New Tires for the WRX
[ May 8th, 2010 ] By: Charles Smith Posted in » Ramblings
After a short while of spirited driving new tires are required. That time has come for my WRX. Normally, if I were happy with the OEM tires I would gladly buy them again and I was happy with them. Except this time around I found out my OEMs (Bridgestone Potenza RE92s affiliate link) cost $250/ea. Thats pricier than most race tires! I loved them, but $1000 just for the rubber seems a bit high for not top of the line All Seasons.
The top rated All Seasons were the Continental ExtremeContact DWSs (affiliate link). Plus they were one of the lower cost ones! That may explain why when I tried to get them, they were on back order. Plus they have a neat looking tread. So I could have chosen to wait for them or grab some other All-Seasons.
So with the DWS on backorder, I went with the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions (affiliate link). Decent performance at about $150/ea. That’s $100/ea savings compared to the OEMs that come with the WRX. So far I’m happy with my choice, and the reviews of the tire claim I’m going to stay happy with that choice for a while (30k-50k miles…more likely <30k the way I drive).
If I had some extra wheels (winter wheels) kicking around, I’d buy some specifically summer tires and some winter tires for only a little more than I paid for the all seasons. Switching wheels is a 10-15 minute job with a jack and jackstands. However, if theres a freak snow storm this summer, I’ll be able to drive in it.
February 9th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
I went with the RE960s too, after a just-shy-of-satisfying experience with a set of Avons, and then some “performance all-season” (really, summer) tires that wore out in about ten minutes, taking time in between to nearly pile me into several parked cars during a freak snowstorm. The 960s seem a little grippier than the 92s, are nice and quiet and have gone something like 30k miles and look to have plenty of tread life left. I want to say I got them a few dollars cheaper than you did, and it appeared to me at the time that the RE92s were actually no longer available.
Anyway, I second your choice of the RE960s as a decent all-around tire for the WRX!
April 12th, 2011 at 6:20 am
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July 30th, 2011 at 7:17 am
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August 6th, 2011 at 7:37 pm
Wow. This is an interesting post. I’ve enjoyed reading it. I already experienced that my tires is easily broken when I bought a low profile tire. I learned my mistake, we should buy a tire which is high quality. I will check this out. Thank you for your post. . Keep it up.
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