i'm new to getting new tires and rims and was wondering if i needed to lower my car to reduce the space between the tires and wheel well if i placed some 18's ROtas on a stock 05 WRX. I know that the 05 WRX wheel wells are pretty big so i was just curious if even after the 18's there might still be too much room? I dont really want the tires to be rubbing on the wheel well or anything like that, and im not looking into heavily lowering it.

Anyone every install 18's on a stock suspension 05 WRX before? If so, can you post pics so I can see how they would look? Thanks.

 

when buying larger rims and tires you don't change the overall circumference from that of the stock rims and tires ie; if the circumference is 40 inches on the stock rims/tires then your 18's and tires will have a circumference very close to the size of the stock ones. Running smaller or larger tires will change your gearing because it is a longer or shorter revolution for the wheel. Long story short, you can put the 18's on but you will still have some fender gap. 18's will look very nice. If you have the money I think they look much better than 17's.

 

Get the wheels you will be happy with.If you looking to fill the
gap in the wheel wells they will work perfect.
My buddy has 18" Rota's on his 05 WRX and they fit just fine.
Just make sure you get the correct tire size and they fit just perfect.
I think 215's is what my friend has I do belive.
In my opnion 18" Rota's will look just awesome on your 05 WRX.

 

If you go to 18's watch the weight of the wheels AND the weight of the tire! You can get lighter then OEM with a change up to 18's. This is a good thing.

Rotational mass is a bad thing. The more weight you can pull off each corner the better.

The weight of the stock WRX rim is 23 lbs and 25lbs for the stock tire. That's 48 lbs per corner!!!

I went 17's and lost 13 lbs per corner! The formula racers use, is for every pound of rotational mass lost = 20lbs off total car weight... you do the math. It felt like a free 15HP-20HP and it looks better to!

 

Ummm how do you figure? The stock 02-05 WRX rims are 16x6.5 with an offset of 55mm and weigh 16.5lbs. The tires may be right, but your rim weight is alittle off. Even the 06 WRX 17" rim "only" weighs 20lbs, if I recall correctly.

Anyways, here's a picture of my car back in the day when I bought it. The rims are 18" ADR's and the tires are Yokohama Parada Spec 2's in 225/40ZR-18 92W and the car was completely stock. There was 0 tire rollover and the tires were sticky enough around corners, but I hit a pot hole and cracked one and took a chunk out of another. 18's look good (mine weren't a great style), but you run the risk of busting a rim, plus the ride is a lot harsher.

 

Your right. That was the weight on the new '06 WRX rim & the 17" Bridgestone. Weighed it at my dealership, when we pulled the sales manager's rims and tires off at the shop.

Thanks for correcting me ~ but he can still go to 18's and if he makes smart selections, can save weight in the process!

 

Ahh ok. Cool. Thanks for the info guys.