I've seen everywhere that Subaru didn't manufacture a wheel larger than 13", yet all the spares are 15". Instead of drilling out GM/Toyota wheels and hacking up the fenders to get 29" x 8.5" tires to fit, why not use four spare wheels with tall/skinny tires (snow tires, for instance).

 

Anyone done it? Reason not to?

Been done, bad idea as they bend easily. Drill some chevy rims or find some pugs. Even if you used them, you would still have to cut the fenders AND lift it for 29's. Trust me.

 

GD

The donut rim is not meant to handle daily abuse. They are easily bent. Wouldn't want to use one for anything but a spare.

well and not just that, look at the width of the rim, i believe its tiny like 4.5 or something... Durability factor would make it not worth it anyway..

i did it- on my 86 wagon, and i put a 205-70-15 (26.? inches tall)

bfg t/a on it-a good sized tire-not a skinny one, it mounted well, balanced out well, and im happy to report that they have 45 thousand miles on them with no bending, or warping. the car was taken off road, and even jumped a few times. no bends

 

 

is this the best way to go? no, find some pugs-BUT to answer you question, yes it can be done, it works, and well. just not the best option in the land of roo

 

good luck-crawlerdan

According to the Yokohama site, 165mm wide tires can be safely mounted on wheels as narrow as 4in:

http://www.yokohamatire.com/utrimwidth.asp

 

This site will let you calculate what sidewall height you need to keep the factory tire diameter:

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

 

I may give this a try, I like the idea....

There are 6 lug conversions that would pass american dot inspections flawlessly...(street legal in other words)

I found an 89 GMC 3/4 ton 6 lug with a redrillable bolt pattern by oem build, correct center hole and an offset perfect. 16x6.5

there are many others, that is only one example. I must have correct centers or I can't use them, which rules out much more than not to hack for a soob. The gm pickup wheels was a nice surprise to find the center within 1mm.

I did spot a sedan with them, simply looked like bigger wheels fitting in the wells like oem. I wondered why they weren't an option by factory from the beginning. 13's on most of the ea soobs are even funny looking, for they are that small.

spare wheels are just that- unless you are all offroad where it doesn't matter anyway.

TI must have correct centers or I can't use them, which rules out much more than not to hack for a soob. The gm pickup wheels was a nice surprise to find the center within 1mm.

Could you explain why this is needed? Both my sets of 6 stud wheels on my 6 stud converted hubs have a much bigger center then original and I haven't had a problem.

Could you explain why this is needed?

 

He can't, because it isn't.

 

GD

well from my autoshop teacher, the center hole is what actually supports the wheel (you know the hub or what ever slides into the wheels center hole), so the studs dont get all the stress and could possibly snap or somthing, not sure if i ever hear of that happening, but thats why factories do it.

well from my autoshop teacher, the center hole is what actually supports the wheel (you know the hub or what ever slides into the wheels center hole), so the studs dont get all the stress and could possibly snap or somthing, not sure if i ever hear of that happening, but thats why factories do it.

 

I think that the friction of the wheel against the hub is what does most of the supporting, as most modern cars with alloy wheels do not have a open center that the hub rides on, but do not have any problems. Neither friction or the center can provide any support against cornering forces, that would be entirely on the lugnuts. It's unlikely that the cornering force would approach the force of holding the car up with stock tires in normal driving conditions.

 

Do the chevy rims have the same offset as the factory subaru wheels? How about the pugs? If the offset is wrong, the wheel bearings will constantly go out from the additional stress, the wheels can rub in the wheel wells, and the suspension geometry will be wrong.

Thats called hubcentric mounting and Subaru cars do not feature it. VW's, Audis, porsches and some other cars do though. It places some of the weight and pressure off the studs or bolts themselves and onto the center of the rim instead.

well from my autoshop teacher, the center hole is what actually supports the wheel (you know the hub or what ever slides into the wheels center hole), so the studs dont get all the stress and could possibly snap or somthing, not sure if i ever hear of that happening, but thats why factories do it.

 

Thats called hubcentric mounting and Subaru cars do not fully feature it. Theres a small lip on the hubs of Subarus but nothing like other makes. VW's, Audis, porsches and some other cars do though. It places some of the weight and pressure off the studs or bolts themselves and onto the center of the rim instead.

Who can give us the measurement of the proper center hole size to fit an EA81 and EA82? That way when looking for rims we know if we have the correct chevy rim or not. I know that the imports will mostly work.

 

Thanks!

Heres my 2 cents worth, I looked up on our computer here at the yard, a wheel for an 89 dl 4x4 and the 15 inch factory spare is a 15x5 so the same width as the factory 13 inch which is 13x5. I wish I had one here to actually measure, but all I can go by is what our computer says. I've never tried either, but I've asked myself the same question, especially since 13 inch tires are hard to come by these days, at least used ones at our salvage yard are. Then again, 15 are pretty rare for us to get in also.

I just did a rough measurement at about 9.5cm

which is like 3 and 3 quarters inch.