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I was going to do the 6 lug conversion to my brat and have purchased a set of 14" 6 lug wheels from Summit racing, but I go to the local junkyard today and luckily enough, pick up a set of 15" Pug alloys. Which should I put on the Brat with a 4/3 ozified lift? Would I still have to cut the fenders with the 14" rims? How bout the Pugs? I am baffled at these turn of events right about now.

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Aluminum alloy wheels do have advantages but I can tell you from experience they will be expensive and hard to repair if you dent them. I live in the twin cities MN with LOTS of automotive shops. Took me a week to find ONE that would even consider touching my bent aluminum alloy wheel. Cost me $125 for an hours work on one rim :( Steel rims will be easier to repair and/or replace. If you keep your tires aired up good and dont dent them youll be fine! Upto you really :)

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You can run 14 or 15" rims and not have to trim the fenders depending on the tire size you use. With a 4/3 Ozzified kit, you have a lot of options. There is some good info on a thread I started about a month ago on tire size. You might look at that.

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for 4x4ing steel rims will take more of a beating, and there tends to be more choices for 15" rims in mud terrain/all terrain patterns. Alloy rims look nicer, and are lighter which will give a better ride. Both have advantages.

Shopping for tires was great with my 15" steel pugs. You pretty much have your pick at any brand/model light truck, all terrain or mud terrain.

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Alloys are a no-no for off-road. Rather than bend, they tend to crack when they encounter a rock or other hard object. Generally this is catostrophic, breaking the bead on the tire, and making you very angry. Difficult to replace if you break it, and just doesn't stand up to the punishment. Steels are $25 each brand new, and you have your choice of size and width. This is a no brainer for a lifted rig that will see rock, mud, and tree roots.

 

When you off-road, it's not a matter of IF you break/bend a rim, it's a matter of when. On Sun night, Nicky Nighteyes bent a rim and slashed up the sidewall of his wildcat off-roading with us.....

 

GD

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Alloys are not the greatest for off-roading, but are useable. I went with Pugeots on my rig to keep the ease of 4x100 and spare sets of tires (important). I also have a full size spare in 26" to match my tires. The tires I got were Cooper Discoverer 26x8" on 14" pug alloys. The tires you choose will play a very important role here. You will find alot more tires available for the 15" rims, but you will have to go with alloy as opposed to Steel. With a 4" pk lift you'll be fine no matter which you choose. With a 3" lift, it'd be better to go with 14" rims and the steels you have work work perfectly.

 

Let me know when you get this thing built, i need another local to go wheeling with :)

 

-Brian

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Hey John (Jibs)

Got your letter yesterday, thanks. BUT>>>

The 4/3 kit wil not work with Air Cond, except on turbo EA81 where the AC compressor is centered on engine, without the idler pulley for v-belt.

 

I need to talk with you also on another note. Unless you're going bigger than 27" tires, the 3/3 will work fine, with very minimal fender trim on front and rear lower edges. r/PK

 

frontrim.jpg

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I ended up pulling ALL the A/C crap from my EA81 when I did my lift. I tried to fab up some lift blocks for the A/C, then when that failed, i tried to beat the snot out of the fender where the A/C was mounted... when that failed, i just removed all the A/C crap :) Thats with the 3/3, with the 4/3 you might as well skip step's 1 & 2 and just remove the A/C. Besides, with T-Top's, you dont need A/C :)

 

-Brian

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I can always go back to my 2/60 A/C. Thats 2 windows at 60 MPH!! I was wondering though, I heard from ozified that they make some pretty cool tires in a 26" size. What are they, and where can I find them? Ozified said that they won't kill my gearing as much, which I am kinda looking for so any help is appreciated. I still don't know what I am going to do about the wheel thing, I got a letter in the mail saying my rims won't ship until the 28th which isn't bad cause I can always save my money for other things in the mean time. Thanks a bunch Guys!

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I got 205/75R14's from a local tire shop. You can see everything at www.subaru4wd.net Follow the links to the tires to see my combo. I lost some gearing, but not alot. Its the poor EA81 that cant keep up. The tires dont give too much road noise, but alot more than your average car. Ive taken my Wagon on 2 round trips out of state. Seattle and back, then Medford oregon and back. Plan on more as well. The tires, lift and car have put up with everything ive put it through, and even had to hobble home a few times as well.

 

-Brian

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I like those tires SubaruJunkie, but I kinda want something with more of an agressive tread. I might check in on those though, I think that the price on those wouldn't be as bad as some of the tires I have been looking at. I liked how that stereo looked mounted in your Subie as well, It looks cool all by it self! I have a sweet stereo in my 4x4 Brat that I plan to add to pretty quick. Kostamojen - Aren't I so lucky? I pulled them from the Sparks Pnp and was very lucky when I found it. I was walking down a row of cars that were all facing away from me (An in between kinda row) and I glanced over and saw a 505Turbo decal on a car and thought, huh, could this be a peugeot by chance? I looked at the rims and it sure was! I pulled the rims as fast as I could after that. It had been there since April 15th and no one had taken the rims from it, I was surprised.

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You should be able to run a 205/75r14 (26.5" or so) with no cutting at all, and just a little beating on the inside of the front fender wells.

 

You can run up to a 215/75r15 (28") with a little fender trimming, and a whole lot of beating.

 

The swamper is a great tire, but please put them on some steels. You can run 14 or 15 pug steels, but finding replacments when you bend one can be a pain. I personally run drilled US Wheel 70 series chevy 6 lugs as they are VERY thick and strong, and are easy to get brand NEW for $25 each. The aggressive offset helps by giving me a wider footprint and looks cool at the same time. Also makes not having a sway bar a little less noticeable. Always nice to start with new rims, as they balance perfectly and look pretty too.

 

GD

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Shipping for me was $70 if I recall, you can always call them and get a quote. There prices aren't etched in stone either from the impression that I get. They discounted me $10 a tire because I had ordered from the recently and the first time I ordered they made a counter offer when I mentioned a local price, so it might be worth a try to negotiate.

 

 

Ditto on the US wheels, I am running a set of 15x10 6 lug with Toyota offset and pattern. They are tough as can be and resemble the stock Subaru white spokes.

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I think that I am pretty much set on keeping the US Wheels set for the 4x4 Brat, as I bought a spare as well. I'll probably put a set of street tires on the pugs for my other Brat but was wondering, do I need to do any fender cutting to put normal tires on the 15" pugs on the Brat? also, if I put the rims on there now, is that an automatic 2" lift because the rims are bigger or what happens there? Thanks a lot, you've helped me decide.

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I was running Pug 15" rims on my brat, and it didnt rub that much. I had to bend the lower lip of my front fenders, but thats cause my suspension was all the way down in the front. If i would have raised it alittle, i dont think it would have had rubbing problems. The tires I had were 205/60R15's. Here's a pic:

bratpug3.jpg

 

-Brian

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