mph. When I took the tire in, thinking it was still under warranty, the upshot to this story is that it was a shell game -- Subaru passed on responsibility to the outfit who sold me the tires, the outfit blamed it on Yokohama, Yokohama said it wasn't responsible. They told me I was somehow at fault for not keeping it inflated properly and graciously gave me $50 towards the purchase of a new tire, even though no one could find any nail holes or any evidence of a problem, and in spite of my adhering to a clockwork maintenance schedule.

This past week I had my second blowout on the second of these tires with 18K on the set. Now it appears I may have to buy a whole new set again because of the 1/4 circumference wear from the set that's on there now. If I just buy a new replacement tire, keep the spare on, which is new, it apparently could ruin the drive shaft, which will cost me even more money down the road.

I think a year ago the total tab for the new tires was over $550.

My question is: Has anyone put anything other than the Yokohamas on a Forester w/ success? What I'd like to accomplish is to get road hazard warranty on these tires so I don't have to go through this again. I came from many years of owning Hondas and an Acura so I have never had this situation occur before. Call it dumb luck, but it's not something I'm going to want to repeat twice. The guys at the tire shops say there is no difference. I don't know who or what is accurate.

Any thoughts?

Chris

 

First of all, this has nothing to do with Subaru. Tires come with their own warranties. You are even given copies of the warranties when you buy the car.

Second, one of the first - and best - upgrades you can make to any car is to replace the tires with something decent. Car manufacturers aren't going to spend a lot of money on tires on a sub-$25K car. So you get tires that are basically crap, but seem to do OK.

Go to Tirerack.com and shop for tires.

 

Well, I kind of beg to differ that this may not be the right forum for Subaru for the following reasons: 1) When it was time to purchase new tires, I asked the dealer who maintains my car for recommendations. I was told that Subaru felt that Yokohama was the right match for the Forester. I asked for other options and told it was strongly recommended that I replace the set with what was on there.
2) I did visit a tire place today and, indeed, I will have to spend over $500 for an entire set of new tires that I replaced only last October because there has to be I think it's less than 1/4" circumference between the new tire and what's on there. Because there's 18K miles on the new set, by replacing one tire it will throw everything off and possibly ruin the drive train, which will cost a lot more, I'm sure, than the $550 for the new set. I've never had to replace an entire set of tires because of one. Unless you find yourself in this situation I'm sure it has little meaning. It's my first time dealing with this, but I've always had Hondas and Acuras before and never experienced this.

Seems as if my question annoyed someone but I thought this would be a good place for information. I was told Subaru and Yokohama have some deal between them so of course Subaru is going to encourage using their line. When asking for other options and none are offered, I'm clueless as any tire dealer will try to sell you anything, and I certainly won't know the difference. I was hoping that I could benefit from learning what others had done. I'm still unclear as to why this was an inappropriate question to ask on this site.

 

For what model years? I have a 2000 Forester so it must have been after they started using them. Yokohama is its own brand, right? If the Bridgestone is something different, I will explore that.

 

I have discovered that having to replace all the tires on an AWD system is true (only after it was too late and never thinking this situation would happen to me). What I take issue with, though, is the catch-22 situation where Subaru strongly suggests replacing with the original tire brand, Yokohama, who carries no hazard warranty. The tire company I spoke w/ yesterday, Big O, will offer a tire warranty on any of their name tires, so if a similar situation occurred, given the same scenario I'd be getting coverage on at least one of them. If you buy tires from Subaru, they're not giving you any warranty outside of what the tire offers.

I guess I'm a bit put out that when I asked for options, I was given only one. Because I got 55K off the first set, I thought the Yokos were as good as any.

May this serve as food for thought for any potential buyers of an AWD vehicle reading this thread that if you have a bad run of luck, it can be very costly. It's always nice to have some kind of warranty or coverage, but if it's not offered you're stuck.

One other comment for the post regarding cars coming w/ lousy tires to begin with, in all my years w/ the Hondas and Acura I consistently got my 60K worth, maintaining my vehicles in the same way I have my Subaru. If the tires were not very good, you couldn't prove it by me.

I did take a look at the Tirerack site. My question is how much cheaper really is it if you order, pay for shipping, pay for someone to mount and balance and get nailed for probably other fees as a penalty from not purchasing directly from a tire dealer? If you're only saving a minimal amount, are you that further off in the long run?

 

i guess that you are a person who deals with feelings instead of facts. 1st car dealers are not owned by the auto makers, it's against the laws of the us. 2nd you were given all sorts of literature telling you that the tires are warrantied by the tire makers. car dealers sell cars not tires. and because of the fear of being sued they typically will only recomend the factory installed tires. 3rd you couldn't even take the time to read the model of your tire from the side wall. 4th if you took time to read all the info andor talked to the helpfull people at the tire rack you would find out that they offer a tire prtection plan and will list installers in your area that for a set price will mount and balance the tires. do you expect that others should be responsable to protect you? why should they when you donn't care to be an informed consumer. big 0 tires are only average at best. at cosco sams ,or other places, will offer tire protection plans on real brand name tires. but the tire rack has tested tires and put the reporst on the web site.

 

Just because tires last 60K miles, doesn't mean they are "good." It just means they have a hard rubber compound that doesn't wear very fast. The traction is probably poor and the sidewalls are probably weak, but they last a long time. First time you really need good tires (bad weather, emergency stops, etc.), these tires will let you down. Again and again.

The Bridgstone RE92s that came on my OBS were among the worst I've ever had, but are probably OK for someone that never drives over the speed limit and stays home when it snows. AWD is deceiving. It makes bad tires seem like they're OK. Unfortunately, you never discover how bad they really are until its too late.

When you say Subaru told you to get more Yokohamas, what you meant to say was that the dealer did. And, for the reasons noted above, you were told to get the same tire that your car was delivered with. Wake up. Despite what you may have been led to believe, the dealer is not the voice of Subaru. Its just a franchise. They want to sell you the same tires that came on the car. They want to make more money off of you.

Go back to the tirerack website and educate yourself. You don't have to buy from them, but you can certainly learn from them. If you decide you've found a tire you think will work for you, find a local tire shop that sells them. Most will beat tirerack's prices (if you include shipping costs). The only real problem with the tirerack is that there are too many choices. Thats the hard part.

 

luke i fogot about tire shaving. you people at tire rack give all this knowledge and advice for free. thanks!! i have never been led astray by taking your advice. come next spring, when the winter tire/rims come off, i will be looking to replac the horrid geolanders with some reasonably priced performance tires. got any sugestions?

 

Tire shaving just isn't done much anymore. There is no reason to because most new tires just don't need it. Good luck finding someone that even has the capability.