Has anybody tried to fit 18" wheels to a 98my Turbo and if so what size and make were the wheels and what size tyres did you use ?.

And did this cause any problems. I know you dont need 18" wheels on an Impreza but I want them for show purposes.

 

Yes, there are several options available. Steve Breen has a few pics taken at an Aberdeen meeting last year which show two cars with different 18 inch wheels.

http://homepages.enterprise.net/srb/

Be very careful with the offset though, as one owner needed to turn in his rear arches to provide sufficient clearance when the suspensions was fully loaded.

I believe Graham Goode sell suitable 18 inch wheels, though I'm not sure of the cost.

 

The users of 18" wheels, that I have spoken to, say that it has ruined the handling, although they look great.

18" wheels give a big increase in unsprung weight and unless you are running suspension to cope with this, the car will get very twitchy on B roads.

Unsprung weight is the term used to describe the mass of the suspnsion, hub, brakes and wheel/tyre. The more it all weighs, the greater the momentum it has when the road throws it up into the arch. The cars weight and the springs/dampers arrest this movement and press the tyre back down onto the road. The quicker this happens, the more tyre/road contact is maintained.

Think of it as the difference between throwing a cricket ball and a ping pong ball.

BTCC cars use huge wheels with tyres like rubber bands. The difference is that these wheels are made from mega light and mega thin magnesium alloys. They leak air and could not be used on the road. One pot hole would write off a £600 wheel. The slicks that they use also leak air and the whole wheel/tyre combination weighs less than one of of our wheels.

 

I have fitted 8 x 18 Raceline RL 7 with 225/35 18" P zero. Initially it does cause some tramlining, but usually at low speeds and under heavy braking it may pull to one side according to the camber of the road. Setting up the geometry helps with these problems but will never fully cure it. However, at speed the car handle really well ( 70 MPH ish ;-) ) There are now several options if you want to put 18"s on your car.

Good luck
Chris