fitment question, ideal offset for 18x8 rims + plus lowering

[2000LWAGON]

could i fit a 17x7 wheel with a +42 offset on my 2000 wagon i plan on lowering with the H&R springs/kyb struts?

[tekkitan]

I am pretty sure they would fit. I will let someone else tell you for sure though :)

[sansMYSTi]

I run a 17x7.5 rim with 48mm offset with no rubbing, but then I am not lowered.

[2000LWAGON]

yeah i really want to get rota p45f's, and i know they will fit fine with the 48mm offset, but i really like those enkei evo5 rims too. i found a set for sale on nasioc but i think he might have sold them. i also found a set of 5mm wheel spacers on vwvortex, would that make it into a 47mm offset on the originally 42mm offset enkei rims? Im not sure how wheels spacers work.

[sansMYSTi]

Wheel spacers and/or improper offset rims can be hard on your wheel bearings and cause clearance issues. You are better off going with rims of the proper specs for your car. You could go with the enkei's with spacers, just keep in mind that you may have issues down the road.

BTW the spacers just push your rims futher out from the wheel hubs, to correct for clearance issues. I would never use them - I would rather have something that works, rather than making something work.

[Wiscon_Mark]

42mm is a bit low...

48 is usually the lowest recommended for Subarus.

[Huffer]

45mm is the lowest I would go - 48mm on a lowered vehicle.

[2000LWAGON]

thanks guys. i want to hopefully get rota p45f's with h&r springs and kyb struts.

[auspex]

good combo..definitely works. +48offset on my lowered BD looks sweeeet. IMO, course. :grin:

-mike

[boxerpower]

yeah im runnin 17x7.5 rota downshifts with (i believe 48mm offset? i think?) with 225-45 and i rub when trying to push the car through corners. but i too am going the h&r kyb setup. i already rolled the right rear fender jus havent had enough tome to do the left. (suspension comming in the next couple of months)

[2000LWAGON]

yeah, i dont think im going to have as much of a sidewall as the 45 youre running.

[2000LWAGON]

the rota p45f's are 18x8 i believe.

[2000LWAGON]

for an 18x8 on a bh/be, whats the ideal range i want to be in for the offset if its lowered 1.5" w/ h&r's with gr-2's?

its like 48 to fifty..something right? whats the highest i could go and what would be ideal for me.

[Huffer]

ET48-55mm...you will likely need to roll your fenders if you go too low, or corner too hard.

[Reason]

You might want to find out what other people with a BH/BE have for rubbing issues. I'm pretty sure the wheel well on the 00-04 is larger than 95-99. Rubbing may not be an issue like the 2nd gen owners.

[2000LWAGON]

i bought the rims from mitch gt. when i got them the two front tires were severely worn on the inside, to the point of the metal threads in the tire poked through and would cut your hand if you weren;t careful.

my father tried them on at the body shop he works at because my cars there getting fixed right now. it was 800$ away from being totalled actually. a kid i work with backed into with his durango while it was parked. i wasn;t in it to know exactly how hard it was hit but it was pretty bad. new hood, lights, grill, bumper, radiator (old one got cracked), hose from the radiator got torn, fans broke and rad support is bent too much to fix.

the body shop is replacing it all with subaru stuff and nothing aftermarket which is awesome too. but anyway, he tried the rims on with the current tires and while it was on the lift. he told me he could see there wasn't much room and looked like it would rub when turning. so i think i may just get really small wheel spacers like only 3 or 5 mm's. that should do the trick.

mitch had his car lowered too so hopefully all said and done i wont have any rubbing and won't need any tire replacement besides when normal wear and tear has taken its toll on them. ill post pics after this post...

[2000LWAGON]

the rims are +48 so if i went with a 5mm spacer so i was at 53mm i would be okay, right huffer?

[Reason]

I would wait till the car is on the ground before buying anything else. If they didn't rub on Mitch's BE then you should be fine.

[2000LWAGON]

I would wait till the car is on the ground before buying anything else. If they didn't rub on Mitch's BE then you should be fine.

he said they didn't rub but theres not other explanation for the extreme amount of wear only the two front tires got. it looked like when you work with the lathe in woodshop, the thing which spins the wood really fast, and you wear it down with the metal things. its worn down to the metal threads inside the tires.

[Reason]

He may have not aligned the wheels once it was lowered. These cars need to be aligned.

[Huffer]

I would wait till the car is on the ground before buying anything else. If they didn't rub on Mitch's BE then you should be fine.

he said they didn't rub but theres not other explanation for the extreme amount of wear only the two front tires got. it looked like when you work with the lathe in woodshop, the thing which spins the wood really fast, and you wear it down with the metal things. its worn down to the metal threads inside the tires.

That could just mean he never rotated the tires, and ran them at high negative camber.

I moved your pics of the front end damage here:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=7130&highlight=

This is a wheel section, body damage goes in another section. :)

[2000LWAGON]

so do i need a camber kit or should i just try rotating them and getting an allignment?

[Huffer]

so do i need a camber kit or should i just try rotating them and getting an allignment?

Get new tires on the wheels first, then put them on the car, making sure it's correctly aligned. Then determine how to drop your car.

You will probably want to go with coilovers, if you are intending on sacking it out. Coilovers will allow you more flexibility. Don't forget to upgrade the swaybars to avoid body lean = rubbage.

[2000LWAGON]

coilovers are too much money. i'm planning on getting h&r sport springs and kyb struts.

[2000LWAGON]

so the rims do fit and theres no rubbing. pics will be up soon

[rougeben83]

lol, I'm late.

Yeah, 8" will be fine on a 48 offset with a BE/BH. The thing with the older BD is that the rear wheel well doesn't have a lot of room...something the multi-link on our cars sorta fixed.

the spacers wouldn't have helped. They only LOWER offset, they can't increase it (ie put the wheel closer to the centerline of the car).

The alignment should be addressed; -1.5 to -1 of camber is probably the best compromise between handling and tire wear, so as long as you get the front ( I don't think the rear has camber adjustment) to that you're golden.

Remember to have them set your toe to 0 on both ends. That's the main culprit to increased tire wear, not so much camber.

[2000LWAGON]

thanks rougeben

[MitchGT]

I would wait till the car is on the ground before buying anything else. If they didn't rub on Mitch's BE then you should be fine.

he said they didn't rub but theres not other explanation for the extreme amount of wear only the two front tires got. it looked like when you work with the lathe in woodshop, the thing which spins the wood really fast, and you wear it down with the metal things. its worn down to the metal threads inside the tires.

Huffer got it mostly right, except I had more issues with the toe angle than negative camber, although that was bad too. I never did get it aligned after I lowered it, big mistake. And as you now see, I was not lying about there being no rubbing.