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Old 01-27-2018, 09:24 PM   #4551
mugen_
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I was looking at Rays Wheels and stumbled across this!

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Old 01-28-2018, 12:00 AM   #4552
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rich260z View Post
6

I had a similar setup, just +42 offset. So it was 3mm more outward with a 265/35.

I used 265/35 to keep the tire diameter the same as stock which I would recommend.

You'll have to roll the rears with all stock suspension no matter the tire, if you want something more dd friendly, the Michelin pilot super sports are great. If you want something more summer aggressive, I'd look at the hankook rs4, direzza star specs, or nitto nt05s. Whatever fits in your budget.
Thank you! 265/35 it is!
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Old 01-29-2018, 08:25 PM   #4553
D6REAPERS
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Can someone suggest a tire size for a 18x9.5 +35 wheel? I have rear fenders rolled and front are untouched, have about 1 finger gap between top of the stock wheel/tire and fender arch, on coilovers. 2014 hatch, from what I understand from posts in this thread is 255/35/18 should be the biggest I want to go with, I was curious to see if this is correct, and if I need to get adjustable rear camber arms or not, I have cabmber plates in the front and should be good there.

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Old 02-01-2018, 08:48 PM   #4554
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Quote:
Originally Posted by D6REAPERS View Post
Can someone suggest a tire size for a 18x9.5 +35 wheel? I have rear fenders rolled and front are untouched, have about 1 finger gap between top of the stock wheel/tire and fender arch, on coilovers. 2014 hatch, from what I understand from posts in this thread is 255/35/18 should be the biggest I want to go with, I was curious to see if this is correct, and if I need to get adjustable rear camber arms or not, I have camber plates in the front and should be good there.
I just picked up 275/35r18's Firehawk Indy 500's today for my 18x9.5 +35's and they look meaty for sure. With a 9.5 wheel, personally I would only run 265's or 275's. If you like the stretched look, I would go with the 245/40r18. The most popular and recommend size is the 265/35r18.
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Old 02-01-2018, 11:06 PM   #4555
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Originally Posted by dambikeracer View Post
I just picked up 275/35r18's Firehawk Indy 500's today for my 18x9.5 +35's and they look meaty for sure. With a 9.5 wheel, personally I would only run 265's or 275's. If you like the stretched look, I would go with the 245/40r18. The most popular and recommend size is the 265/35r18.
That's a lot of tire for that width and offset, have you installed this combination yet? How low is your suspension set?
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Old 02-14-2018, 01:13 PM   #4556
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I'm confused. I read the virtues of staying close to stock offset, but everyone and their brother run +30, +35, +38, etc?? Is it not that prematurely damaging/wearing?
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Old 02-14-2018, 01:30 PM   #4557
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Originally Posted by Mach V Dan View Post
The 2011-2014 Subaru WRX has great big bulged out fenders, just like the STI has had since 2008. We've been getting a lot of questions about wheel and tire fitment on these cars, and I've seen a lot here on NASIOC, so I thought I'd address it.

The bigger bodywork allows for the fitment of wider wheels and tires. Wider tires look cool, and more importantly, they can help generate a lot more lateral grip. HOWEVER, a lot of the questions I get are asking about fitments that are either too low of an offset, too wide of a tire, or some combination of the two. Oh, and there's the bolt pattern problem, too.

First off, some basics: The WRX has a bolt pattern of 5x100 and a hub bore of 56.1mm. The stock wheel is a 17x8" +53 offset with a 235/45R17 tire. That tire size means the stock tire has a diameter of 25.3".

That 5x100 bolt pattern means factory STI wheels WILL NOT fit, since the STI uses a 5x114 bolt pattern.

Now, if you want to fit larger/wider wheels and tires, you'll want to try to keep the wheel offset as close as possible to stock. I'd generally try for an offset near the stock +53. +48 is very common. Depending on how wide the wheels and tires are, though, the offset will have to go lower, or the tire may bump into the strut in the front.

From experience, a 9.5" wide wheel will work at around +40 (give or take a couple of mm). The lower offset allows decent tire clearance on the inside. Steering feel is slightly worse from the lower offset, but it's not terrible. A 265/35R18 tire happens to be within 0.1% of the stock size, and that fits pretty well. (You may have to do minor fender rolling at the back if the car is lowered. It depends on the tire...not all 265/35R18 are created equal.)

Here's an example of this fitment:


18x9.5 +38 Rota Option, 265/35R18 Michelin Pilot A/S

The car above is lowered on Epic Engineering springs. We rolled the rear fenders.




18x9.5 +40 Rota D-Force, 265/35R18 Kumho V700

That's our shop car above. Rear fenders rolled, lowered on Cusco coilovers.

If you still want more meat under the car, you can run a 275 width. We've done several cars with 275/35R18. That's a tight squeeze if the car is lowered. Rolling is definitely required in back.




