The Subaru WRX needs no introduction for those familiar with rally racing. This sporty sedan might be a bit rough around the edges. But with its brisk acceleration, stable and engaging handling, and passenger-friendly interior, it can give any of its competitors a run for their money.
To take advantage of the above qualities, you’d need to pair your WRX with the right set of tires. Those that won’t only enhance the features that have made this car the first-choice of rally drivers and those seeking a little fun on the road. But which can also downplay its cons.
Speaking of cons, nothing infuriates the WRX drivers more than its below-average fuel economy. This car has the tendency to hit you in the pocket if you regularly push it to its limits. Another possible issue you might face is road and wind noise, which can get loud at high speeds.
In this article, we’ll recommend the top 10 tires that will enhance the above qualities as well as mitigate the lows. Plus, all the models you see below are backed with respectable warranties. Barring an unforeseen incident, they won’t require replacement for years to come.
#1. Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ – Best Overall
The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ are the best tires for Subaru WRX. These models offer excellent year-round performance to stay equally useful in dry and wet conditions. They also offer exceptional ride comfort and come loaded with high-end technologies.
Their aggressive-looking tread design won’t only impress you with its looks. It will also improve these tires’ lateral grip and straight-line tracking. Multiple inboard and outboard shoulder blocks will transmit more feedback to the steering, making these tires ultra-responsive.
The tread design’s unique shape is the reason why this tire exhibits less noise than any other all-season tire as it wears. It also allows for greater flexibility during tire rotations, while giving better control and handling for drivers who intend to push this tire to its limits.
Wet traction is another area where this tire shines. The credit for this goes to Michelin’s Helio+ technology, which enables this tire to withstand colder temperatures. The addition of biting edges in the tread area has helped this tire gain extra traction in snow.
Unfortunately, all the above qualities come at a steep price. Still, if you want maximum ride comfort on your WRX, the Pilot Sport A/S 3+ should be atop your list of replacement tires.
Pros
- Offer excellent performance
- Stay useful year-round, even on light snow
- Ride comfort is pretty good
Cons
- Doesn’t come cheap
#2. Michelin Pilot Sport 4S – Best for Summer Grip
The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S is a stylish-looking, low-profile tire that will provide unbelievable levels of grip on dry roads. This tire also offers extreme amounts of steering response and feedback. Plus, it’s one of the few UHP tires to come with a treadwear warranty.
An asymmetric, V-shaped tread pattern enables this tire to deliver excellent dry handling. It also makes this tire controllable at the limit and provides it with extreme amounts of cornering traction. As a result, you can attack corners without a hint of oversteer.
For high-speed stability, this tire’s contact patch expands as the needle on the speedometer veers toward the extreme right. Multiple grooves with the tread area help with water evacuation, with a tread compound made of silica and elastomers enhancing wet grip.
Comfort levels are surprisingly decent for a summer performance tire. While things won’t be as quiet or as vibration-free inside the cabin as if you’re driving a touring all-season tire. Still, you won’t hear your fellow passengers complaining about the firmness of the ride.
As if to justify this tire’s UHP credentials, Michelin has equipped it with a built-in rim protector. The rim guard shields the sidewall and the wheels from curb damage. You also get a respectable (for an ultra-high-performance tire) 30,000-mile warranty on the Pilot Sport 4S.
Pros
- Exceptional grip on dry roads
- Brilliant traction in wet and slippery conditions
- Treadlife is excellent for a summer performance tire
Cons
- Useless on snow
#3. Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 – Best Value for Money
The Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 are a must-have for Subaru WRX drivers to whom every other option on the market seems too expensive. These autocross-friendly tires will give you a thrilling ride experience, but they won’t blow a hole in your bank account.
As far as responsiveness and steering feedback are concerned, you won’t have any complaints with the Firehawk Indy 500. These tires are as responsive and deliver as much feedback to the steering as their premium counterparts, let there be no doubts about it.
The level of grip and traction they offer inevitably enhances their cornering performance, giving you the confidence to attack and leave turns at eye-watering speeds. Plus, the added grip also makes the Indy 500 controllable at the limit, a non-negotiable for UHP tires.
As difficult as it is to believe, given these tires’ UHP credentials, Firestone didn’t forget about wet roads when designing the Indy 500s. Had that been the case, these tires wouldn’t have come with multiple grooves, which aid them in keeping hydroplaning at bay.
