I was browsing car-part.com and found something interesting....

 

It seems 2WD EA82's had 14x5" spare tires.

 

Peugeot 505's take 14x5.5" steelies, only a mere half inch wider.

 

And.... ta daa... Peugeot 504's, which many of us run the wheels from, use...... 14x5".

 

So if you can run big tires on Peugeot 504 14x5's, why not run them on Subaru 14x5's? Sure would take care of that nasty offset problem...

I've heard that even the spare tire rim should only be used as a temporary thing

There is a board member running spare rims and offroad treads. Good luck finding a shop that will mount off road meats onto a spare tire rim. Luckily the the USMB member (sorry I dont remember your name!) has the equipment himself to mount them at his own risk.

 

All that "temporary use" bull is just a discliamer to cover their arse. Ive seen plenty of people flying down the highway with spare tires on doing well over 70 (and they say right on the side not to exceed 45 mph). This one guy at my old apt building had a metro with 2 spares up front that he'd ran for so long there was NO tread left (again the tires say do not exceed traveling 50 miles). Heck just yesterday I saw a Civic with a spare on doing 65 down the highway.

heh i remember drivin a dodge caravan from sacremento to oregon on 4 temporary donuts.. 65-70 down the road, drove 6 hours (300+ miles), never had a problem.. those things are tough

Its not the rim that shouldnt exceed 45 its the tire.

 

That guy that ran spare tire rims with off road tires is the guy that lives here in town with me but he doesnt frequent the web.

SubyBeast also ran them. Was constantly bending them. I don't recommend it at all.