Hey all, for those of you running 17's on a wagon, could you please tell me:
year/model of car
What tire/rim combo you are using?
What size of tire?
Any rubbing front/rear on hard turns? If yes, on the fender or the strut?
Are you lowered?

...the reason I ask is because I have been considering getting 17's on my 98 OBS for a long time, but I didn't want to buy wheels/tires and not have them fit correctly.
I was looking at rotas (17x7.5), but the stock WRX 16's (16x6.5 55mm offset) and RE92's I have on there now seem to be a tight fit as is (close to the strut).

Would any of you suggest (from knowledge or experience) that I look for a 17x7 wheel (prodrives, etc.)? Would this have any effect on the wheel/tire combo fitting better? Or does it just depend on the tire?

Thanks to anyone who reads this, let alone respond to it.

 

17x7.5's with 215/45-17 tires fit with absolutely no problems as long as the wheel offset is 48mm or higher

 

on a early-model impreza wagon lowered ~1inch?

would going with 40-series tires help at all in avoiding any rubbing issues? -It's more likely to rub on the fender, correct?
one more question: the higher the offset, the closer the tire to the strut body- right?

again- thanks

 

is it a 1998 Outback Sport (Impreza based not legacy) .... if yes then I stand by my previous post

 

year/model of car: 1999
What tire/rim combo you are using? 17x7 OZ Superleggeras +48
What size of tire? 225/45 ContiSportContact
Any rubbing front/rear on hard turns? If yes, on the fender or the strut? NO
Are you lowered? NO

Totally agree w/ luke, w/ 215s everyone says you shouldn't have problems (unless you lowerd it a lot)

Physical tire size matters more, check tirerack for specs. Theres threads all the time about 1 guy using 235 and it working, while someone else may get an unusually huge 215 and it not work. I don't know what the max physical width is, but mine are 8.9" and work, so I'd assume that you can get any tire on 17x7 +48s that are 8.9" wide and the same height.

Personally, unless you plan on going with a very wide tire (thinks 235+) or the rim u like only comes in 7.5, I'd go with 7s cuz they tend to be lighter, and its all you need, and its probably a little harder to scratch the rims

Hope that helped Good Luck

 

Thanks guys... mosdof useful info.

What other options are there in 17x7... I would prefer that size as well, but it seems like any 17 I like (under $650-$700) is 7.5" wide.

EDIT: POSIBLY FLAWED REASONING - MOVE TO #2
Okay, try to follow me here- so when swithcing from 16x6.5 with 205/55/16's (55mm offset) to 17x7's with 215/45/17's (say, 48mm offset), the wheel itself would be ~half an inch wider, and the middle of the wheel would be ~7mm closer to the fender, correct? Following this, the outside of the wheel would be 1/4 inch + 7mm = ~1/2 inch closer to the fender. Adding on the increase in tire width (~5-15mm), wouldn't this result in, overall, the outside of the tire being ~3/4 of an inch closer to the fender? As for the inside of the tire rubbing, would the decrease in wheel offset (~7mm) approximately make up for the increase in wheel width (1/4" on the inside)? If so, the new tire would only be about 2.5-7.5mm closer to the strut, diue to the increase in tire width- Right? Could I use this reasoning to estimate whether a new setup would rub? Or is there a flaw in my math or logic? Please let me know where I went wrong in my reasoning... if I did.

Thanks for putting up with my questions- and more thanks for the replies


EDIT: I may have found an error in my own reasoning... Should I be adding the increase in wheel width to the increase in tire width as I am? Seems to me, that since it's the tire that rubs, that's all that matters, that and the change in offset.

REASONING #2: Undergoing the same wheel/tire change as above, if the increase in tire width was, say, 14mm, would the increase in tire width make up for a 7mm decrease in wheel offset, when considering the position of the inside of the tire in relation to the strut? And, accordingly, would the outside of the tire be 7mm plus 1/2 of 14mm = a total of 14mm closer to the fender?


The second one makes a lot more sense to me