Top 10 Best Tires for Subaru Forester: 2024 Tire Test

Lauded as one of the best Subaru-distributed SUV series, the Forester promises optimal handling and decent to good traction across all terrains. However, their performance efficiencies may significantly vary based on your chosen tire types.

The following guidelines will delve further into tips for tire browsing and recommend some of the most promising all-terrain/all-season tires for Subaru Forester.

A. How to Choose The Best Tire for Subaru Forester

1. Understanding The Subaru Forester

Subaru Forester is a versatile, compact SUV known for very spacious interiors (up to five passengers) and flexible seating designs to allow passengers and cargo of up to 900 lbs and tow up to 1500 lbs. Hence, you should look for strong, aggressive tires with a load index of at least 95 – unless the SUV is mostly used for casual, light rides.

Equipped with an AWD (all-wheel drive) system, the Subaru Forester is meant for stable, excellent traction across all driving conditions aside from dry summer, including snowy conditions, rain, and slippery roads. As such, a capable tire with well-placed tread blocks and good evacuation channels would be strongly recommended for your SUV. It would be even better when the road tires can balance traction performance with riding comfort, though the latter is not always compulsory if you can tolerate a few bumps here and there along the ride.

Generous ground clearances and skid plates are another notable highlight, allowing Subaru to handle light dirt trails, rugged terrains, or uneven landscapes – hence the need for all-rounder tires that work with both on- and off-road terrains. 

Note, however, that extreme off-road conditions like deep pits or rock clawing are still out of reach, meaning you should sidestep off-road max traction tires during your browsing. High-performance tires are not exactly the best fit, either, given the Forester’s lack of focused features to boost cornering agility and sporty handling. 

Furthermore, due to its size, the Subaru Forester tends to struggle when squeezing itself into compact spaces or navigating around urban areas. It would be best if you opt for flexible tires with sensitive steering feedback and rolling subtlety to deal with various downshifts and minimal mid-way changes. 

2. Choose The Right Tire Type for Your Subaru Forester

With all the Forester’s characteristics and your unique driving needs factored in, all-season, on-road all-terrain, and winter tires will suit most drivers.

All-Season Tires:

All-season tires are the prime choice if you mostly engage in casual daily road driving (with very light off-road ventures thrown in between on some rare occasions). However, note that these tires continue to break down into smaller categories based on your further niche preferences and driving habits:

• Choose Standard touring tires if you do not have high-performance demands and mostly prioritize low road noises and a good level of comfort. They offer great on-road traction in summer and good to decent winter handling (depending on materials and pricing).
• Grand touring tires are an excellent option when you want a higher blend of handling, riding comfort, and traction than standard tires. With these tires, you can cater to various on-road riding purposes, such as daily commuting, highway driving, and long touring distances.
• As the name suggests, highway all-season tires promote smooth rolls with a great tread life and low road noise levels should you frequent highways and freeways. They are usually not as flexible on the snow, unless you opt for more expensive/premium models.
• If you have moderate loading demands, a crossover/SUV touring tire should do the job well without sacrificing smooth rides and all-season traction. Its noise control and snow performances vary across different pricing ranges and models, however.

On-Road All-Terrain Tires:

All-terrain tires allow you to handle both on- and off-road surfaces, though how much and to what extent still depends on the tire materials, brands, and – most importantly – your preferences. Opt for on-road AT tires if daily driving is still your priority at the end of the day.

Winter Tires:

Winter performances are clearly the top priority of these tires, allowing you to ensure 100% safety in snowy months or harsh winter conditions. Some winter tires even include extra features for summer stability, though note that they usually demand higher charges.

B. How Did We Test and Pick The Best Tire for Subaru Forester

196 tires have been selected (based on sales and popularity) for our 2023 COR Wheels Tire Test. We had the 225/60R17 tire size version test-ridden on our Subaru Forester 2022 Base during January (for Winter evaluation) and June-July (Summer) across on-road and off-road terrains to omit lower-quality contenders. 

