17" wheel advice/largest workable 17" tires

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Zoo Mob
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17" wheel advice/largest workable 17" tires

Post by Zoo Mob »

Bought these 2007 Forester XT wheels and tires for a steal last week, and I'm wondering if the wheels will work? Clearly the tires are way too big, and new smaller ones will be necessary. I've not tried to put them on yet, and I'm a little unclear about the whole offset issue. Has anyone used these on their legacy? Thoughts in general about 17" wheels, will these provide a crappy ride with the narrow sidewalls necessary? Should I sell these,make few bucks and get some 16's?

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Last edited by Zoo Mob on Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by stipro »

Yes those will work. Here is a link to Dynamic entry's car. He put a set of STI take-off tires on them and they work great.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s275 ... 050060.jpg
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Zoo Mob
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Post by Zoo Mob »

That's great news, they look sweet. I can't decide whether or not to powedercoat them or not. I'm not sure what you mean by "STI takeoff tires" though. Thanks for the pic.
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Post by stipro »

Zoo Mob wrote: I'm not sure what you mean by "STI takeoff tires" though. Thanks for the pic.
They were the stock tires, bought slightly used, off of an STI.
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Post by ericem »

They look a bit out of proportion though. Maybe your best off just selling them and getting WRX rims.
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Post by magicmike »

ericem wrote:They look a bit out of proportion though. Maybe your best off just selling them and getting WRX rims.
selling them to who? you? :smt047
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Post by ericem »

Well. Maybe. Nah. I wouldn't be a asshole and suggest something just to get some nice rims ;)
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Post by Zoo Mob »

I guess I'm still up in the air as to whether I'm going to keep these things or not, posted up a few places, and many seem to think the wheels look too big. Guess I have to decide for myself, of well, I've got a couple of months before the snows come off to think about it. Might put 'em up on ebay with a reserve that makes it worth it to sell em and see what happens.
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Post by entirelyturbo »

I love those wheels. I think they'd look awesome on the car.

What problem would you have with offset? As best I know, no Forester wheels ever had more than +48. Not great, but not terrible.

Yeah, put some low-profile sticky tires on them, and make them your summer wheels.
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Zoo Mob
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Post by Zoo Mob »

Here's the actual wheels on the car, offset is clearly fine, but what's the biggest 17" tire usable on these? The ones on it are way too big, and the tires what closest match the original diameter (215/40/17 and 205/45/17) are really expensive, how much room do I have to work with as far as total diameter?

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Post by jamal »

you could put on a 225/45 or a 215/45. I think they're more readily available. If you want to be really cheap try to find some stock re-92s off a newer legacy gt or 06-08 wrx. Or some RE070s off an sti if you're looking for something sticky.
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Post by Dynamic Entry »

Those first pics are photochopped, no?

I am a big fan of the 17s with 225/45 RE070s (these are the STi take-offs), they stick "like shit to a shovel"

But if you can make nice profit on them, go for it, there are lots of other factory wheels to help raise your unsprung weight :roll:


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Post by SiCkSTi04 »

Dynamic Entry wrote:Those first pics are photochopped, no?
he just put the new wheels in front of the current wheels. giving us an idea on how it looks. which I'm digging a lot.
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Post by Dynamic Entry »

ah yes, now I understand the tire-iron, that lighting was deceptive....
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Post by RckyMtnLegacy »

I have some tires and rims on my sti that my roomate wants to buy with they fit? the tires are 225/50 r 17

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=38972
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Post by dscoobydoo »

Check to see the offset of those rims. if they are 55, then I would go with a 205, if they are 53 then you might be able to get 215s to work.
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Post by 94LegWagon »

hmmm 17's just look huge...
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Post by asc_up »

I have 235/40/17s on my car. They don't rub at all, but that's after I did a bit of fender rolling on the rears.
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Re: 17" wheel advice/largest workable 17" tires

Post by yazmo »

asc i have a question , hope somebody can answer me
i have a friend who have a set of 18" BBS CH wheels black edition these a very amazing he want to sell them for about 500$
with tire

i just dont know if these can fit on my sedan turbo 1994
i have H&R spring that already lowered my car, what do you think what should i check to know if the fitment is good
i mean look like its going to be a close match but over bump
im worry
anyone here have 18 inch wheel on ?
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Re:

Post by Apex3 »

jamal wrote:you could put on a 225/45 or a 215/45. I think they're more readily available. If you want to be really cheap try to find some stock re-92s off a newer legacy gt or 06-08 wrx. Or some RE070s off an sti if you're looking for something sticky.
This, but those wheels look pretty decent, and they're unique. You can get a decent set of tires for around $400

This has been super useful to me
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

The wrong tire size can cause some issues, not huge things, but rubbing, and mostly your speedometer will be off, then again who am I to talk? I drove for a year with no speedometer, across the state on highways and everything, long enough that I knew exactly my speed from just about any gear and rpm
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Re: 17" wheel advice/largest workable 17" tires

Post by kimokalihi »

My car is lowered on 225/45/17s on 17x8s and it rubbed bad. Rolled the fenders and now zero rubbing.
Last edited by kimokalihi on Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 17" wheel advice/largest workable 17" tires

Post by Legacy777 »

yazmo wrote:asc i have a question , hope somebody can answer me
i have a friend who have a set of 18" BBS CH wheels black edition these a very amazing he want to sell them for about 500$
with tire

i just dont know if these can fit on my sedan turbo 1994
i have H&R spring that already lowered my car, what do you think what should i check to know if the fitment is good
i mean look like its going to be a close match but over bump
im worry
anyone here have 18 inch wheel on ?

You will likely have fitment issues with an 18" wheel.
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Re: 17" wheel advice/largest workable 17" tires

Post by asc_up »

If you wanted to run 18's, you'd need to run rubber bands for tires. Max would probably something like 225/35/18 and you'd need to roll the rears a bit.
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Re: 17" wheel advice/largest workable 17" tires

Post by evolutionmovement »

And those will be expensive tires and some places won't mount them as profiles that low are a PITA. I don't know how the ride will be, but I would imagine it would be terrible. These care were designed for 14 and 15" wheels originally, so that's a pretty big jump. Your first line of bump absorption is the tires and already having a stiffer suspension might be too much, depending on your tolerance. I don't know how they'd affect handling either, but they may make it worse from increased unsprung weight and too much stiffness. Turn in will likely improve, but hard cornering over bumps might cause some wandering like a live axle car. That's all conjecture on my part, so if someone here has 18's, maybe they can clarify with real world examples.
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Re: 17" wheel advice/largest workable 17" tires

Post by Apex3 »

evolutionmovement wrote:And those will be expensive tires and some places won't mount them as profiles that low are a PITA. I don't know how the ride will be, but I would imagine it would be terrible. These care were designed for 14 and 15" wheels originally, so that's a pretty big jump. Your first line of bump absorption is the tires and already having a stiffer suspension might be too much, depending on your tolerance. I don't know how they'd affect handling either, but they may make it worse from increased unsprung weight and too much stiffness. Turn in will likely improve, but hard cornering over bumps might cause some wandering like a live axle car. That's all conjecture on my part, so if someone here has 18's, maybe they can clarify with real world examples.
All of that is things that happen already as you go up in size at all, I'm inclined to agree though, I'd imagine 18s would be way overkill. I know a lot of e30 and Miata guys prefer to run stock size or +1 on the track, they say anything bigger makes the cars handle worse, though they do have stiffer sidewalls than your average tire. Personally I like the feel of 16s
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