[Charles J P]

I have been battling over what I want to do about rims for the black Impreza wagon that I will be purchasing as soon as the dust settles from the new house down payment and honey-moon (damn women are expensive). I cant decide whether to
a) get the stock/standard 16" rims and keep them.
b) get the stock/standard 16" rims and try to sell them with the tires and get some 17" that I like
c) get the cheaper ($1000 not the $3000 ones) upgrade 17" rims from the dealer.

I am not totally opposed to the 16s and even though the 17s would look better, I have to consider my budget and other mods I might want to do such as upgrading the stereo.

So, my questions for now are
1) what is the width of the OEM 16" rims?
2) can I fit 225 wide tires on the 16 inch rims?
3) what would the other dimensions of the tire have to be if 225 would fit on the factory rims?
4) what specifically, would you recommend for all season tires in that size if I get 225s?

 

[Barry.]

Pretty sure that some people are running 225/50-16 on wagons. I run them on my sedan. Stock rims are 6.5" wide. I run Dunlop SP 5000's on my car.

Barry

 

[Charles J P]

Thank you,
Do you also know what the width is on the $1000 (not the $3000) OEM upgrade 17" rims is? Can you run 235s on those? I hear people talk about offset. Does the maximum width of tire you can run without rubbing depend on the offset? What is the offset of the OEM 16" and 17" rims? Has this been discussed in an FAQ somewhere? Sorry, I'm new.

 

[labman]

Hi Charles, All!

I have a set of Kumho V-700s in 225-50-16 mounted on the stock rims. These JUST MISS rubbing against the rear strut body when mounted on my WRX wagon. I doubt that you'd get anything wider to work (at least on a wagon) without some sort of spacer.
Now you know ;-)

ByeBye! S.

 

[Bad Dogg]

No rubbin

with performance alignment.. dealer wheels are a baddd deal..

BD

 

[MackDaddy]

Charles -

Just so that you know, the offset for the OE 16x6.5" wheels on the WRX is +53mm (this is also true with the highly desireable 1998-2001 2.5 RS wheels, although they are all 16x7".) This come into play with what size tires you choose. Most will agree that the mimimum wheel offset of +48mm is necessary for our application.

Can't give any insight on the dealer optional 17" wheels, sorry.

Jim

PS - When I rag these RE92's out, I'll be upgrading to a nice 225/50/16" set of tires.