It seems you've switched to alignment and such but I'm butting in with a comment on tires...
I had the series II conticontacts on my last wrx. They were decent on dry pavement but they were far from anything I'd drive in the snow with, even in a subaru.
Tirerack just did a helpful all season tire test...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=119
I'll probably end up with a set out of that lineup for the winter and keep an extra set of wheels for summer/autox. Some may be a little pricey though.