[LarryIII]

I am posting this on the 'Not Exactly SVX' forum, because it is my initial impressions of the new tires on our '97 Outback wagon.

Besides researching tires for the '92 SVX on Tire Rack, I researched and purchased tires for the OB. I bought 4 Yokohama Aegus LS4 tires in size 205/70 R-15 for our OB. These are the stock size. They replaced the OEM Michelin XW-4 tires Subaru put on the car.
The tires were installed last Friday afternoon. We had to run up to NYC on Sat morning and come home Sat. night. Then we returned to NYC on Sun. morning and came home again Mon. evening. The new tires certainly got a workout. There was turnpike driving, stop & go driving, low & high speed slolam, emergency braking, and the invetible parallel parking. The course included I-95 the Walt Whitman Bridge, The NJ Tpke., 'DaTunnel', cross town on side streets in Manhattan, The 59th Street Bridge (Queensboro Bridge), Queens Blvd., and minor forays onto the Long Island Expressway.
Road surfaces ranged from excellent to the potholes large enough to swallow a Humvee and everything in between.

The tires performed very well. They were very quiet but sang at a higher pitch than the original Michelins when pushed to high speeds (75+ mph). The wet and dry traction was excellent. The dry braking was a large improvement over the Michelins. The cornering ability of these tires is only good. The sidewalls are soft and tend to roll in on cornering while the tread grips tenaciously. The soft sidewalls are probably the reason for the smooth ride.
The tires have a 1" wide whitewall stripe which is most likely the reason for the soft sidewall (white EPDM rubber is softer [lower durometer]than black SBR).
The worst thing about the tires is all the ribbing I had to take from our relatives because of the whitewalls. Both Rosie & I think that these whitewalls make the car look jaunty. We like them. Since the car is female , she like likes her 'new shoes' too (I never met a woman who didn't want new shoes).
I'll report on snow traction later.
So far both of us a very pleased with the new tires.