Hey all, just recently joined this forum. My name is Matt and i recently purchased a 2010 Legacy 2.5i Premium and i've slowly been molding it into a vehicle i'm proud to show off. With that said, my next priority is a new set of shoes and some coilovers to close that horrendous wheel well gap we have.

I've been poking around online and my head is about to explode with all of the (mis)information and opinions regarding wheel/tire size for these cars. I'll make my question simple...

I want to run 18" wheels, simple enough, but I can't seem to find a straight answer on what exactly will fit without major modification. If I go 18, what width and offset do I need to shoot for, and what tire dimensions would work best with said wheel (not interested in the stretched look)? And to answer the question if my suspension is or will be modified, yes, i'd like to go with coilovers and lower it an inch or two, so that should be taken into account.  Suggestions welcome for brand/model as well.

Thanks for any input you folks have!

Bump

Go to tirerack.com and enter your vehicle in. They have a conversion of what will work. As long as you don't exceed width and height of a 17" rim and tire you should be OK. If you want wider, consider spacers.

 

As far as coil overs go, do get crazy with a daily driver. Eibach makes a great lowering spring for basically any car, and are popular with Saab coil-overs. Saab weighs about the same as a comparable Imp/Leg. Might want to run better sway bars and even consider solid end links to get the most out of the suspension. WHY they use plastic end links is a true mystery as they are not as strong as aluminum. Might want to run urethane sway bar bushings at the body too, as that should tighten up handling.

 

I run H&R springs on my Saab as they dropped a tad more than the Eibachs advertised drop. Need NEW struts to compliment them but are a decent spring nonetheless and with my rear tower mount and stiffer rear sway bar, I can cut corners hard, even on bad tires. Usually the BMW crowd run them. Seems every "crowd" leans towards one spring set and all but ignore anything else. Sometimes it's due to availability though, as more niche cars have less options. Other times it's due to car weight and what's working best for a daily driver w/o being too harsh or bottoming out. 

Edited February 20, 201610 yr by Bushwick