18x9.5 +40 Rota D-Force, 275/35R18 Dunlop Direzza Z-1 Star Spec

The gray car has Swift lowering springs.




Our shop car with Rays G-Games 99B 19x9.5 +40, Cooper 2XS 275/30R19.

We have not yet tried 285/35R18, for a couple of reasons. One is that the tire is 2.1% larger than the stock 2011-2014 WRX tire, slightly over our 2% rule of thumb in terms of variance from stock. The other reason is that since the diameter grows along with the width, the clearance problem will get worse. I think that tire would rub at all four corners with any amount of lowering or suspension compression.

I realize I've used some STI cars as examples above, but the WRX bodywork is identical, so for our purposes these are still useful comparisons.

If you want absolutely NO fitment problems, go with a smaller tire, like a 255/35R18. Given an offset between about +40 to +48, there should be no rubbing, even when mildly lowered. Stock STI tires, which are 245/40R18, are also an easy fit.

I mentioned rolling the rear fenders. Customers often ask me about rolling the fronts. They usually do not need to be rolled, but even if you wanted to there's almost no lip up there to roll, and what lip is there incorporates clips that secure the fender liner to the fender. Get rid of those clips and your fender liner is going to have to go. We suggest retaining your fender liners. They keep road debris and moisture out of your car's inner bodywork.

Note that the bigger tires may rub bit of the rear bumper cover. We trimmed that back on some of the cars with 275/35R18 tires.

I see some people with the widebody cars running lower offsets, sometimes much lower, like +30 or +25. I DO NOT recommend doing this. Sure, it looks kind of cool (if that's your thing), but generally you are going to have to go with a SMALLER tire size to alleviate fender contact problems. What's the point of having big wide wheels if your contact patch is the same as stock? Secondly, as the offset gets lower your wheel centerline is getting farther and farther away from the axis of your steering. The steering feel gets messed up -- to me it feels vague and it tends to want to steer left and right on acceleration or braking, due to the wheel trying to pivot around the steering axis. This effect gets worse with lowering.

So, that's my experiences with stuffing big wheels and tires onto the 2011+ WRX. I hope this provides some help when you are shopping for wheels and tires.

--Dan
Mach V
FastWRX.com
Great write up!

I have a stock height 2013 WRX Sedan. I’m looking at the the Enkei GTC01rr wheels for my ride in 18x9.5 / 5x100. This wheel only comes in a +35 offset, will this wheel work and what is the meatiest tire I can put without rolling the fenders.

Thanks,

Telly
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Old 02-14-2018, 02:11 PM   #4558
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E-A-G-L-E-S View Post
I’m confused. I read the virtues of staying close to stock offset, but everyone and their brother run +30, +35, +38, etc?? Is it not that prematurely damaging/wearing?
If you're wheels are still under your fenders, it probably doesn't affect the bearings as much as hitting potholes daily or racing.

Subaru's seem to have either weak or bad quality wheel bearings from everything I've heard, but I have not seen a failure specifically from a different wheel offset.
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Old 02-14-2018, 03:42 PM   #4559
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Quote:
Originally Posted by D6REAPERS View Post
Can someone suggest a tire size for a 18x9.5 +35 wheel?
245/40R18.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tellywrx View Post
Great write up!
Thanks, but it's not necessary to quote the entire first post.

Quote:
I have a stock height 2013 WRX Sedan. I’m looking at the the Enkei GTC01rr wheels for my ride in 18x9.5 / 5x100. This wheel only comes in a +35 offset, will this wheel work and what is the meatiest tire I can put without rolling the fenders.
Again, 245/40R18.

--Dan
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Old 02-14-2018, 06:04 PM   #4560
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I have a 2011 impreza sti hatch and i wanna know the best wheel and tire fitment for it. I dont plan on lowering it really at all if anything ill raise it in the winters. Its my daily so i dont want something geared towards strictly track.
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Old 02-14-2018, 06:56 PM   #4561
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Hey I just ordered some nt03m 18x9.5 +40 offset for my car. looking for suggestions on tires. I don't mind a little stretch. The car is lowered and I put some pictures up for reference. I really don't want to roll my fenders so I don't mind raising the car up a bit. I also wouldn't mind a little stretch on the tires if I can avoid rolling the fenders. Any help would be appreciated.

https://i.imgur.com/SSUmHkj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/xN4TGSk.jpg
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Old 02-16-2018, 05:17 PM   #4562
Mach V Dan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by syrcle36 View Post
I have a 2011 impreza sti hatch and i wanna know the best wheel and tire fitment for it.
So, you're saying you can't be bothered to read through this thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Omie View Post
Hey I just ordered some nt03m 18x9.5 +40 offset for my car. looking for suggestions on tires. I don't mind a little stretch.
You too. I mean, just scroll up like two pages. Half the cars on this thread have this exactly wheel size and offset. There are probably 200 examples of that wheel in this thread, with every possible tire size from 245/40R18 to 275/35R18. Look and read and you can decide for yourself.