The only issue some people might have with these tires is that you cannot rotate them. Their asymmetrical tread design is designed to work in a certain way. If these tires’ placement is changed, their famed high-speed stability will take a noticeable hit.
Pros
- 65,000-mile limited treadlife warranty
- Outstanding dry and wet traction
- Offers excellent value for the money
Cons
- Not for wintry conditions
#4. Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus – Best High-Performance All-Season
The Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus is one of the best high-performance tires for Subaru WRX, regardless of which trim of this sporty sedan you’re driving. These tires are a must-have if you want superior year-round performance and are willing to pay for it.
Continental has molded these tires’ all-season tread compound into an asymmetric design. It has also equipped the tread area with variable traction grooves and chamfered edges. The result? Enhanced levels of dry and grip as well as an exceptional steering feedback.
Traction grooves work side by side with the X-Sipe Technology to help these tires perform dependably in wet and mild wintry conditions. The duo is helped in this by the chamfered edges, which increase the DWS06’s road contact for better grip on dry and wet roads.
The DWS06 Plus also features various improvements over its predecessor. While the DWS06 is available in 87 sizes (16- to 20-inches) and is warranted for 30,000-miles. This model comes in 100 sizes (16- to 20-inches) and is backed for an unbelievable 50,000 miles.
Unfortunately, it isn’t just the good stuff that this model borrows from its ancestor. Both the DWS06 and DWS06 Plus are very noise at high speeds. The DWS06 Plus also wears pretty quickly, a common issue regardless of which UHP tire you install on your WRX.
Pros
- 50,000-mile treadlife warranty
- Exceptional dry, wet, and light snow performance
- Available in 100 sizes from 16- to 20-inches
Cons
- Very noisy
#5. BFGoodrich G-Force Sport Comp 2 – Best Aggressive Looks
The BFG g-Force Sport COMP-2 doesn’t just impress you with its looks. Its dry handling, high-speed stability and steering feedback will also make you want to praise yourself for choosing this tire to go on your Subaru WRX. Here’s why we’re so confident about this tire.
A silica tread compound with an internal ‘Performance Racing Core’ helps this model wear evenly and increases wet traction by ensuring quick water expulsion, respectively. The presence of silica also helps this tire perform reliably in mild to moderate wet conditions.
A “g-Control” sidewall and multiple “g-Hooks” supplant its cornering grip, while the sidewall’s added stiffness gives more feedback at the steering for a better feel. That said, some drivers might not appreciate the added feedback, especially those who have no prior experience with UHP tires.
BFG has also equipped the g-Force Sport Comp 2 with standard tread wear indicators. An ‘Equal Tension Containment System’ (ETEC) ensures even pressure distribution for a long wear. However, the absence of treadwear warranty means not many people will see eye to eye with us on this.
Pros
- Delivers added feedback at the steering
- Offers decent wet traction for a UHP tire
- Provides superior traction at high speeds
Cons
- Ride is a bit firm
#6. Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring – Best Touring All-Season
Super-extended treadwear warranty? Check. Excellent road manners and ride comfort? Present. Availability at a pocket-friendly price? Yup. Small wonder then that the Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring is one of the best tires in its class for Subaru WRX.
Start with the road manners. Cooper’s exclusive StabiliEdge Technology makes sure that this tire rides as quietly as comfortably as competitors costing twice as much. This technology also sees to it that the CS5 is as stable at high speeds as any of its rivals.
An M+S rating means you can count on this tire to hold its own in mild wintry conditions. Still, you might want to note that this rating isn’t standardized like the 3PMSF symbol. As such, you’d better not push this model to its limits on snow and ice-laden roads.
In wet conditions, multiple circumferential grooves will expel water quickly and more importantly effectively, thereby reducing the risk of hydroplaning. The grooves’ rapid action will also keep the contact patch dry, enhancing this model’s wet traction.
As if the above qualities weren’t enough to help make your mind in favor of this tire, Cooper has backed (some models) with a 75,000-mile treadwear warranty. If any of those sizes can fit on your car, you can forget buying their replacement for the next 5, 6 years.
