03' Baja - 17" wheels?

[Typhoon-22]

Hey there everyone,

Currently running over a few options. I purchased a Baja a few weeks back and I've been loving it. When I purchased it, it had been fitted with some fairly meaty offroad tires (See picture below) that are near brand new. While I certainly will gain use out of them, my hope was to have them more as a backup on the rims while having another set for my daily driving. Currently I was looking at 17" Futura tires, but the ones currently are 16". I was wondering what all would need to be done to make 17' wheels work, and if it as worth doing. The Baja also looked like it may have a lift kit? I was told it has new suspension, but I was not given details unfortunately. Anyone with a trained eye for it, see the pic below. Thanks for any help, really am loving my first Subaru!

Edited December 29, 2018 by Typhoon-22

[el_freddo]

Why not go 18s??  

All you need to do is run a tyre with a lower side wall profile to keep the rolling diametre the same as stock/what its running now. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[heartless]

if the 16s are the stock size, then basically do what Bennie said.. lower profile to keep the rolling diameter as close to stock as possible so it doesn't mess with the speedo/odo readings

no special requirements otherwise - other than matching the bolt pattern & offset to avoid anything rubbing.

you can use this to check the differences between stock & what you are wanting to put on: https://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

[matt167]

225/55/17 would be basically the same as the 225/60/16 that is stock

[Typhoon-22]

Gotcha, fair enough. Sort of a trade-off to make it work. My current tires on there are 215/65/16. I was looking at a set of 245/65/17s to fit, but I imagine I would need to step one of the measurements down to make it work. I was looking at Futura Scramblers to fit on.

[forester2002s]

This article (from Consumer Reports) may be of interest.  It is 6-years old, but the science is still valid.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/12/plus-size-tires-when-more-is-less/index.htm

[matt167]

Why are you looking at Futura tires? They are just a bottom of the barrel tire sold by Pep Boys, manufactured by Cooper. Might as well keep what you got. Coopers quality right now isn't very good at all and a place like Pep Boys would be willing to send defective tires out the door even with unacceptable runout

[Typhoon-22]

I had Futuras recommended to me by someone, so I figured I would check them out. I have no experience with them as a brand, I've had more with brands like uniroyal or firestone though even that's limited. Is there a particular one You might recommend or just try to avoid futura? Also, my main reasoning is I feel the tires I have aren't necessary to have on at all times for my daily driving, but would be incredibly helpful in a bad snow or a long trip with some offroad travel. I'd like to keep them on hand without the need to mount them on the same rims every time I wanted to switch. Also has anyone put 2016 Forester rims on an 03? I'm not sure whether that type of wheel would work or not.

 

Edited December 31, 2018 by Typhoon-22

[matt167]

I'm not sure why anyone would recommend Futura tires unless you were looking for a humbly cheap tire to pass inspection

If bolt pattern is 5x100 it will. But 2016 fozzy might be 114.3, I'm not sure.  As far as a tire to get. A Nokian WRG3 SUV 225/60/17 but get them from a Nokian dealer only. Non Nokian dealers won't know how to seat them correctly as the beads are unlike most tires. When seated correctly they are the truest most perfect tire you could get as well as being all weather rated ( 3pt snowflake ) along with a warranty

[Typhoon-22]

Thanks for all the info guys, I appreciate it. It looks like I can make it work just fine with the rims I wanted to use with the right application of tires. 

[ocei77]

use this to check:

http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

 

O.

[catzodellamarina]

Can you run stock Crosstrek rims and tires on a Baja or will you need a slight lift?  Wonder if the bolt pattern matches up?

[Numbchux]

16 hours ago, catzodellamarina said:

Can you run stock Crosstrek rims and tires on a Baja or will you need a slight lift?  Wonder if the bolt pattern matches up?

I don't know what the tire size is, but the bolt pattern is the same. Offset is extremely close. Wheels will definitely bolt on.

I'd bet money (and I'm not a betting person), that the tire size is close enough. But find the tire sizes (Baja would have come with a 225/60r16 stock in the US) and run them through a tire calculator.