--Dan
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Old 02-16-2018, 05:24 PM   #4563
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^ True dat!
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Old 02-26-2018, 10:48 PM   #4564
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So I've read pretty much the entire thread and my head is starting to spin with all of the different combinations that can be ran..

I have an 11' hatch, stock suspension and ride height. Not interested in rolling the fenders and will not be lowering the car. Ive basically narrowed my choices down to a few different options..

Any issues I would run into with running an 18x8.5 +35 with a 245/35 or 255/35?
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Old 02-26-2018, 11:15 PM   #4565
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Originally Posted by Awdrebel View Post
So I've read pretty much the entire thread and my head is starting to spin with all of the different combinations that can be ran..

I have an 11' hatch, stock suspension and ride height. Not interested in rolling the fenders and will not be lowering the car. Ive basically narrowed my choices down to a few different options..

Any issues I would run into with running an 18x8.5 +35 with a 245/35 or 255/35?
Disregard last post.. found my answer. That low of an offset will need a roll past a 235 even at stock height..
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Old 02-28-2018, 11:41 AM   #4566
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Just wanted to update: I have a 2014 WRX Sedan with stock Suspension. Got the Rota SVN-R in 18x9 +40 wrapped in MPSS 265/35. Just beware that upsizing will affect your cars performance. I found that upsizing tires made the car look great, I felt the car was a bit sluggish though. You'll be sacrificing some performance for aesthetics. I DID roll my rear fenders as there was slight rub, but no problems after the roll. No need to roll the front fenders. I put my stock wheels back on, 17x8+53 wrapped in brand new MPSS 235/45 and the car was much happier! It's night and day difference.. so just a heads up.
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Old 03-03-2018, 12:58 PM   #4567
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is 245/40 an okay tire to run on a 10" wheel?
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Old 03-03-2018, 02:20 PM   #4568
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Too much stretch. IMO
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Old 03-03-2018, 02:36 PM   #4569
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoxerLover View Post
is 245/40 an okay tire to run on a 10" wheel?
Most tire manufacturers recommend a 9.5" max width wheel for that tire, which means mainstream shops (Tire rack, discount tire, etc.) actually won't mount that.

Miguel at the street corner will though.

Personally, I just think it would look stretched and I don't like that.
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Old 03-03-2018, 04:13 PM   #4570
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i thought it would be stretched as well. saw them on some local cars and it seems it couldve passed for a 265. i'll probably go with a 265 though
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Old 03-04-2018, 08:48 PM   #4571
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Questions on running taller tires on the stock sti, rims. 245/45/18s? Yes I know it will mess the speed up. Not lowered won't be lowering, looking to lift eventually but how much taller can be ran without hitting the struts
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Old 03-05-2018, 03:56 PM   #4572
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After going through about 60+ pages in this thread I think I've come to a conclusion about the wheel and tire size I've been looking at, but I want to get a definitive answer

I'm looking at a 18x9 +35 wheel fitted with a 255/35/R18 tire. I'm running stock suspension with no plans to change it. Based on the research I've done, this set up will rub because a +35 offset is too low and the wheel will be pushed out too far. Is this a correct assumption? Thanks
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Old 03-05-2018, 04:03 PM   #4573
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Originally Posted by weenerdog3443 View Post
245/45/18s? Yes I know it will mess the speed up. Not lowered won't be lowering, looking to lift eventually but how much taller can be ran without hitting the struts
You're going to hit the fender liners before you hit the struts. I think 245/45R18 will run into the fender liners.

Quote:
Originally Posted by immaterial View Post
I'm looking at a 18x9 +35 wheel fitted with a 255/35/R18 tire. I'm running stock suspension with no plans to change it. Based on the research I've done, this set up will rub because a +35 offset is too low and the wheel will be pushed out too far. Is this a correct assumption?
It'll rub the same as a +40 265/35R18, since half of 10mm = 5mm. Your wheel is +5mm further out than the +40, but the tire is -5mm further in at the sidewall since it's 10mm narrower. So it's going to be at the exact same position in space as the edge of the 265/35R18 +40, which is well-documented in this thread to require rear fender rolling.

--Dan
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Old 03-17-2018, 04:55 PM   #4574
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Quick question. I'm ordering summer wheels for my '14 WRX sedan. Decided on Work T7R's 18x9.5 +38. Tire size 265/35R18.

I'm lifted on King Springs, will I still have to roll the rear fenders?
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Old 03-17-2018, 05:08 PM   #4575
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Yes you will
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