wheels question

[bubaru21]

so i know that you have to have certain wheels for awd. but what about size if you were to put bigger wheels on oh say a 96 legacy L going from stock which i think is either 14" or 15"and upgrading to 16" or 17" or possibly 18" would that affect the awd or worse cause some extra strian on anything. i have been thinking of new wheels but i dont want to put the car through torture.

[TimBeeno]

I dont know, I replaced my 14s with 18s on my subie. The only thing I recommend is that you upgrade your suspension and rotors. I had to upgrade my suspension cause my wheels in the back would rub a bit when i had more than 2 people in the car. The rotors, theres nothing like seeing cars and trucks drive by on their 'dubs', and have little rotors to stop those massive wheels and tires.

Thats my opinion.

Tim

[Huffer]

so i know that you have to have certain wheels for awd. but what about size if you were to put bigger wheels on oh say a 96 legacy L going from stock which i think is either 14" or 15"and upgrading to 16" or 17" or possibly 18" would that affect the awd or worse cause some extra strian on anything. i have been thinking of new wheels but i dont want to put the car through torture.

It's not a problem provided you stay within your stock rolling diameter - the overall circumference of the wheel - AND close to stock wheel offsets.

Stock Subaru wheels have an offset of 55 or 50. If you stay 45 - 55 then there is no stress on the hubs.

As for your "AWD needing certain wheels" - this isn't true. Your AWD will function even without wheels (let's think about that!). However, remember that as you increase the size of the wheel, and decrease the tire profile, you increase the amount of METAL on the car, and METAL is heavy, and takes more energy to rotate, thus sapping the car of energy to drive the wheels.

[jey]

There's nothing to be concerned about regarding the AWD system with 18" wheels. Though one thing to bear in mind is that your tires are part of your car's suspension system. When you run super-low-profile tires that are necessary for an 18" setup, your tires aren't doing nearly as much of the suspension work as, say, a 16" setup, and you will put more wear on your suspension. Start with 16s or 17s and you should still be quite happy.

[badbasser98]

I would deffinetly not recommend anything larger than a 17" wheel on a L. The L's have a smaller over all wheel diameter than the GT's. It would be very hard (and expensive) to run 18's and keep stock circumference. I had 16's on my L and it made a whole world of change. I ran 205/50R16 tires and the thing felt great in the corners. Ride quality was actually a bit better than stock as well. I think you'd be happy with a 16" wheel, but I would not go any higher than a 17".

For visual reference, these are 16's on my L.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/

-BB98

[bubaru21]

thats what i was leaning towards i was thinking at most 16" but 17" is a strong possibility. thanks though for clearing up the awd thing. i plan on fiding a set of subaru wheels, i would feel mor confortable with that seeing that they are made for a subaru.

[scottzg]

It's not a problem provided you stay within your stock rolling diameter - the overall circumference of the wheel - AND close to stock wheel offsets.

Stock Subaru wheels have an offset of 55 or 50. If you stay 45 - 55 then there is no stress on the hubs.


ideal offset changes as you go wider.

[Wiscon_Mark]

What you were thinking of for the AWD was a different overall diameter (of the tire) between front and back wheels causing a strain. As long as the diameter for all 4 tires is the same, you won't strain the AWD.

[Cajual]

What you were thinking of for the AWD was a different overall diameter (of the tire) between front and back wheels causing a strain. As long as the diameter for all 4 tires is the same, you won't strain the AWD.

bingo!

[Jonathan]

I would deffinetly not recommend anything larger than a 17" wheel on a L. The L's have a smaller over all wheel diameter than the GT's. It would be very hard (and expensive) to run 18's and keep stock circumference. I had 16's on my L and it made a whole world of change. I ran 205/50R16 tires and the thing felt great in the corners. Ride quality was actually a bit better than stock as well. I think you'd be happy with a 16" wheel, but I would not go any higher than a 17".Interesting. My '99 Legacy GT uses stock 205/55HR16s, and my '96 Legacy L uses stock P185/80R14s. I was thinking about just mounting some older 195/65HR15 winter tyres on my older "L", giving me a slightly taller tyre and hopefully making my speedometer not read ~1-2% faster than actual speed.

I was also going to swap the stock struts and springs from the "L" with some used "GT" parts. Will this make the "L" ride a tad taller ? Is this a bad idea ?

[Wiscon_Mark]

Nah, it's fine. I'm pretty sure the ride would be the same, I think the struts are just valved a little differently, giving a sportier feel.

[ivwarrior]

Interesting. My '99 Legacy GT uses stock 205/55HR16s, and my '96 Legacy L uses stock P185/80R14s. I was thinking about just mounting some older 195/65HR15 winter tyres on my older "L", giving me a slightly taller tyre and hopefully making my speedometer not read ~1-2% faster than actual speed.

Um, that new tire size is shorter than the original size you have listed, and will put your speedo 5.6% off. Is 185/80/14 correct?

[Wiscon_Mark]

Actually, speaking as someone who has 185/65/15s, I can tell you that my speedo is spot on. It was 3 mph high when I had the 195/60/15s.