18" wheels?
Scooby Newbie
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
My plan is to fit 18" wheels on my 1995 Impreza Turbo. Has got anyone experience with this size? I think the tyre size must be 225/35-18, it's only a little bigger in diameter than the popular 215/40-17. The correct offset is between 45 and 50 mm. Am I right?
Mike,
I would think seriously about fitting 18 inch wheels, unless they are for display or track purposes only.
The 18 inch wheels will be a huge increase in unsprung weight over your standard 15 inch ones. Combined with the ultra low profile tyres, it will have a very detrimental effect on your ride and handling.
The standard wheel offset varies between 53 and 55mm, though you can get away with 50mm without too much effect on steering and handling. Any less and you are going to get a car which tramlines and feels unstable under hard braking, especially on poor road surfaces
Combined with the lack of compliance from the 18 inch wheel/tyre package, you could well end up driving slower than before and having a poorer ride as well!
The suspension on your 95MY car wasn't designed to cope with these big wheels, and is probably a little tired now, so if you are still keen to fit the 18 inch wheels, I would recommend fitting uprated suspension to cope.
My suggestion would be to save some of the money from an 18 inch wheel/tyre package, and go for 17 inch wheels (lots of designs vailable) and uprated/lowered suspension (many packages available). Your car will look and handle much better than before.
[This message has been edited by JohnS (edited 13-04-99).]
I would think seriously about fitting 18 inch wheels, unless they are for display or track purposes only.
The 18 inch wheels will be a huge increase in unsprung weight over your standard 15 inch ones. Combined with the ultra low profile tyres, it will have a very detrimental effect on your ride and handling.
The standard wheel offset varies between 53 and 55mm, though you can get away with 50mm without too much effect on steering and handling. Any less and you are going to get a car which tramlines and feels unstable under hard braking, especially on poor road surfaces
Combined with the lack of compliance from the 18 inch wheel/tyre package, you could well end up driving slower than before and having a poorer ride as well!The suspension on your 95MY car wasn't designed to cope with these big wheels, and is probably a little tired now, so if you are still keen to fit the 18 inch wheels, I would recommend fitting uprated suspension to cope.
My suggestion would be to save some of the money from an 18 inch wheel/tyre package, and go for 17 inch wheels (lots of designs vailable) and uprated/lowered suspension (many packages available). Your car will look and handle much better than before.
[This message has been edited by JohnS (edited 13-04-99).]
Scooby Regular
Joined: Nov 1998
Posts: 488
Likes: 0
It might be woth looking at the latest edition of Fast Car magazine, it has a full article on 17inch wheels for the Impreza, lots of pictures etc. In my opinion, the radius R3's are the best looking, although they did not include the new OZ Supertourismo (in gold) that will be available soon.
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