I noticed my recently bought used subaru 2000 legacy L wagon has 205/55 instead of 205/60 tires on all four corners. I did a lot of research on how you should never mis match tires and I understand why. But I can't find any information on non OEM size tires and any effects they could have. Could they damage any part of my car?

They will not damage. Having 55 instead of 60 isn't that big of a different. The tires are a little lower than they should be but this is not a huge deal. The spedo might be off a bit, but not much.

Yup, the key is that all 4 tires have the same diameter/circumference. They can be larger or smaller than oem but all 4 need to be the same. 205/55 is very close to 205/60. Your speedo may read ~1 mph faster now.

They will not damage. Having 55 instead of 60 isn't that big of a different. The tires are a little lower than they should be but this is not a huge deal. The spedo might be off a bit, but not much.

 

lower? i do believe you meant to say taller... 205/60 will be taller than the 205/55... the 60 will have a taller sidewall... so the speedo maybe 1 mph under at about 60..

tire size does not matter at all - has nothing to do with it. indeed the car can't even "know" what tire size it has nor does it care. actually many of us swap wheels/tire sizes all the time and change them drastically, the offroad guys put huge tires on theirs. but it doesn't matter - the 4 on the car need to match, what actual size they are has nothing to do with.

 

lower? i do believe you meant to say taller... 205/60 will be taller than the 205/55...

that's exactly what he (she! ) said - just the other way around. he said "the car will sit lower" which means the 55's sit lower....which means the 60's are taller....just like you said, but looking at it from the other side so to speak.

lower? i do believe you meant to say taller... 205/60 will be taller than the 205/55... the 60 will have a taller sidewall... so the speedo maybe 1 mph under at about 60..

 

Err, I meant that the 55 was lower than the 60s. Higher the number the taller the tire. Sorry, that was unclear.

 

At my garage we will gladly put on a similar sized tire if we don't have the same one in stock. One thing we avoid, however, is putting a taller tire on the rim in place of the right size. 60 over 55 is not a huge different, but I'd never put on a 65 or 70 when 55 is the right one. You run the risk of the tire hitting the wheel well when they go over a large bump.

I like to put taller on mine. Leg ss stock is 195/60/15, but i put 205/60/15 cause the tire was cheaper.

 

My parents 06 they put one size taller too. Lower rpms at same mph give better fuel economy.

tire size does not matter at all - has nothing to do with it. indeed the car can't even "know" what tire size it has nor does it care. actually many of us swap wheels/tire sizes all the time and change them drastically, the offroad guys put huge tires on theirs. but it doesn't matter - the 4 on the car need to match, what actual size they are has nothing to do with.

 

That's what I was thinking, nobody has come back with problems after drastically changing their tires on forums like this. But I saw Subaru strongly recommends the OEM size/construction/tread pattern. So I couldn't make sense of it.

On my 99 OBW, I recently upgraded one size going from 205X70X15 to 215X70X15. Rides almost an inch higher for a little lift. Tires run great, no rubs.