Ok so here's the deal. I have a 2002 WRX wagon with a stock suspension setup (will have a rear sway bar + strut bar but no other mods to the suspension in the near future). I am looking at new wheels and tires as my next mod. I've done a fair bit of research. I was looking as OZ Superleggeras at first because from what I gathered they were fairly strong and they are lighter than the stock rims. Anyway what are your suggestions? Here are my criteria:

Wheels
-17"
-as light as or lighter than the stock rims
-Width 7.5" or wider (comments on 8" wide rims rubbing on a wagon are welcome)
-Fairly strong (I live in Georgia and the roads aren't great...)
-Cost can't be too high, somewhere in the region of 1k (I will pay a couple hundred dollars more for a quality rim that will last though)
-I am all about function over style but I'm pretty sure I want silver rims

Tires
-I live in GA so it doesn’t snow that much, I'm considering keeping the stockers as winter tires anyway. So basically I'm looking for the best combination of performance (handling) and tread life. I'll admit I'm not as knowledgeable about tires so any help would be appreciated. Also I'm not too clear on the difference between "summer" and "all weather tires." Are all weather tires supposed to be semi-decent in the snow and summer tires are basically unusable in the snow?

I know this is a long *** post, sorry about that. Anyway thanks in advance your replies.

 

bump

 

Hey, welcome to I-Club (unless you have been a lurker for a while). I used to live in GA (Ft Benning/Columbus) so I am familiar w/ the weather there. It snows only a few inches, but rain is a concern, so all season tires might be a good choice, especially if you are not planning on racing the car often. A good all season tire is the Sumitomo HTR+, which is an all season tire (w/ a 40k wear out warrenty if you buy them from Sears) that compares favoribly with the Michelin Pilot Sport AS, which is regarded as the best all season high performance tire on the market now.

 

Thanks man, yeah I've been lurking for a bit. So much information on these forums I just wanted to absorb some knowledge before I opened my mouth... Yeah I was looking at HTR's among others. So "summer" tires don't perform well in the rain? See I wasn't sure about that. So if I get something like Potenza S-03's (which are considered a "summer" tire) it wouldn't be so good in the rain? We do get a lot of rain down here as you said... I don't plan on racing too much at the track (not enough time) but I do always take the most winding route home ;-)

 

Potenza S-03s are supposed to be quite good in the rain. i just bought a set for my wrx, but i haven't driven in the rain with them yet. everyone i've talked to who has run them in the rain have had no complaints. driving them in snow would be asking for trouble, same as any other summer tire.

you're going to have a hell of a time fitting anything larger than a 17x7.5 on a wagon. people have had problems with 225s rubbing on the wagons using a 7 or 7.5" rim. anything wider than that, and you're really going to run into rubbing issues. the fronts fit fine, but the rears are really prone to rubbing.

 

Cool, yeah I figured I would be going with 7.5" width but I saw your wheels and they looked so nice and..............wide! : ) The other tires I was looking at are Eagle F1 GS-D3's anyone had experiences with these? Your rims are 8" width right muppet? What are the specs on your rims?

 

they do look pretty wickedly wide, don't they? they also come in 7.5" widths, so you can get a size that fits if you like the look. if you're looking at spending 1K on just the rims, that'd be right in the ballpark for the gram lights. even mine weight in at less the stock rims and tires, i'm pretty sure that the 17x7.5s are even lighter.

 

I PM-ed you with some wheel info. Apparently there is are slight clearanccce issue with ther wagons in the back. If the offset is too low then you will rub on the fender or at least that little black plastic on the inside of the fender. And if the offset is too high then you will rub in the strut. On top of that, things will also change if you have lowered your hatch or have camber plates or camber bolts installed. There are some summer tires that are good in the rain, but generally summer tires will wear quicker than all season tires will, & you already said that you don't intend to race you car frequently, so that leads me to suggest an all season tire.

 

I'm looking to get 17s for my wagon as well. Do any of you know if there are rubbing issues with any of the Rota wheels? 17x7.5" and 48mm offset??

 

No...depending on tire selection. But generally speaking, no.

 

So how would you rate the performance of say a high performance "all weather" tire like the HTR's when compared to the performance of a high performance "summer" tire like the SO3's? And how do these compare to the stock tires? Thanks for all the replies by the way.

 

thump

 

A Summer tire will give better dry traction & sometimes better wet traction as compared to an all season. Tires are like most consumer goods - there are compromises to be made. You can make a tire that will last 2.5k miles, but that tire will not have good road grip properties, or good snow traction; or you can design a tire that will enable you to go over the biggest rocks, but that tire might wear quickly, or be noisy, or be expensive, etc... All season tires try to be all things to almost all consumers, which is a double bladed sword. They, generally will last longer than dedicated summer tires, but trade off ultimate traction, etc. The S-03 is a top tier product & the HTR+ is not, a better all season counterpart would be the Pilot Sport A/S. But generally, I'd say that in most situations the HTR+s will be about 7/10s of the S-03.