My new 205 55 16 tires on WRX wheels didnt fit.

[ciper]

I went through the process of comparing every tire I could find (with good performance) and from those I narrowed my choice down to the new Continental ContiExtremeContact V rated Ultra High Performance All Seasons.

Got a great deal at Big-0, 461 including tax and road hazard warranty.

Dropped the car off before lunch. When I came back I saw it was still on the lift with the rear wheels off. They wanted to show me that the tires touched the spring perch on both sides. The guy suggested to bang it out of the way.

He started hitting it, I said "harder" but I guess he was afraid. After telling him to hit it harder the third time he gave me the hammer and I knocked it in pretty good.

Now I have plenty of clearance between the strut tower and the wheel. You may read this and think Im nuts, it didnt take much at all to make enough space. I didnt have to hit it very hard and I feel the structural integrity is equal to before.

Long story short, this is proof to you guys that WRX wheels with stock tires do NOT always fit fine. I have 4 GR-2 with rust spots to prove it!

I plan to test these tires up in Tahoe this weekend. Already I LOVE the traction! Its raining right now and the grip is excellent.
Check them out here
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/w ... er_en.html
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compare1. ... &x=17&y=16

If your wondering, this is not for my wagon. Its running 215 45 16 Falken Azenis on 13 pound 16x7 wheels

[Legacy777]

I could've told you the stock WRX tires don't always fit.....they rubbed slightly on mine in the rear on the strut perch.

I'd like to get some 215/45 r16's on my normal wheels 16x7 45mm offset......they'd definitely have a better chance of fitting then the WRX wheels.

[legacy92ej22t]

You guys both have regular N/A Legacies though right? I believe they always fit fine on Turbo "sport tuned" suspensions. I had absolutely no issues with mine and even have a little room to spare.

[ciper]

Using 205 50 16 does create enough clearance, I had 205 50 16 on my wagon before the falkens.

legacy92ej22t: Are you still using stock suspension or have they been replaced yet?

I dont think it has to do with suspension setup, its the dimensions of the struts. The struts between different legacy (except FWD) are externally the same.

Even with AGX intended for impreza you still have the same tight clearance.

Depending on model of tire the clearance changes. The new tires I have are pretty agressive tread so they probably have more corner nubs that the re-92 had. Plus the treadwear is 400 so the rubber might be thicker.

Can we agree that once the struts have reached say 75k miles its time to replace them? Can we also agree that 99% of the board members have more miles than this? If so then we have three possibilities:

Original suspension from factory (worn to hell and in desperate need of replacement)
Replacement aftermarket struts (turbo legacy and NA legacy use the same strut)
Replacement dealer Turbo suspension, have you heard of anyone with this?

That means everyone will be using the same suspension pretty much (aftermarket universal for Turbo or NA).

Legacy777: You've said it, I have said it many times as well but there are always people who say they have them and they never rub. I even got WORN RE-92 to rub badly. I think most of them never pushes the car to its limit.

[vrg3]

Yeah. They are close to fitting, but they are really too big. Mine rub if I corner hard.

When the time comes to get new tires I'm going to get lower-profile ones, but for now I'm just living with it.

[Brat4by4]

My Re-92's were getting the inside top of the arch on my front fenders every once in a while. I had them bent up out of the way. They don't touch any of the perches. My suspension has 163k on it... stock!! I now have Kuhmo 712's on it (same size 205/55R16) and still no problems.

Either my struts are endurance champions or someone did something funny. Me and the previous owner have tried to figure out whether they were replaced or not, he just assumed they had to have been. I have friends that own a couple of shops and I'll visit the different ones every once in a while and every mechanic/tech that looks at them has said that those are the original struts. I just refused to believe it at first... but hey....

[vrg3]

If you have very minor rubbing against the fender, sometimes removing the fender molding can help. It just pulls right off. Gives you a couple more millimeters of room.

[legacy92ej22t]

legacy92ej22t: Are you still using stock suspension or have they been replaced yet?

I bought the car at 100K miles and haven't replaced the springs or struts since I've owned it and I now have 130K miles. I don't know if they were ever replaced by the previous owner. My car handles very well and doesn't seem like it's suspension is too tired yet. My friend thinks it handles almost, if not as well as his WRX. But I've driven his rex and think his handles a bit better but it's close.

I haven't really dove into the suspension yet because I've been concentrating on fixing problems with the car (brakes,seals, timing belt ect..) and doing things to make it faster ( exhaust, mbc, i/c ect..) so I'm not real familiar with the different suspension setups. I Just thought maybe the N/A setups were a little different. Do the 91 and earlier models that have the tapered rear springs have the same clearance as the 92-94's?

Legacy777: You've said it, I have said it many times as well but there are always people who say they have them and they never rub. I even got WORN RE-92 to rub badly. I think most of them never pushes the car to its limit.

I push my car VERY hard and haven't ever had them rub in the 2 months I've owned them. I take "laps" on a couple different back roads near my house that are very twisty with a good mix of slow-sharp to fast- sweeping turns and one in particular has a pretty hairy jump on it. I haven't ever hit the jump real hard but I've had all 4 off the ground and still no rubbing. Now my re92's that came on the wheels weren't new, they probably have about 85% tread left so maybe that's a factor but then you say they rubbed even with bald re92's so who knows, maybe I'm just lucky.

[ciper]

Dude, I just realized something! You may actually be right, for the first time ever J/K

What acts as a spacer between the hub and the wheel that is different on NA cars and Turbo cars..................

[vrg3]

Huh... The brake rotors might have different widths in the center portion, you say? Eenteresting. Sounds like it would be easy enough to test.

[ericS2the6]

plenty of clearance on my 93 turbo with the wrx/re92s too.

[HomeSlice]

plenty of clearance on my 93 turbo with the wrx/re92s too.

i got a n/a but ditto

[Templar]

Welcome the the Subaru universe where everything bolts up, but nothing bolts up.

There are only two good things about the stock WRX wheels, they are cheap, and they are light. I think some of the issue is the extremely high offset (55mm) on such a narrow wheel (6.5 inches) which pulls the inner edge of the rim closer to the strut. You could probably get a set of 5mm spacers if you are having issues and they would clear it right up, plus you would still have an effective offset of 50mm which is well within reasonable range for your bearings to be happy. And of course, some tires are slightly wider and taller than others of the same size.

Our legacy currently has 98 RS wheels (yeah the pimpy gold ones) with 215 50-16 BFGoodrich COmp T/As on it. There is absolutely a ton of room under the front and rears. The difference is that the offset is slightly lower (53mm) and the rim is 7 inches wide.