Best tires for the Subaru Legacy
Top picks across four categories for the Subaru Legacy, anchored to the current-generation OEM size 225/50R18. Every recommendation is selected from our 22,000-tire catalog by ranking on UTQG treadwear, mileage warranty, cabin-noise rating, and season class; no commission-weighted reordering.
Daily driver
Best all-season touring
Long warranty, low noise, balanced ride. The one-tire compromise that works for 80% of owners.
Bridgestone
Turanza QuietTrack
UTQG 800 with a 80,000-mile warranty; long-wear all-season compound built for the daily-driver mileage profile typical for Subaru Legacy owners.
Michelin
CrossClimate 2
UTQG 640 with a 60,000-mile warranty; long-wear all-season compound built for the daily-driver mileage profile typical for Subaru Legacy owners.
Michelin
Defender 2
UTQG 800 with a 80,000-mile warranty; long-wear all-season compound built for the daily-driver mileage profile typical for Subaru Legacy owners.
Hankook
Kinergy PT
UTQG 800 with a 90,000-mile warranty; long-wear all-season compound built for the daily-driver mileage profile typical for Subaru Legacy owners.
Lowest cost per mile
Best budget
Best price-per-warranty-mile in this size. Trade-off is shorter warranty vs premium options, not safety.
Bridgestone
Turanza QuietTrack
800 UTQG with a 80,000-mile warranty works out to roughly 0.00¢ per 100 miles before install. Best price-per-mile in this size; no premium-brand markup.
Continental
TrueContact tour
Lowest sticker price in this size that still meets the OEM load index. Trade-off is shorter warranty vs premium options.
Hankook
Kinergy PT
800 UTQG with a 90,000-mile warranty works out to roughly 0.00¢ per 100 miles before install. Best price-per-mile in this size; no premium-brand markup.
Michelin
Defender 2
800 UTQG with a 80,000-mile warranty works out to roughly 0.00¢ per 100 miles before install. Best price-per-mile in this size; no premium-brand markup.
Lowest cabin noise
Best quiet
Tread patterns engineered to break up the harmonic peaks that cause highway droning. Pick this if you commute long highway distances daily.
Bridgestone
Turanza QuietTrack
68 dB cabin-noise rating per the EU tire label; library-quiet. Tread pattern engineered to break up the harmonic peaks that cause highway droning.
Michelin
Defender 2
68 dB cabin-noise rating per the EU tire label; library-quiet. Tread pattern engineered to break up the harmonic peaks that cause highway droning.
Hankook
Kinergy PT
70 dB cabin-noise rating per the EU tire label; library-quiet. Tread pattern engineered to break up the harmonic peaks that cause highway droning.
Michelin
CrossClimate 2
70 dB cabin-noise rating per the EU tire label; library-quiet. Tread pattern engineered to break up the harmonic peaks that cause highway droning.
Cold-weather grip
Best winter
Dedicated winter or all-weather compounds that stay pliable below 7 °C. Necessary for >5 snow days a year.
Bridgestone
Blizzak WS90
Dedicated winter tire compound; stays pliable below 7 °C where summer/all-season rubber hardens. Recommended for Subaru Legacy drivers in cold or snowy regions.
Michelin
X-Ice snow
Dedicated winter tire compound; stays pliable below 7 °C where summer/all-season rubber hardens. Recommended for Subaru Legacy drivers in cold or snowy regions.
Toyo
Celsius
Dedicated winter tire compound; stays pliable below 7 °C where summer/all-season rubber hardens. Recommended for Subaru Legacy drivers in cold or snowy regions.
Side-by-side
Pick the trade-off that matches your driving
| All-season Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack | Best winter Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 |
|
|---|---|---|
| UTQG treadwear | 800 | - |
| Mileage warranty | 80,000 mi | - |
| Cabin noise | 68 dB | 71 dB |
| Season class | all-season | winter |
| Type | touring | passenger |
OEM tire sizes by year
What size does the subaru legacy use?
Recommendations on this page are anchored to the latest model-year's OEM size. Confirm yours against the driver-door placard before purchase.
| Year | OEM size | |
|---|---|---|
| 1989–1990 | 175/70R14 | Year-specific fitment → |
| 1991–1995 | 195/60R15 | Year-specific fitment → |
| 1996–1999 | 205/70R15 | Year-specific fitment → |
| 2000–2004 | 205/60R15 | Year-specific fitment → |
| 2005 | 205/55R16 | Year-specific fitment → |
| 2006–2007 | 205/50R17 | Year-specific fitment → |
| 2008–2009 | 215/45R18 | Year-specific fitment → |
| 2010–2014 | 225/50R17 | Year-specific fitment → |
| 2015–2026 | 225/50R18 | Year-specific fitment → |
How we ranked these tires for the subaru legacy
We started with the latest model-year's OEM tire size; 225/50R18; and filtered our catalog of 22,000+ tires to those offered in that exact size. From there, four parallel rankings:
- Best all-season ranks on a weighted score: tire type matches passenger car segment, season is "all-season", premium brand bonus (Michelin / Continental / Bridgestone / Pirelli / Goodyear / Nokian).
- Best budget ranks on cost-per-warranty-mile; the lower the better. Premium brands get no bonus here.
- Best quiet ranks on the EU tire-label dB rating; lower is quieter.
- Best winter filters to tires marked 3PMSF severe-snow rated or all-weather class, with a small premium-brand bonus because winter-compound R&D is capital-intensive.
For sedans and compacts, the all-season touring tire below is the best default; long warranty, low cabin noise, reasonable cost per mile. Switch to the quiet pick if highway droning is a deal-breaker; switch to the winter pick if you see significant snow each year. Use the side-by-side comparison above to weigh the trade-offs against your specific driving; highway-heavy, winter-state, performance-oriented, or budget-constrained.
