Ditched the old rubber (now running Geolandar A/T-S)

Today, I finally replaced the OEM Yokohama Geolandar G900's. :biggrin:

At 38,000 miles, my front tires were excessively worn on the outside, likely due to poor alignment. So I decided it was time to move on to some more exciting rubber. I ordered a set of Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S's in stock size from TireRack at US$ 95 each and had my Subaru dealer install them.

The thread on the A/T-S's is a good bit more aggressive, which is exactly what I was after. Not quite as aggressive as the widespread BF Goodrich AT or Goodyear Wrangler AT tires. But still a big step in the right direction. Here in the US, the Geo A/T-S is the only off-road tire available in stock size for MY03-07 Foresters, and I was keen on sticking with stock size.

So far, cornering performance as well as highway noise is roughly comparable to the OEM tire. The ride may be a bit stiffer. But I think they are also running at slightly lower pressure, which makes them somewhat softer again. I've only put about 20 miles on them. But so far I like them and have no regrets.

Excellent Escher!!! I have actually seen the A/T S's on a few subies around here, they look really nice.

Did you get your alignment done???

Definitely did get my alignment done! That's how we found out it was off. And that's how I will hopefully get the new tires to wear more evenly.

Also did my 30,000 miles service at the same time (a bit late, obviously). For some inexplicable reason, my rear brake pads were worn out, but not my fronts?!? Anybody seen something odd like this?

They resurfaced the rear rotors at the same time, which brought the brake bill to almost US$ 300. And then, of course, they wanted to replace transmission fluid, brake fluid, and coolant, which cost something like another US$ 500. Total bill (excluding the tires, which I bought separately online) came to just under US$ 1000. Guess my Subie is starting to age just as it comes out of the warranty period.

On the upside, installing and balancing the four tires (US$ 50 for all four) and the alignment (US$ 80) were a relative bargain.

Now I definitely need to find myself some dirt tracks! :biggrin:

Escher said:

Now I definitely need to find myself some dirt tracks! :biggrin:

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Pisgah Fall Meet is coming up. Come on down, and we'll get your car dirty.

With baby no. 2 (this time a boy) expected in mid-September and a work trip to Europe second half of October, a road trip to Western North Carolina will unfortunately remain a nice dream for me this year.

Now that I've driven the Geo A/T-S a few days, I can definitely say the ride is moderately stiffer than with the OEM tires. Road noise at high speeds is a bit higher too. But the wind noise from the frameless windows drowns out both the boxer rumble and the noise from the new off-road tires.

Road handling seems pretty much unaffected so far. But I have yet to play with tire pressures. (Right now, I think they're running fairly low pressure.)

Geolanders

Nice tyres Escher, they look the same tread pattern as the GO12's I just had fitted. Great grip on the road and didn't let me down in the forest either. A little bit noisier but don't they look like they are just begging to go offroad?
Find a dirt road, any dirt road, and give them a go, you'll be happy as a pig in mud.:banana::banana:

Escher said:

With baby no. 2 (this time a boy) expected in mid-September and a work trip to Europe second half of October, a road trip to Western North Carolina will unfortunately remain a nice dream for me this year.

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Baby number two!!! Congratulations!!! Your excused, again.

ian059 said:

Nice tyres Escher, they look the same tread pattern as the GO12's I just had fitted.

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I think they are actually the same tyre. The brochure I have calls them A/T-S but when I ordered them the dealer referred to them as G012's.

Ian059 and Dalez: Interesting to hear that the A/T-S also appears to go by another name. Either way, I love the tread pattern on these. I wasn't ready to spend the money earlier. But boy am I glad the stockers finally wore out! :biggrin:

Carl: October is out. But if Pisgah turns out to be in November, I may just be able to swing it. We may be moving to West Africa next year (not sure if the Subie would/should come along -- I need to start a new thread about this). So this could be my one shot.

Last random thing: There's a chance I may have the opportunity to head out to Sydney and Melbourne for work next July. OK. Here I've spilled the beans on my life for the next 12 months. And Subarus are an integral part of the planning.

Dalez said:

I think they are actually the same tyre. The brochure I have calls them A/T-S but when I ordered them the dealer referred to them as G012's.

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Yeah. Silly me :biggrin:. I looked at the sidewall of my tyres and there it was, A/T-S

Update on my experience with the Geo A/T-S, after 1.5 months of use:

* I can confirm that there is a bit more road noise than with the stockers. But the wind noise around the frameless windows is still the worst noise offender.

* I can confirm that the ride is indeed stiffer, which is good for handling and so-so for your back. But it's perfectly acceptable.

* The wide lugs make it easy for rocks to get stuck. This can result in unbalanced wheels and unpleasant vibration. I almost took the Fozza back to the shop due to bad vibration on one front wheel. But then it suddenly went away.

* I punctured my rear left tire with a roofing nail on my way to work last week -- on the highway of all places. I guess no tire is immune to puncture by nails and screws. But still, I punctured my off-road tire on-road.

* My new avatar picture is from a Hobie Cat sailing trip to the Atlantic Coast last month, with the new tires on. But with the small resolution, you can't really see how nice the tread pattern looks with dust on it. :biggrin:

My experience with the Geo A/T-S after 10,000 km, half on dirt roads (all dry), heavily loaded vehicle:

Tread wear higher than expected: New: 10.0 mm, Now 7.5 to 8.5 mm depending on which tyre and where on the tread.

The tread coped well with sharp rocks, showing minimal cutting and chipping.

Two sidewall punctures (staked). In a party of eleven vehicles (the others all "real" 4WDs), only one other tyre was staked. Still not a large enough sample size to be statistically significant, but nevertheless a concern.

Got back, unloaded, connected the sway bars, put the Adrenalines back on, now have a different car. Quieter, better handling etc. Be something wrong if it wasn't.

Great choice

I've got Geolander AT/S 225/70 R15's and I've NEVER got stuck.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVDBXUd8xc"]YouTube - swamp run[/ame]

Good stuff, frogstar! Glad you made it through and didn't run into any alligators. Audibly hard work by the camera man on the roof cage too.

The camera man was my wife and she's got a cold.
She likes riding up there though.

$80 for alignment! You are lucky fellas, I had mine done (four wheel alignment) at a subaru dealer and was felt for £175, or US$280

Bugger...