The scores were then compared to customer feedback to address evaluation inconsistencies (if there are any). After several more discussions, our team agreed upon the 10 best performers below: 

C. Best All-Season Tire For Subaru Forester

1. Michelin CrossClimate2

Best uses: highways, heavy towing, regular roads, all snow terrains, high-speed endeavors, moderate water depth

Michelin CrossClimate2 leaves little to worry about on dry roads, aided by the sturdy 3D locks and aligning sipes to deliver exceptional footings through paved grooves without major slippage. Revving to 55-60 MPH in seconds is a non-issue for average beginners, and you could settle well onto the road textures around 45 MPH with impressive steering feedback that closely aligns with each input. 

Better yet, over-reactions on highways or graded surfaces (as often seen in touring tires) are almost non-existent here. Just like on regular streets, you should have no problems overtaking vehicles through swift, smooth lane changes and even manage occasional low-angled leans on softer, more wide-placed extended curves. As such, towing 1500 lbs (or even numbers slightly beyond that) can be handled with minimal control force while suffering from little to no tire drag under the sidewalls. 

CrossClimate2 continues to impress drastically in wet conditions, thanks to the sturdy V-ramp chamfers that stay strong against fluctuating temperatures and do not waver in the face of cold, intrusive rainwater. Hydroplaning is kept at great control and subsides almost entirely around gentle corners, leaving enough margin for your Subaru to choke up slightly at flooded crooks or engage in occasional late steerings around rougher mountain passes.

Wintertime traction is very impressive for a touring tire; minus brief steering delays on ice, this all-weather tire composes its sidewall flexes excellently through any snow-covered roads and easily manages consistent momentum during complex steering techniques without help from snow chains. 

With such unwavering year-round confidence, Michelin CrossClimate 2 is totally deserving of its premium pricing range. Treadwear rates and overall riding quality also tick all the boxes, though some noise-sensitive drivers might wish for slightly fewer squeakings on wet surfaces and through sharp turns.

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2. Vredestein HiTrac All Season

Best uses: fast on-road riding (even with abrupt turns), water below 9 inches, light snow, heavy towing, long rides

With its large shoulders and in-built extra bites, Vredestein HiTrac is a delight in your daily driving situation, gripping the roads with so much confidence that our team had no trouble revving straight to 60 MPH mere minutes into the ride. 

Abrupt directional turns and speed forces (both accelerations and decelerations) hardly deterred the car from its confident, clean cuts, to the point that we could even afford back-to-back spirited riding dynamics on tight curves with 500 lbs of cargo. Tire drags are also very scarce, only fluctuating few and far between brief moments of slackening wheels and remaining consistently stable otherwise. 

You should find cornering attempts a breeze thanks to the well-supported on-center ribs, whose combined power persists despite wet, severe weather conditions. Indeed, on deep water beyond 9 inches, the worst we experienced was minor hydroplaning around the flanks that got trampled down right away under the circumferential grooves. Riding comfort and noise control also retain most of their edges from dry riding – minus brief rumblings around tight chicanes that, fortunately, remain within the lines. 

On another note, for such an expensive tire, HiTrac’s performance on snow is slightly disappointing. You can drive decently at 40-45 MPH on light snow, but start to crumble more frequently on deep snow and struggle twice to get the car to move forward in thick icy conditions.

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3. Bridgestone WeatherPeak

Best uses: dry, flooded roads, long road trips on snow and ice, long usage

WeatherPeak easily surpasses its Bridgestone siblings to crown dry road ridings with excellent central ribs, evolving sipes, and generous shoulder blocks, manifesting one of the most stable footings ever seen in grand touring tires. Unplanned correction skids and whipping turns carry themselves so smoothly into the rides that traction losses could barely bother you. 

Better yet, you will likely manage steep ascents and abrupt texture transitions with the same non-dramatic road manners. As such, even with inconsistent steering techniques, you can easily tow 1000 to 1200 lbs.

