I hope I'm posting this in the right section of the boards.

 

We recently upgraded one vehicle in our all Subaru household from a 1999 Forester to a new XV Crosstrek Limited with the CVT transmission. I have been running dedicated snows on my Impreza for years and the car is a tank in the snow, as anyone with a Subaru on snows can attest to. My better half wants snows on her new XV (she travels alot for her business and can't afford not being able to get to her business meetings) and I'm reaching out for some advice and help.

 

We are on somewhat of a budget, but looking at (2) different options. First, getting tires and putting them on the OE rims. Only issue is the switching from all-seasons to snows and vise-versa each fall and spring. Snows in the 225/55/17 aren't cheap by any means. The other option is doing the dedicated steel wheel/tire package for the snows, which is what I do with my Impreza.

 

I've found a tire/wheel package on a well known online Tire store, offering new 16" steel wheels and new tires.

 

My question is has anyone gone the 16" steelie route for a winter tire package? Any pros-cons to dropping down to the 16" size for 5 months of the year? The winters on my Impreza are the same size as my summer set-up, so I don't have to worry about anything.

 

Any and all help/advice is welcome. Thanks in advance for all replies.

You will do way better buying a set of tires and wheels than putting snows on your stock wheels and then remounting the street tires after winter is over.  

Why?  You can always sell your snow set up at the end of winter and get most of your money back.  Mounting the tires on wheels costs 15-20 bucks each corner. 

 

Yes, you'll have no problem with steelies, that's what I have for my winter set up.  I have 225/60/16s.  They are really close to the stock height, the speedo is on time.

 

You should be able to buy a set of used snow tires and wheels on craigslist for cheap.  My set cost me 100 dollars, the tires are like new.  Dude sold his forester and bought a toyota.

 

I slapped a coat of Rustoleum on them, they look great.  Spend a few days/weeks constantly checking craigslist near you, you'll find that awesome deal.

 

 

If you really want a new set, go to discounttiredirect.com and buy a set of tires and wheels.  They will mount and balance and ship them for free.

You can get a set of tires and wheels shipped for as cheap as 580.00.

 

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/cart/showCart.do

 

And yes, 215/65/16 will be fine, almost the exact diameter as the stock 225/55/17s.

You will do way better buying a set of tires and wheels than putting snows on your stock wheels and then remounting the street tires after winter is over

 

+1

 

not hard to find a set of used Subaru wheels either - like an older 16" set to mount new tires too.

Thanks for the replies. We've decided to do the steelies, like I do with my Impreza.

Does anyone have recommendation for older/used 16" Subaru alloy wheels that will fit on an XV but use normal profile snow tires?   

 

I want to install winter tires/wheels on an XV but don't want to pay the premium for low profile snows, and would rather install used Subaru alloys than black steel wheels or Chinese aftermarket alloy wheels.

 

Hopefully wheels from an Outback/Forester etc fit the bolt pattern and have close enough circumference to the 17's with normal profile 16" snow tires.

 

If anyone has done this please share model/year of wheels you used, and tire size of snows.

Edited November 9, 20178 yr by baboonia

Does anyone have recommendation for older/used 16" Subaru alloy wheels that will fit on an XV but use normal profile snow tires?   

 

You can use any 16" Legacy, Outback, Baja, Impreza, Forester wheel you want except newer STi's

www.car-part.com

craigslist

this forum

other subaru forums

 

You need a 5x100 bolt pattern

Which is all those listed above and the vast majority of Subaru wheels over the past very long time so there's tons out there.

 

You can not use SVX, Tribeca, or STi's past a certain date like 2008 or something, but Tribeca's aren't 16" and I don't know what STi's are. 

 

The only other issue is your wheels have to be large enough to fit over the brake calipers. Most (or all?) 15" wheels won't fit, but 16" is verified above by ezapar so you're golden on Subaru 16" wheels. 

Newer Forester/ Outback are 5x114.3 to my knowladge and STI is 2005 and newer. You can get OEM Steelies at the dealer if you want brand new. Many models were/ are sold with 16" steelies as a base option

I did a quick search on craigslist in your locale and came up with over 100 results on subaru wheels... As mentioned above, anything oem 16" of a legacy/outback/impreza (not sti) will fit. If you take some time to search through, you may even find a good deal on snow tires.

 

https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/search/wta?query=subaru&sort=rel