Pros
- Comes at a pocket-friendly price
- Some models are backed with a 75,000-mile treadwear warranty
- Offers above-average dry and wet handling
Cons
- Smaller treadwear warranty (50,000 miles) for V- and H-rated tires
#7. Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season – Best Fuel-Efficient
According to the EPA, the Subaru WRX is estimated to deliver 22 mpg (city and highway) with the manual transmission and 21 mpg with the optional CVT automatic. No matter how you slice these numbers, they unmask the WRX for what it truly is: a fuel guzzler.
If you want to improve these numbers, consider pairing your WRX with the Cinturato P7 All Season Plus. This tire is its manufacturer most fuel-efficient tire, with tests conducted by Pirelli reporting that the P7 has 20% less rolling resistance than other A/S tires.
The reduction in rolling resistance signifies better fuel economy, as your WRX’s engine will have to output less power to keep this tire rolling. An additional benefit is an improvement in CO2 emissions, as the reduced effort by engine will cut down on CO2 exhausts.
Not everything that is good about this tire revolves around its fuel mileage. For instance, a computer-optimized tread pattern helps keep things quiet and comfortable inside the cabin, with a quartet of circumferential grooves improving this model’s wet traction.
A 70,000-mile treadwear warranty is another exciting feature of this tire. As is this model’s pocket-friendly asking price, which ensures that this tire weighs low on your budget in the short- and long-term.
Pros
- Available in a budget-price point
- Has 20% less rolling resistance than rivals
- Backed with a 70,000-mile treadlife warranty
Cons
- Wears pretty quickly if pushed to limits
#8. Goodyear Eagle Sport All-Season – Best All-Season
The Goodyear Eagle Sport All-Season isn’t your average all-season HP tire. That is mainly because this model combines the comfort of a specialized all-season tire with the performance of UHP models. As such, you can count on it to deliver the best of both worlds.
Unlike other tires in Goodyear’s Eagle series – the F1 Asymmetric 6, LS-2, and F1 SuperCar 3 – the Sport All-Season has opted for an all-season tread compound. Which is the main reason why this tire can perform dependably in dry, wet, and even wintry conditions.
A 50,000-mile treadwear warranty is also something most models in this family lack. The F1 SuperCar3, for instance, comes with no treadwear warranty. Similar is the case with the F1 Asymmetric 6 and Eagle LS2, both of which are only covered for workmanship defects.
Yet this tire has the same bells and whistles you get from its UHP siblings. These include an aggressive- tread design that makes it controllable at the limit, sturdy internal construction that protects it against premature deformation and make it controllable at the limit.
All of this is not to say that the Eagle Sport All-Season is faultless. Many drivers complain that this tire gets audibly loud at high speeds. Plus, as with its siblings, this model’s winter traction is average.
Pros
- Excellent (50,000-mile) treadwear warranty for a high-performance tire
- Comes with industry-standard treadwear indicators
- Offers excellent steering responsiveness and high-speed handling
Cons
- Gets loud at high speeds
#9. Nexen Winguard Winspike WH62 – Best Studded Winter tire
Although its limited size availability has prevented it from making our list of the best studded snow tires, the Winguard Winspike WH62 can take your WRX’s winter performance to the next level, especially if studded tires are allowed on roads where you regularly drive.
A detailed directional tread pattern works side by side with the winter-specific tread compound to boost this model’s snow and ice traction. If you feel that the traction is lower than what you need, feel free to insert Nexen’s recommended studs into the tread area.
Doing so will enable this tire to plow through snow and ice, regardless of how much of either is there on the roads. Still, for the most part, you won’t feel the need to use studs. This tire’s winter compound will help it keep going in the majority of cases.
An optimal placement of circumferential grooves has enhanced this model’s resistance to hydroplaning. The V-shaped grooves are so placed as to allow quick and effective water evacuation for a safer and surefooted wet and slippery surface performance.
Pros
- Offers excellent traction for harsh wintry conditions
- Poses superb hydroplaning resistance
- Ensures shorter braking distances on snow and ice
Cons
Available in a limited number of sizes
#10. Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 – Best Studless Winter tire
The Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 demonstrates that you don’t necessarily need studded tires to get superior grip and traction in harsh wintry conditions. This tire’s winter-specific tread compound, multiple interlocking 3D sipes and MultiCell Technology make it a capable performer on snow and ice.
Start with the tread compound whose flexibility remains regardless of how low the temperature nosedives, helping this tire safely carry you from point A to point B on ice- and snow-laden roads. Next come the 3D sipes, which help this model provided added grip.