Just like the Michelin CrossClimate2, Bridgestone WeatherPeak also manages to carry most of its dry edges into wet weather, only suffering from mild slippage on wet bridges (which are so infrequent it is hard to consider them true drawbacks). Its wintertime performances would also play impressively in your favor, owing to the 3PMSF-labeled Snow Vices that deliver aggressive clawing actions comparable to dedicated winter tires.

All in all, minus some ice slippage around tight corners (easily manageable through stronger push-pull), WeatherPeak rarely puts itself into any real safety compromise. Aided by the subtle impact handling (paving the way for a better tire life) and generally tolerable tread noises, this versatile model truly deserves to stay on the upper end of the market’s pricing range. 

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4. Continental TrueContact Tour

Best uses: dry roads (with tight corners, blind curves), light & frequent rain, short traveling on light snow, paved surfaces

TrueContact’s polymer-blended tread compounds and rotation-focused designs elevate this standard tire among a wide range of the best grand touring models in the market. Its tire-road connection is amazing, further boosted by aligning steering responses and strong ribs that you can conquer tight corners and even blind curves much more smoothly. 

Tire drags mostly occurred with cargo heavier than 600 lbs and seemed to stay quite tame at any other number below that benchmark, growing less and less pronounced as we chose to keep the driving rates consistent with no fast-paced changes thrown in between.

While slippage and hydroplaning admittedly did happen, we found these stutters predictable and easy to handle most of the time, thanks to the shoulders’ lateral notches and siped intermediate blocks that manifest a stable opening for water evacuation. 

While the tread noises could have been somewhat tamer on ascents, Continental TrueContact fortunately behaves well on even surfaces, gentle corners, and gradual accelerations without major vibrations. Treadwear rates are also very good for a standard all-season touring tire, though you might wish for slightly better integrity on rougher surfaces when considering its middle- to upper-pricing range. 

The biggest complaints mostly lie in wintertime performances. Snow traction is decent/tolerable (and gets significantly better with snow chains) but falls flat on ice. Averaged drivers can still handle, but beginners must avoid spirited driving on icy roads at all costs.

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5. Continental CrossContact LX25

Best uses: more spirited driving (cornering, switchbacks) on dry roads, slippery & flooded roads, light snow, temperature extremes, towing

The symmetrically-molded EcoPlus+ compounds react very well to rough surfaces and even better on well-paved roads, so you might be impressed how CrossContact retains excellent momentum through fluctuating steering inputs and even downright throws mid-cornering. Its sidewalls control their flexes well most of the time and know to stay within limits before the faint drifting turns to something more intrusive. You can enjoy breezy and very comfortable rides through switchbacks and zigzag chicanes without much problem. 

Like most all-season tires mentioned here, CrossContact delivers confident wet traction almost similar to its own dry-road behaviors, except for occasional hydroplaning in deeper winter that can still be tolerable when cargo is reduced to below 500 lbs. Better yet, the tire easily grazes the top rankings among Continental tire lineups thanks to the excellent tire durability and ride quality ratings, which remain consistent through temperature extremes and do not plummet at sharp skids/deep dives the way other tires usually do.

Still, regarding its upper-range pricing, we do hope CrossContact delivers better footing solidity on winter roads. The tire is very well-composed at regular driving rates on light/moderate winter conditions but seems to drop its edges gradually the deeper the snow is. Likewise, ice terrains could only be handled at below 40 MPH, giving the Subaru quite a difficult time when navigating around roadblocks and oncoming vehicles.

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6. Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3

Best uses: casual rides (even with tight corners), moderate to heavy loading, light snow, all-year traveling, long usage

One of the most reputed cross/SUV touring tires from Pirelli, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 utilizes sequence-tuned blocks and well-distributed grooves for the best dry-road footings, settling non-dramatically into the road patterns at 40 MPH and rarely experiencing any drifting symptoms since. 

And while this Subaru is not particularly catered for high-speed revs, we found Scorpion AS Plus 3 to manage traction chokes extremely well during our attempts to surge straight to 75 MPH (from 40) in seconds. Naturally, towing from 1200 lbs drags down the steering feedback and momentum a little, but you should be fine with most basic driving situations and cornering attempts at any number below that.

