Most of us myself included, run 2 sets of wheels.
All seasons are not ideal for a WRX.
The most popular summer tire Michelin pilot super sports.
Winter are based usually on personal preference/ driving style.
For the price of a quality set of all season tires, you could buy cheap rims and tires.
All my opinions mind you.

To answer your question I just bought Goodyear Assurance Triple Tread tires for my Mom Impreza 2.5i.
Those are nice all season, and also Michelin pilots all season are also a good all season. Good all seasons will run you about $800-1,000 depending on tire.
Hope this helps

 

All seasons are not ideal for a WRX.

This holds true for nearly all vehicles. Dedicated summer and winter wheels/tires are the ideal choice.

 

I agree with the previous comments about dedicated tires, BUT...since you asked, I've had luck with Conti ExtremeContact DSW and their General alter-egos, the AS03. They're both VERY reasonably priced. My only advice, get the extra road assistance warranty on these and keep the PSI higher since they have soft sidewalls. (38-40) The first 12,000 miles you'll be fine in the snow. After that...mediocre, but still manageable. The DSW tires have the letters 'D', 'S' and 'W' in the tread. Each letter wears at a different rate indicating which conditions you should no longer drive in. It's kind of a handy gimmick. I feel they're both VERY good tires in terms of dry handling and hydroplaning. They were also quiet. Good wear as well. Are summers better for dry and wet? Yes. My 2 cents.

 

I was planning on getting these for my WRX this year. I previously wore out two sets of them on my old car and everything you say is accurate. I try to time the installation of the tires right before the winter season so I get at least two decent winter seasons of tread out of them. They work nearly as well as winter tires and nearly as well as rain tires and nearly as well as summer tires. They're pretty good all around and better than most all seasons for the price. I've driven through 12"-18" of snow with these tires many times any the only problem Ive had was ground clearance and a grille full of snow so, I can't fault the tires for that. They even hold their shape pretty well in cold weather. They're a good option if you have no intentions of swapping wheels/tires for the season. The only thing I wish they would improve on these is the sidewalls. They have a bit of a squishy feel to them even if you over-inflate slightly.

 

I don't get why an all season plus an AWD vehicle wouldn't be plenty good enough except for the most extreme conditions. Most cars at most are FWD plus all seasons from the factory. So Subaru is like famous for this awesome AWD. So if you add in some all seasons I don't understand why they are frowned upon. Yes winter tires are ideal. But I could easily say that chains are ideal as well.

 

I don't get why an all season plus an AWD vehicle wouldn't be plenty good enough except for the most extreme conditions.

If I had to describe it in one word, "stopping". AWD might get you going quicker and make for some fun sideways action, but the drive type makes no difference when you have to stop quickly on snow or ice. All you need is that one frugal driver who believes a set of AS with 50% tread is good enough for winter (yeah, you know the one) to slide to a "stop" about 10 meters further than intended, and in front of you, then you'll see the value in a quality set of winter tires.

I have the Conti DWS on right now - they are fine but pretty "boring". I am tempted to swap them out for the stock summers once I have my winter wheels on in a few weeks.

 

For the record, I did eventually ditch the Conti Extreme DSW all seasons and went with the General Altimax Arctic for winter driving. Absolutely worth it! Again, I live in Michigan so it should almost be mandatory.

 

Winter tires are a softer sidewall and tread.
They have to be softer or else they could not gain traction.
If you use them in spring or summer they will wear out incredibly fast.
And stopping is a huge deal in the winter. That was my only issue with my 04 WRX, it slid around corners and was very hard to stop. Come to find out I was using summer tires in winter.
Now I have Yokohama winter tires and sport alloy rims, and for summer stock rims stock Dunlop's until I can get my new wheels. I'm probably going to get BBS SRs and Michalin Piot Super Sports. You don't really know the difference in quality until you go from quality tires to cheap ones.

 

I'm in the DC area. If ever I needed to drive in the snow, doubtful since I plan on using my Xterra for that, I would just get all seasons. We get 2-3 snow storms average with last year being the worst in terms of number of storms at like 7. But some of these storms were like 2-3 inches. I could never justify winter tires like people up north do. If I planned on driving in the snow I'd use all seasons like most people in our area and just drive safe if I really have to drive in the snow. Therefore I plan on just using the summer tires the car came with. When they are worn out I'll rethink.

 

If you can afford it go with a dedicated winter tire. you just gotta ask yourself do you want your car to get around ok in all conditions or great in all conditions. All seasons do the job but they are not even close to the stopping and grip a winter tire can bring. I would rather spend the extra money to protect my investment(my car). sure i could drive cautious with all seasons or the dunlops but i'd rather drive like normal in all conditions(or even whip some donuts in the parking lot)

 

All seasons are a waste of time

 

What region are you from? I can understand when everyone going with two sets but there are some places south where even though you can porbably be safe with summers you may still make the occasional trip to a colder region. Though if you are say north of DC and draw a line across the country then I would invest in two sets.

 

Winter tires that I'll buy for 2015 STi are: Pilot Alpin PA2 ZP as this is only one that fits my dim chart 225/55x17 it is same size as stock summer tires and they will hold my car from November to end of April when temp goes above 10C all the time.
Summer will stay stock for next 25k miles.
All season tires are not for this car. During summer they will be to soft and during winter to hard and slippery.
Use dedicated sets for this car. This is very picky car and doesn't let you make mistakes.

 

What up all? New to the forum. Bought a used 06 wrx limited couple yrs ago.
It came with worn Pilot zeros, and bought Conti Pro contacts after that. It just made more economic sense for me. I do notice less grip in the dry with the pro contacts, but still have fun with the car. Obviously, there's a huge difference in grip in the winter. Summer tire in winter is suicidal. I think it depends on your situation and what you want out of the car. For me it's a fast and fun daily driver.
Had I bought an STI... I'd think differently

 

Welcome :wave:
And THUNDER CATS HO!

 

Cost is a concern for me where and what winter wheels (or rims) would I look to get for winter tires?

 

I went with a 2nd set of stock rims (look on here, craigslist, etc...) and some Blizzak WS-80's from Costco. I'm in Canada so I need good winter tires though. Depending where you are, you can probably get by with something cheaper. TireRack is your friend... check them out.

 

Nokian wrg3, on stock rims, in stock size. Just for winter. Because summers are bummers when it is cold.