MultiCell Technology also deserves a mention, given how it traps snow and ice within the treads to enable this model to keep going on snow and ice. That said, it’s a shame that the technology only covers the first 55 percent of this model’s tread area.
The absence of treadwear warranty might raise eyebrows. But don’t forget that most winter tires don’t come with one and still last many seasons before needing replacement. Similarly, nothing about the WS90 tells us that this tire would have a small treadlife.
Pros
- Offers excellent performance on snow and ice
- Comes with winter wear bars and tread wear indicators
- Grip and traction levels on dry pavement are superb
Cons
- Zero treadwear warranty
Why Replace Your Subaru WRX Stock Tires
Here are a few reasons why you might want to replace your Subaru WRX’s OE tires:
- Stock tires are very noisy. If anyone ever asks me to define 2022 Subaru WRX’s OE tires in one word, ‘loud’ will be the term I’d use. In fact, as evidenced by various reviews left by WRX owners, I’m not the only one who feels that way.
- Stock tires wear unevenly. Subaru WRX’s OE tires have the nauseating ‘ability’ to wear unevenly, meaning most of the tread will be gone before you even know it. At that time, you’d have no choice but to go for aftermarket tires.
- Aftermarket tires offer better grip. Take the example of our top pick. The Pilot Sport A/S3+ offers much better grip than its stock counterparts on your WRX. As such, this tire will be much more controllable at the limit.
- Aftermarket tires come with longer treadwear warranties. Last time I checked, the Dunlop Sport Maxx GT (the OE tire on most 2022 WRX trims) didn’t come with any treadwear warranty. In contrast, all our top tire picks are warrantied for anywhere between 30,000 to 75,000 miles.
How to Choose Tires for Subaru WRX
Size
Depending on the model year, your Subaru WRX might have any tire size, including but not limited to 235/45R17, 245/40/R18, 235/35/R19, and 245/35R19. Check out your WRX’s owners’ manual or the sticker on the door jamb on the driver’s side to know your WRX’s tire size.
Weather
While all-season tires can stay useful round the year, they aren’t the best for tacking harsh wintry conditions. Similarly, summer performance tires might struggle a bit on wet roads. Make sure the tire you select is designed for the weather conditions you’ll be driving it in.
Tread
Tires come with one of two tread designs: symmetric and asymmetric. The symmetric tread design is meant to offer enhanced ride comfort by absorbing road noise and vibrations. In contrast, tires with the asymmetric tread pattern deliver better grip and are thus more useful for racing.
Best Tires for Subaru WRX
Performance Tires
Performance tires are the best option for the average Subaru WRX driver. These models enhance everything that customers like about this sporty sedan, including brisk acceleration, jubilant and agile driving experience, and stable and engaging handling.
All-Season Tires
If you’re frustrated about the WRX’s subpar fuel economy, all-season touring or grand touring tires are worth a shot. Not only will these models enhance your car’s fuel mileage, they will also last much longer than their performance and high-performance counterparts.
Winter Tires
Winter tires are a good option if the area where you live receives more than its fair share of snow. These tires come in two categories: studded and studless. Studded tires are best for tackling heavy snow, though, for most people, studless winter tires will easily make do.
Frequently Asked Questions
What tires come on the Subaru WRX?
The 2022 Subaru WRX comes with Dunlop tires. These tires are notoriously loud, especially at higher speeds, forcing WRX drivers to replace them at the first chance they get. Aside from that, the stock WRX tires wear unevenly, meaning they have short tread (and road) lives.
What size tires fit a Subaru WRX?
Starting from the model year 2015, the Subaru WRX comes with tire sizes of 235/45R17, 245/40/R18, 235/35/R19, and 245/35R19.
What PSI should my WRX tires be at?
The recommended tire pressure for 2022 Subaru WRX is 32 PSI for front and rear tires. This is equal to 2.2 bar and 220kPa.
How long do Subaru WRX tires last?
The length of time your Subaru WRX tires will last depends on three factors: the type of tires you have installed on your car, how you drive, and driving/road conditions. For instance, premium touring tires used for everyday driving in moderate weather may last 60,000 miles or higher.
Conclusion
All the tires listed above are a safe option for Subaru WRX, as long as you pick the model that is best suited to your driving style, road conditions, and weather. It’s therefore imperative to keep these three factors in mind while selecting tires for your Subaru WRX.
