May 13, 201411 yr I'm looking to pick up another set of wheels for my Outback to put bigger tires on. I've had a hard time finding anything reasonable used around here, but came across these on another forum: http://www.circletracksupply.com/bassett-dot-street-legal-street-stock-wheels-15x7-15x8.html Here's how they look on tintfreak's Foz: He said his are 3" backspacing and clearing 235/75R15 tires, with 3" strut spacers and King springs They're available in 5x100, which isn't common. Size options are 7" or 8" wide, and backspace options are 2", 3", 3.75" for the 7" width, 4", 4.75" for the 8" width. To convert that, here's a quick chart, rounded to the nearest mm, using this calculator: http://www.customwheeloffset.com/tire-wheel-backspacing-offset-calculators backspacing 7 8 2 -51 -63 3 -25 -38 3.75 -6 x 4 0 -12.7 4.75 x +6 My impression is that stock Outback and Forester 15s are 15x6 with 48mm offset... is that (+) or (-)? I'd like to run bigger tires, which would normally interfere with the spring perch - so I'd like to have them spaced as if I had some moderate spacers (maybe an inch or so at most), but done by offset/backspacing instead of using spacers. At most I'd see running 225/75R15 tires, which I know will require some clearancing (I'm about to swap in some 04 FXT struts). More realistic would be 215/75R15. I like the look of these wheels and the price is great. Any suggestions on what size would work best? Thanks for any help.
May 14, 201411 yr My 2002 Forester has 16" wheels. The original Subaru mags have a 48 mm offset. The aftermarket steelies (for snow tires) have a 42 mm offset. When mounted, the offset is such that the centre of the tire's tread is CLOSER to the car than is the mounting face for the wheel.
May 14, 201411 yr Author http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f102/finally-got-fozy-lifted-326801/ is where I found them.
May 14, 201411 yr Thanks!! I'm hoping they'll work. Probably will since they're steel (thinner) and the face doesn't curl back towards the brakes like the aluminum wheels do.
May 14, 201411 yr Okay here what ive come to the conclustion of, Max tire on SF 98-03 forester struts are 215/75/15 which is a pretty good tire and some what easy to find new. 235/75/15 is a very common tire and you can almost find at any shop in many different mud treads. as far as lift, king springs and 1" spacers are amazing and i love my forester like it. But if you want to run larger tires you run into the perch past 215/75/15. Now this is where other people have extended the bottom on the strut with brackets and what not. thatll give you another 2.5" which allows you to run that much larger tire. If i end up keeping my forester, (king springs and 1" spacers total of about 2.5"), im going to add the 2.5" at the bottom of the strut along with cross member spacers. Then i have 5" lift and can run up to 30" tire with stock 15" wheels. this combination is personally is the ultimate build for lift and tire size for a forester. Prwa
May 14, 201411 yr Author 235/75R15 is going to require a lot of trimming even with lots of lift. I'd rather stay with tires a little smaller and significantly lower ride height - I don't think I'll get rid of my factory body lift, but I'm not going to add any more. That limits me to 2" over stock at the highest. Trimming is fine, though. There are pretty good choices in 215/75R15 and 225/75R15.
May 14, 201411 yr I'm running outback struts and have plenty of room to the perch, the problem I've run into is clearance from the sidewall of the tire to the strut tube on the rear struts. Even on 205/70/15 tires I'm only about 1/4" from the strut tube. I've been looking into different offset wheels so I can run 215 or 225 tires without fear of hitting the strut tube. But I also need to clear these big ol' WRX calipers I bought. 16" wheels are about impossible to find with the right back spacing, AND the right lug pattern. I can find 15s all over the place, but I'm not sure they'll clear the brakes.
May 15, 201411 yr Author As it rolls off the showroom floor a 1st gen Outback has around 1/4" clearance to the strut tube, on 205/70R15 tires. If you run some 1/8" spacers you should have adequate room for 215s as long as they don't run into the perch. I figure if I get the 3" backspaced wheels I'll have plenty of room to the tube, hopefully enough to the perch (depends on tire size).
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