NHTSA-reported issues for subaru legacy
Top issue category: Tires (General)
Most reported: Tires (General) (68) · Tread / Belt (22) · Sidewall (12) · TPMS (3) · Bead (2)
Reported across: 1990 – 2022 (28 years)
What owners described
Blowout or sudden deflation appears in 32% of these reports; about 1.6× as often as across all tire complaints. Percentages are shares of the 68 reports covering every model year of the Subaru Legacy that include a written account; a single report can describe more than one problem, so they do not total 100%.
| Reported problem | This subject | All tire complaints | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blowout or sudden deflation | 32% | 20% | 1.6× |
| Sidewall failure | 24% | 15% | 1.6× |
| Cracking or dry rot | 19% | 9% | 2.1× |
| Loss of control, rollover or collision | 15% | 8% | 1.8× |
| Bubble or bulge in the tire | 9% | 6% | 1.5× |
| Tread or belt separation | 7% | 13% | 0.5× |
Mileage at failure
42 of these reports state an odometer reading. The middle report is at 18,376 miles, with 8 in 10 falling between 2,058 and 103,214 miles.
In owners' own words
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA about Subaru Legacy. Reports are published by NHTSA as filed and are lightly cleaned here only to remove intake codes.
VEE RUBBER VITRON TIRES PURCHASED NEW 12/23/2011. ONE TIRES STEEL BELT SEPARATED, POPPED THROUGH THE TIRE IN TWO PLACES ON 09/07/2013. TIRE HAS LESS THAN 5K MILES ON IT. TWO SERVICE STATIONS (PEP BOYS, AND VINCE'S AUTO IN RESEDA, CA) INSPECTED THE TIRE AND ADVISED IT IS A DEFECTIVE TIRE. NEITHER COULD ADVISE OF ANY SCENARIO TO JUSTIFY WHAT HAPPENED. VINCE'S AUTO IS REPLACING THE DEFECTIVE TIRE FOR "NO CHARGE"; HOWEVER, THERE ARE 3 REMAINING TIRES. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS AND I BELIEVE YOU SHOULD INVESTIGATE. I'M SURPRISED THERE IS NO MENTION OF VEERUBBER NOR VITRON ON YOUR DROPDOWN LIST FOR RECALL SEARCH. TIRES ARE VEE RUBBER VITRON 195/60 R15 88H DOT 6MSJ 4910. PLEASE HELP. [XXX]S.C. 552(B)(6).
THE CONTACT OWNS A CONTINENTAL EXTREME CONTACT TIRE, SIZE: 205/55R16. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE DRIVER OF THE VEHICLE WAS TRAVELING APPROXIMATELY 50 MPH WHEN THE FRONT PASSENGER'S SIDE TIRE SUSTAINED A BLOW OUT. THE CONTACT ALSO DISCOVERED A BLISTER ON THE SIDEWALL OF THE REAR PASSENGER'S SIDE TIRE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT CONTACTED IN REFERENCE TO THE DEFECT. THE FAILURE MILEAGE OF THE TIRE WAS 155. THE VEHICLE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 135,904.
MICHELIN DEFENDER TIRES; ALL 4 TIRES ARE DRY ROTTING WHERE THE TREAD MEETS THE CASING AND BELTS. DEGRADATION OF THE TIRES OVER A LITTLE OVER 2 YEARS IS EXTREMELY PREMATURE CONSIDERING THESE TIRES ARE ADVERTISED TO GIVE 90,000 MILES AND WE PROBABLY ONLY PUT ON AROUND 8,000 MILES A YEAR. WE LIVE IN THE PITTSBURGH, PA AREA WHERE THEY USE SEVERAL DIFFERENT ICE MELTING CHEMICALS INCLUDING ROCK SALT THAT CAN ENTER THE LARGE CRACKS IN THE RUBBER AND EAT AWAY AT IT. I'M AFRAID TO TAKE THE CAR ON LONG TRIPS USING INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS AT HIGH SPEED FOR FEAR OF THE TREAD SEPARATING FROM THE CASING OF THE TIRE. WHAT'S IRONIC IS THAT LOOKING ON-LINE THERE ARE MANY OTHER PEOPLE ALSO COMPLAINING ABOUT MICHELIN TIRES DRY ROTTING PREMATURELY. I HAVE SEVERAL EXCELLENT CLOSE-UP PICTURES THAT I CAN EMAIL UPON REQUEST.
FOUR NEW CONTINENTAL PURE CONTACT 215-50 R17 95V TIRES WERE INSTALLED IN APRIL 2016. THE VEHICLE'S ORIGINAL TIRES (NOT CONTINENTAL) HAD LASTED 38,000 MILES. ONE MONTH LATER A SIDEWALL BLOWOUT OCCURRED IN ONE OF THE NEW CONTINENTAL TIRES AFTER BEING DRIVEN LESS THAN 500 MILES. IT WAS REPLACED BY THE MANUFACTURER. THEN, AFTER DRIVING LESS THAN 7000 MILES, TWO OF FOUR TIRES WERE FOUND TO HAVE SIDE WALL BUBBLES. BECAUSE OF SAFETY CONCERN, ALL FOUR TIRES WERE REPLACED WITH ANOTHER BRAND.
Complaints are voluntarily submitted to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation and are not verified by NHTSA; they represent owner-reported problems, not proven defects. Counts can be useful as a relative quality signal across comparable tires or vehicles.
Tire recalls & safety complaints for the Subaru Legacy →
FAQ
What's the best all-season tire for the Subaru Legacy?
Should I get a cheaper tire for my Subaru Legacy?
Does the Subaru Legacy need winter tires?
Can I run a different tire size on my Subaru Legacy?
Where can I buy these tires?
Last verified 2026-10-07.