legacycentral bbs

I'm looking to replace the stock re92's on WRX wheels that I have on my 95 Legacy. The 205/55's that are on it are way too tall, 1 inch taller than the stock tire on my Legacy. What I want to do is go to a 215/40, or 45, but Tirerack says that may rub on my fenders, they don't know, and they would reccomend a 205/55. Does anyone else know?

Now, onto tires. I hate the wet traction of the potenza's, and I am looking for a tire on a budget. I really like what I have heard about the Kumho 712's, but I was told that I would not want to use them in the winter becuase the grip would be terrible. Well, I don't know all that much about tires, but I don't want to get two sets of tires, and I don't want get an all season tire just to make it through the winter. We don't see much snow here, and even if we did, I wouldn't take the car out. It gets below freezing for less than a week here. Tirerack told me that I wouldn't want to drive the car if it was cooler than 40 degrees or so, but that seems really odd to me. I'm not going to race the thing, but how bad will the tires be in the cooler weather? I really like everything else I've heard, so basicly, will these tires provide as much cold weather traction as my re92's and better wet and warm weather traction? If so, I think I like them. Teach me....

B-

The Kumho 712's have a tread compound that gets very very hard when it gets cold. For example I was driving my sport sedan and the temperature dropped into the 40's. Oddly enough I could light up my tires on dry pavement where I couldn't dream of doing this before.

If you aren't going to be in the cold much with the Kumhos then don't worry about it. Just realize they lose traction ability when it gets cold... not earth-shattering in an AWD vehicle. And the Kumhos are excellent in the rain (when it's warm), uncanny almost. The Kumho 711's, I do believe are all season and don't give up TOO much traction for everyday driving, then you don't have to worry about a sudden drop in grip related to temperature.