Who's running 18" on their car ?

[chrisshara]

I have been toying with the tire calculator on http://www.discount tire.com

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

And I'm discovering that it 'seems' I can ditch my 185/70 R14 wheels and substitute in 18" x 8.5" wheels running 225/35 R18 which leaves the overall diameter unchanged at: 24.2 and the overall circumference changes from: 76.02 and moves to 76.03; a difference of 0.01

Who's running 18" x 8.5" or 8" wide wheels on their car ? Offset ??

I'm learning that not many of you are running this set up. That's cool. The purpose for my interest in 18" wheels is because I already own a set of 225/35 R18 tires and I'd like to make use what I already own. This way, if I can use the tires I currently have, then I don't have to invest another $600.00 in tires. In a nut shell, I'm on a budget.

[shoefean]

I'm running 16's but i too would love to see some pics too!

[mike-tracy]

I don't know if anyone currently is running them, but try typin 18" into the custom google search. Looks like there might be some rubbing issues on the struts or other places.

[chrisshara]

One guy is using 225/40 R18 tires. That makes his wheel diameter and circumference taller than stock. Not the right idea. My idea, would be 225/35 R18 tire on an 8" or 8.5" wide wheel. This makes the tire diameter equal to stock and the wheel circumference 0.01" over stock circumference; which is pretty much insignificant. Now, my only challenge would be offset. So, naturally when moving from a 7" wide wheel to an 8" wide wheel we want to decrease the positive offset. We don't want to put that entire additional inch of width on the inside. Rather, the strategy is to balance by putting 1/2" on the inside and 1/2" on the outside by way of moving from a +45ET or +48ET to a +35ET.

I would have to say that these Subaru's have a wheel arch that is not the type to be hellaflush friendly, per say. But since it is absolutely possible to put together a wheel / tire combo that is the exact same size as what came stock on the vehicle, I'm not sure why some would say that 18" rims are too large for these cars. Unless people consider 35 series tires to be like stretching elastic bands around the rims. After all, there is cars that come from the factory with 30 series tires and it doesn't look bad.

If I put an 18" wheel on my car and the wheel tire combination ends up being the same diameter as the stock 14" wheel tire combination, the ride height will remain unchanged.

Now, the only question is do I have to stick with a 18" x 7" wheel or can I swing an 18" x 8" wheel or 18" x 8.5" wheel.

[Legacy777]

Not saying it can't be done, but I think you'll run into some rubbing issues which would require tweaking either the fender and/or strut perch.

[chrisshara]

And I'm not anti to 17" wheels. It just seems there is a better variety of 18" wheels. ….Unless I'm looking in the wrong places. A friend at work is encouraging me to get a set of the OEM STi wheels that are forged ?? Maybe '04 STi wheels ??

[mike-tracy]

The 04 sti wheels are forged, 15 odd pounds a piece and really nice. The 05+ sti went to a different bolt pattern, so it'd have to be 04's.

[chrisshara]

I might try to find some of those. Not sure if they'd look any good on our cars though.

[cj91legss]

They do, subarustyles has a few pics of them on his sedan.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

[chrisshara]

I searched for a member by the name of subarustyles and no member was found.

[cj91legss]

probably wrong about a character or two in his name, but this showed up in a quick google search. Pretty sure this is WCSS13

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthr ... 59&page=19

[robertpaige]

it's 'subaru_styles'

and yes STi BBS rims look soooooo good!

[chrisshara]

CJ,

Thank you. Those gold wheels on the red Legacy look good. Are those Rota or Advan ?

Robert, I was searching incorrectly. I didn't have the underscore.

[cj91legss]

If you are talking about the wagon at the end, those are OZ racing wheels. Reputable brand. Also the same wagon has STI BBS on it.

[chrisshara]

Does that wagon have the STi BBS wheels in that same thread ? I only went back a couple pages. I'm still a noob around here and very new to forums in general. I don't navigate forums very well. I did find "subaru_styles" profile, but I did not know where to begin looking within his profile to find pictures of his sedan with the STi wheels.

[MikeyMeyagi]

i have run 18x8.5 +44 with 235/40/18 and 17x8.5 +45 with 245/40/17 on my old wagon.
the 18"s just look too big on these cars IMO. the 18"s were volk RE30's and they were beautiful, but just looked too big for the car. the 17"s were advan TCII and looked perfect IMO. should be a link in my sig to pics of it, probably towards the end of the thread. i was on Zeal coilovers and rolled my rear fenders. no issues.