The tire consistently carries itself into rainy conditions; just like on dry roads, we had no trouble navigating around lanes/vehicles or diving into deeper corners, even when the water depth raised as high as 9.5 inches. You will only sense hydroplaning beyond 60 MPH and barely even there in casual straight-line rides, thanks to the innovative 3D sipes that spread out water layers and pressure evenly across the footprint.

Treadwear rates and riding quality easily top most crossover/SUV tires we have tested, delivering none of the borderline annoying jostles and squeaks we often see in similar tires when traveling with extreme cargo weight. Better yet, this ultimate comfort still retains most of its strength when you travel in wintertime, with superior traction in light snow and frequent but predictable stutters in deep snow and ice. 

All in all, minus the premium pricing and occasional muted feedback after extended rides (5+ hours), there is not much to complain about.

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7. Firestone Destination LE3

Best uses: highways (tight-spaced curves, extreme speed limits) moderate water depth in summer, light dirt and gravel, light snow

Despite its seemingly simple design, Firestone Destination LE3 scores all highway steering techniques with astounding confidence, smoothly balancing tire flexes and rib stability for the most consistent and strong momentum through tight-spaced curves and back-to-back turns. 

You will also be pleased with the lack of over-reactions at extreme speed limits (80-85 MPH) or any slightest symptoms of major feedback delays; unlike other tires that grow less sure-footed the higher the speed, Destination LE3 recovers quickly from the sudden changes to strengthen the contact points further, getting twice more stable as when you reduce the cargo to 400-500lbs.

There is not much to worry about regarding Destination’s behavior in wet seasons, either. While one cannot deny the slightly more pronounced jitters in colder rainwater and sharp, damp crooks, its open shoulder slots (part of the HydroGrip Tech) manage to keep reckless gliding under great control. And unless your steering gets truly slackening, you should have no problems affording some intentional understeer from time to time.

Destination translates pretty alright into off-road surfaces, most notably on dirt and gravel textures; ominous jitters across thick debris/gritty surfaces are well-controlled under the full-depth tread features, allowing decent strikes at 40-45 MPH in little to no drama. Loose terrains (sand and mud) are where the tire’s confident edges drop more notably; fortunately, you can still ride and tackle ascents well, given good preparations.

Though definitely inferior to legal snow tires, Destination LE3 is not half-bad during wintertime, as it keeps pretty stable footings on light snow and delivers tolerable shudders on harsher terrains at below 40 MPH. 

Better yet, minus some notable stalls in colder weather, you will see Destination LE3 holding itself quite strong against most light road textures and high temperatures – making itself a promising contender for long-time usage. Riding quality and noise controls are also generally favorable and uniform most of the time.

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D. Best All Terrain Tire For Subaru Forester

8. Falken WildPeak A/T Trail

Best uses: all light off-road terrains (dirt, rock, sand, mud), thick snow, year-round usage (even with tight corners, high-speed strikes)

The rugged over-shoulder ribs and sidewalls already gave us a positive hunch regarding the tire’s off-road performance, and WildPeak indeed does not disappoint in this regard. 

When we entered a dirt track, its extreme plowing actions could easily be compared to an off-road AT tire, minus harmless shakes through tighter crooks that we hardly considered a real drawback. Hard rock staircases and riverbeds also embraced the tread and sidewalls very well at regular driving rates while exhibiting surprise feedback aggression at abrupt turns and wide-degree skids.

Better yet, on loose terrains (notably the weakest point for most AT tires), WildPeak A/T Trail rarely puts you and the SUV in actual danger; the wide grooves and 3D sipes do a spectacular job gumming the tire better into sticky sand and soil via extra bites, to the point that you can occasionally rev up to 55-60 MPH with light cargo or few passengers (not more than 3).

