you probably won't find too many people here that have direct experience with tires on a forrester. most people on this board drive imprezas. thats why you haven't gotten a straight answer.

as most people have suggested, check out www.tirerack.com just enter your current tire size and look at whats available. most of the tires are rated and you can compare similar tires in a table all at once. you can see what is most popular and what is best.

also when deciding on a tire, it depends what you are looking to get out of the tire. what kind of climate do you live in? do you need good snow traction or only dry and wet? those are some things to look at when deciding on what kind of tires to get.

from experience i would highly suggest sticking to name brands. stay away from the cheaper and no name brands (federal, big o, nankang, general, etc) they gernerally have lower quality tires that are made up of cheaper materials, hence they cost a lot less. stick with brands like bridgestone, michelin, yokohama, falken, goodyear, pirelli, etc


also, with tires, what you pay for is what you get. you go cheap, you get crap

 

Luke is correct, and a whole bunch of you need to relax. FYI Subies have been equipped primarily with Bridgestone in general & RE92 in specific, but they did specify some Yoks as well as Michelin tires on some cars. As far as what is a good tire and what a bad tire is, I say that is relative. If you are used to 60K mi from a set of tires, then buy a car & get 55K problem free mi out of the OE tires, alot of people would say those are good tires. (In fact, the OE suppliers are betting on that.) Big O doesn't make tires. Neither does Costco, Sam's Club, Sears or Pep Boys. They simply sell tires w/ their brand on it. You can negotiate Road Hazard insurance when you buy you car. My OE RE92s aer insured. When you buy replacement tires most retailers (even Tire Rack) will offer some form of RH as well. And I think OneOBS is right on one point - for the most part shaving tires is not a normal service provided by most tire retailers. (Sometimes certain methods of fixing cars become antiquated. If you don't beleive me call around & try to get someone to bubble balance your tires.) Most dealers have a fear of recommending anything except OE. So it is no surprise that they recommended the Yoks. Remember, that w/ some cars, the OE tires are designed specifically for that car, so somethime it might make a difference.