[CFK]

Totally, I Love Mikey's car. Those are sick wheels, but i did the same thing and put 18"s on the car and they just looked way to big ! I ended up selling them before I even ran them.

Depending on what tire size & Stance your going for, 16 & 17"s are the way to go

[chrisshara]

But, did you run the 225 35 R18 ?? Because if you were running 235/40 R18, then the wheel assembly absolutely was bigger than stock. And it would visually look like a bigger wheel, because it actually is a bigger wheel. In fact, the overall diameter is 1.2" bigger than stock.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

[MikeyMeyagi]

a 225 35 has barely any sidewall. the wheels themselves looked too big not the overall package

[chrisshara]

I dunno. I am currently running 225/35 R18 on one of my other cars. Whether there is or isn't enough side wall, that I'm not sure of. I guess if I had an issue blowing out tires or bending wheels, I'd have to agree with you that there needs to be more sidewall. But I'm not having any such issues. The BMW 335is comes stock from the factory with 30 series tires on the rear. That being said, I'd have to say these elastic band looking side walls are beginning to become more acceptable, I guess; since the manufacturers are now designing their vehicles around these minimal sidewalls.

Mikey, hands down, you know your stuff about wheels for these vehicles. You made 18's fit on your car among many other major accomplishments with your car. I read much of your build thread and you even had other people on-board with liking the 18's. You may not have been a fan yourself, but that's where it becomes subjective. You say there isn't enough sidewall on a 35 series tire. Other car manufactures are saying a 30 series tire has enough sidewall and that other car makes will follow, in traditional fashion in the years to come. Would you agree ?

Now, I really do appreciate the help. You have shown me some wheels that I didn't know about. I wish I could just run out and buy the Volks. But I'm sort of on a budget because I'm in the middle of about 25 upgrades on my summer car. This Legacy is my DD / winter car. I'm trying to accomplish '05 LGT front and rear brakes, Goodridge brake hoses, some form of lowering suspension that won't disintegrate in 10k miles, and wheels and tires on a budget around $1700.00 and I'm not even thinking of buying anything brand new or rebuilt. My target is all decent second hand supplies (with the exception of the brake hoses, those are new). And I do understand that when buying all of this used stuff, something is bound to require some refreshing, or minor repair.

And lastly, I don't think I've EVER seen or heard of anyone moving from a 14" stock wheel to a 18" wheel and some people scratching their heads saying, "I think those wheels look just a hair too big for the car." But if I told you that I have a near new set of 225/35 R18 tires sitting in my garage, and that those tires would afford me some more money to invest in a higher quality set of wheels (since I wouldn't have to worry about buying more tires) I'm just trying to work with what I already have in my possession. Not to reiterate, but people did like the look of the 18's on your car. Just wasn't for you. And you are probably right. I'll probably do like you did, and move back down to the 17's. But finding some 18" wheels at this time, will buy me some time; until I have more funds for, perhaps, 17" wheels and tires.

[mike-tracy]

Sounds like you've already made your mind up.

[chrisshara]

Well, the title would imply that. I was looking to hear from people with 18's on their cars to see what wheel styles and offsets that they are running and found success with. I now understand that I will be among the few. But, since I know it's very possible to build a wheel with the same diameter as the stock wheels, all I ask is that if anyone is ruuning 18's on their cars to kindly post some pics or provide some information (links) to your pics. Share your stores of what worked and what didn't.

And like I said, I'll probably sell the 18's later on. Just as Mikey did.

[mike-tracy]

I didn't get that from the title. But... I look forward to seeing the results.

[chrisshara]

The results will be subjective and I don't think you will like them. If you were running 18's, you'd have some input for me on this. If I was unsure about running 18's, the title would have read, "Is anyone running 18's on our cars ? ~or~ "Can we run 18's on our cars." Jeezzzzzzzz Not cutting me any slack here. Not understanding my situation with where I'm at with tires I currently own. Not understanding that my budget doesn't just allow me to run out and buy premium 17" wheels and tires immediately.

[James614]

I'd broaden your search to the 93-01 Impress and 95-99 Legacy. Fender clreance is a little different, but the same offset that clears the spring perch for them should work for you. I generally see much more imprezas with 18s than Legacys.