Subaru: Tire Recommendations for Rough Roads

Hi Ken,

I've heard that Pirelli make a good off road tyre for the Forester, I think
it's called Scorpion SC or something similar. I have friends with a
Forrester here in Australia who have them and torture it off road regularly
without any probs. They're not bad on the beach either although a little on
the noisy side on the freeway.

Sounds like a fun drive you've got there - with serious mud a set of chains
sometimes comes in handy for a little extra traction when it gets really
mushy.

Gerard...

"Ken Lyons" <net> wrote in message
news:GpBub.82223$gnilink.net... 
snow 
little 
is 

Hi Ken!

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 03:26:30 GMT, "Ken Lyons"
<net> wrote:
 

I've done some mild offroading with my WRX wagon. The Michelin Arctic
Alpins I was using seemed to work well on typical Rocky Mountain
backcountry trails; rocky, loose gravel, relatively dry, steep
sections. They are not suitable for mud; they pack up and become
useless way too easily, and are slow to clean out. My usual offroad
car is a beat-up old GL wagon. I have used the Nokian Hakkapilitta
(sp?) tires on it, with very good results. As the Hakkis have become
popular, and hence more expensive, I have been using a no-name
mud-n-sno tire sourced from the guys at Peerless Tyre. We found one in
a 185/80/13 size that has the advantage of providing a bit more ride
height, but it doesn't work as well as the Hakkis on loose surfaces.
Basically, you want a somewhat taller, narrower tire than would be the
optimum choice for pavement, with an open block tread pattern. You
will probably find that a "real" mud and snow tire from most any
manufacturer that will work reasonably well, or you might look into a
dedicated gravel rally tire such as one of the Michelin offerings
(pricy) or perhaps the Kumho rally tire, which I am told works very
well. A tire that fits this description will tend to be pretty squirmy
(that a word d'ya suppose?), and loud on pavement, but anything less
will compromise offroad performance, particularly on soft or muddy
ground. Tradeoffs. Sigh.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101