Needless to say, the tire is even more confident when returning to on-road streets. With no gritty surfaces or sticking soil to get in the way this time, you can feel its tire-road connections twice more stable, which helps your Subaru navigate both straight-line paths and tight corners with aggressive steering feedback expected of a premium tire. Snow performances are also a total crowd-pleaser for a non-winter tire, only plummeting slightly on thicker ice buildups and staying safely within its lane in almost any typical driving situation.

While riding comfort is generally consistent and stable, we do believe Falken should address the loud screeching noises at higher speeds and on wet surfaces. On-center ribs play safely within ranges but could have been more sure-footed on graded surfaces with heavier cargo.

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9. Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015

Best uses: light off-road dirt, soft rocks, moderate traveling distances in snow, paved roads, water below 7 inches

Another on-road AT tire that makes it into our list, the Geolandar A/T G015 shines brilliantly on casual daily roads, owing most of its power to the rotation-focused features and aggressive blocks that leave little room for intrusive traction losses. After brief stutters in the first few seconds, its initial bites sink quickly despite minimal steering inputs, allowing you to weave easily through lanes and gentle turns with confident 40-55 MPH strikes in little to no drama. 

Its consistent, aligning steering feedback also strikes on a high note, especially around corners. Apart from wide-radius crooks and gentle approach angles, you can even manage tight chicanes and carousels regardless with punctual downshifts and stronger, more thudding steering force. 

You can also observe how well these solid footings adapt to wet surfaces. The lack of anti-hydroplaning features (minus the circumferential grooves) might send the car into a flurry of shudders from time to time, but they hardly threaten in moderate water depth (below 7 inches) and are even less of an issue when you keep things civilized at 30-35 MPH. Heavy loading tasks are still totally within reach here, too, though you will need better parking/cornering strategies to keep the car within straight lines and in close tandem with each mid-way change.

Geolandar A/T G015 also does quite a decent job on snow and moderate/thin ice buildups; violent coughs on thicker ice are unavoidable but not to the point of being downright dangerous.

Surprisingly, what disappoints the most turns out to be the tire’s off-road manner. To clarify, its behaviors are still pretty good on dirt and rock (given no dynamic handling) but start to get sloppy on loose surfaces due to the lack of clawing actions. Treadwear is alright but a bit underwhelming, and the tire manufacturer definitely could have done something about the loud rumblings when these tires are aired down to 15-20 PSI. 

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E. Best Winter/Snow Tire For Subaru Forester

10. Michelin X-Ice Snow SUV

Best uses: all wintry conditions, straight-line endeavors on dry roads, light rainy weather conditions, seasonal usage with occasional summer trips

With strong, wide grooves clearly meant for extra clawing tractions, this Michelin tire is a brilliant performer in snow weather, bonding intimately and tightly with the road patterns to the point that no margin is left for even the slightest signal of traction losses. 

As we traversed deep snow volumes beyond 9 inches, the car only stalled several seconds for better pressure distribution (hence the slightly lower score than light snow conditions) but carried on breezily in almost any other situation. Even on very thick, slippery ice buildups, its sidewalls strengthened and adjusted according to our steering inputs with no difficulties. 

Once returning to daily snowless roads, X-Ice Snow proves its impressive levels of grip even further thanks to the deep, notched sipes, allowing you to spirit the Subaru up to 70 MPH while still carrying cargo of 600-700 lbs just fine. The class-leading, smooth riding quality and quietness also deserve all the praises, further aided by the decent treadwear rates and 40,000-mile warranty (quite competitive for a seasonal tire).

On another note, Michelin X-Ice Snow still has room for more refinement through blind curves and extremely low-radius corners during non-winter periods. But given its excellent non-winter scores in other criteria, this oversight is not enough to rob this tire of its concluding position on our list.

Conclusion

The Forester can cater to both on-road and light off-road terrains – guaranteed their handling characteristics work well with your chosen type of tires. Consider your budget, driving habits, and real-life performance carefully to ensure no overspending on tires for Subaru Forester. Contact our COR Wheels Team or the manufacturer itself if any all-season capabilities seem unclear or confusing.