Street/Dirt tire recommendations?

[OtterCraft]

I am looking for a good recommendation on tires from you guys who like to take thier Subie on the dirt, but still like handling on the paved corners.

Forester struts and springs are on the '04 WRX wagon, and now a larger tire is in need to fill the gap along with adding a bit more clearance off-road. I need a tire that is not going to wear to quickly, have traction on dirt/mud, and still maintain handling when cornering on the pavement.

What tires have you used for these applications?

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

are you keeping stock WRX wheels, 16 x 6.5" ?

 

[OtterCraft]

are you keeping stock WRX wheels, 16 x 6.5" ?

I will be keeping the stock wheels for the moment unless I can come up on something else before monday or tuesday.

 

[GClark]

My recommendation is General Grabbers, 215/65/16.  Handle great in dirt and you can still corner hard on pavement.  

Looks like this

 

[OtterCraft]

Those are hard as hell looking, and even better if the performance is up to my need.

Anyone have any wheels that won't add extra weight? Maybe some good looking Forester takeoffs or others?

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

General Grabber AT-2 or Yokohama Geolandar A/T-s are both designed as on/off-road tires with blocky tread and pretty beefy sidewalls. another size to consider is stock Forester size, 215/60-16. this is still a good bit larger diameter than stock wrx 205/55-16, and will cause about 10% speedo error (speedo will read slow) and mess with your gearing a bit, which means you'll have to run in 4th gear a lot on 2-lane roads cuz the 2.0 WRX motor doesn't have much oomph below 3000 rpm and the larger tires effectively raise gear ratios.

the 215/65-16s GClark mentions are fine on a Outback, but are pretty tall for a WRX and would give you speedo error of about 15% and really make 5th gear only usable on highway and even then you'd be downshifting to 4th on the hills.

you should have enough clearance in the wheel wells since you are on lifted Foz suspension. Depending on where you live, you may encounter problems at inspection time since you will be running non-stock tire sizes.

YMMV of course! Simplest option is to run a blocky snow tire in stock size....but hellz bells that's no fun.

 

[OtterCraft]

I was considering the 215-60-16 tire size, but wasn't positive on the effects it will have on the gearing and speedo reading.

 

[GClark]

I loved mine, took me to Utah and back with plenty offroading in between.  Did throw my speedo off like Nigel said by about 4mph iirc. Quite a few members have rocked them, Nate has some on his RS currently.  Mine rubbed on my mudflaps at first, but that went away in a couple weeks...

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

decision depends on how much tradeoff you are willing to accept between off-roading tire and the gearing/speedo error. WRX is already geared pretty high, raising ratios more with tall tires means you will be 'rowing around' with the gearshift a good bit more than normal.

 

[OtterCraft]

The trade-off for more off-road is worth it especially where I have had the wagon this far on the stock suspesion.

I can only imagine what I will get myself into now.

It looks like I will be shifting more often, but am still up in the air on exact sizing.

Decisions...decisions.

 

[IBratmanI]

215 60 16 General Grabbers!

 

[05RSKID]

Like Clark said I have a set of grabbers on mine and I have taken it down power lines by my house with no problem. I have 215 65 16s

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

Ran Grabbers on the LDR recce Forester. They're tough no doubt but not invincible. Have blown a couple from hitting rocks.

 

[i-wagon]

I had grabbers and geolanders for the imp, both in 205-70 15. Geolanders performed much better and rode better. Grabbers might have been a 75 ratio, either way I liked the geolanders much better, rode better, quieter, didn't wear funny

 

[OtterCraft]

Like Clark said I have a set of grabbers on mine and I have taken it down power lines by my house with no problem. I have 215 65 16s

What did you have to do to make the Grabbers 215 65 16 fit? I have a 2004 WRX wagon with new Forester springs/struts, and the rear tires were rubbing the inside

of the wheel well along with the rear of the side skirt. There was also the concern of the fronts rubbing under hard turning. Wheel hub spacers maybe, and some cutting at the side skirt area?

 

[05RSKID]

On mine it only rubs on the mud flap and in the rear mine barely runner on the strut so I just let it wear lol. I know they make camber bolts to put in the rear so you can adjust it more.

 

[skipow]

i love my blizzaks. they do pretty well all around,