Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

Wheels and tires


Recommended Posts

I'm pretty happy with the Kumho Ecsta ASX I'm running currently (W-rated A/S). They are quite grippy in the dry (possibly even better than the summer-only Ecsta 712), decent in the wet (huge primary water channels) and decent in the snow (I've had very little snow experience on them, thus far, though). My only complaint so far is that the sidewalls are a bit soft for a UHP tire (great for ride, bad for handling), but a little extra tire pressure helps some there.

 

My previous tire was the Sumitomo HTR4 (H-rated A/S) which had surprisingly good dry grip for an H-rated tire (similar to some Z-rated summer tires...actually won a local autocross on them (as I had corded one of my Victoracers at the previous event)...lol), passable wet grip (their sole weak point in my opinion), good snow grip and unlike the ASX has good sidewalls (not summer tire stiff, but still stiff enough for some halfway decent cornering). They have phased out the HTR4, but have another HTR-series tire (can't remember which model right now) that looks to be the successor to it.

 

Both of the aforementioned tires were on my 2.5RS, BTW (on the stock 16x7 wheels) and both were purchased from TireRack (http://www.tirerack.com). Both are very inexpensive tires as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'll have a hard time stuffing 16" rims under your car without any lift. 15" rims and 215/60R15's were about as big as I'd ever wanna go with an unlifted rig.

 

Plus you wouldnt wanna put those fugly rims on your brat, would you? Might as well getchya some of those chrome spinners.

 

-Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'll have a hard time stuffing 16" rims under your car without any lift. 15" rims and 215/60R15's were about as big as I'd ever wanna go with an unlifted rig.

 

Plus you wouldnt wanna put those fugly rims on your brat, would you? Might as well getchya some of those chrome spinners.

 

-Brian

215/60/15's at 25.16" are over 1" taller than the 205/50/16,s 24.06"

 

I do think these wheels look better, than the Pug wheels everyone seems to want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your right. I did the calculation after I replied. You shouldnt have much of a problem and the 205 should be skinnier. Your going to want to pay close attention to the offset of the rim though, or risk the failure of your wheelbearings. Im not sure what the stock offset is off hand, but any EA81 series rim should have it labled.

 

Oh, and about the wheel comment, didnt mean any harm. Just something I'd expect to see on a suburban or something. It wouldnt be hard to redrill a complete set of hubs though, and will work well with the rear disk conversion.

 

-Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Failure of the wheel bearings? When did this happen, and why wasn't I told? Hehe.

 

I'm running 6 lugs, and the offset is about 3" wider per side..... many other people are running them as well, and I've not heard of this before. I agree, it's certainly possible, but I have not seen any evidence showing it to be true in the sepcific case of the Subaru bearings - they are tough, and larger than they need to be anway. Have you heard something I have not Junkie?

 

GD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your right. I did the calculation after I replied. You shouldnt have much of a problem and the 205 should be skinnier. Your going to want to pay close attention to the offset of the rim though, or risk the failure of your wheelbearings. Im not sure what the stock offset is off hand, but any EA81 series rim should have it labled.

 

Oh, and about the wheel comment, didnt mean any harm. Just something I'd expect to see on a suburban or something. It wouldnt be hard to redrill a complete set of hubs though, and will work well with the rear disk conversion.

 

-Brian

Actualy the 205/50/16 is the same or wider than the 215/60/15, not much 1/4"-1/3" or so, depending on what style and make of tire.

 

I want the widest tire that will fit under the fender wells. My concern is the front. How wide can I go and not have a clearance problem when turning?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...