winter wheel/tire set up?

[STI KID]

Was wondering if you guys could help me out picking out a winter rim/tire setup. from what ive seen on nasioc and here its looking like blizzaks. i was also wondering if which year sti bbs rims i should get. i have an 02 wrx. but i have the upgraded sti limited front brakes and the rears have the h6 upgrade. so basically i dont know which set of rims will fit my car. thanks for the help guys.

 

[Impreza05]

Try this http://www.mainelysubarus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9129

Lots of talk about snow's. I run these an they work great.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Winter+Carving

 

[Ryan]

If you want the STi BBS wheels, you can only run the 04 STi BBS since those are the only year that is 5x100.

 

[STI KID]

thanks guys. that's exactly what i needed to know. ! i wasnt sure what would and wouldnt fit. i only want to buy stuff once and not screw it up. lol.

 

[rsalomon13]

Blizzaks FTW, They turned my STI into a tank.

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

couple questions (aww jeez yet another 'whut snows I wanna git? thread)

are you wanting to put snows on the STI rims? At 17x8 they are pretty wide, and need quite low-profile tires to fit. when it comes to snows, narrower is waay better. Plus you need a taller tire to protect your rims on potholey winter roads. putting stock size (235/45?) snows on STI 17s sounds like a slippery setup and a good way to taco perfecctly nice wheels.

maybe you should confirm if 16" rims would fit, with your custom brakke setup you won't know till you actually bolt some differend wheel/tires setups to see what just might work.

 

[stiXXX]

Blizzaks FTW.

It's my 3rd winter on this set, IMO they're great!

Nige, I run oem '05 STi (17"x8") rims w/ 225/45/17 Blizzaks & it's worked out very well here in Sebago!

 

[ReZPunK]

do what everybody else here does...put it away for the winter! LOL

Blizzaks are good on the icy stuff, Winterforces are awesome on the fluffy stuff but offer very little in the way of sidewall protection for sideways fun.

dunlop graspics are decent but im not sure on this years models. best of all worlds would be a Nokian Hakka or a Yokohama Ice Guard

 

[Mr. Poon]

I'm running Michelin Alpin PA3s again this year, recently bought some cheap aluminum wheels from Discount Tire Direct to mount them on. I'll probably bolt them on in the next couple weeks or so. I used the Alpins last winter and loved them- excellent in the snow and barely any performance loss in dry weather over the stockers.

 

[katnip]

+111111111111111 on the hakka's best all around snows out there in my opinion. just put a set on the sti

 

[Blue GT]

couple questions (aww jeez yet another 'whut snows I wanna git? thread)

are you wanting to put snows on the STI rims? At 17x8 they are pretty wide, and need quite low-profile tires to fit. when it comes to snows, narrower is waay better. Plus you need a taller tire to protect your rims on potholey winter roads. putting stock size (235/45?) snows on STI 17s sounds like a slippery setup and a good way to taco perfecctly nice wheels.

maybe you should confirm if 16" rims would fit, with your custom brakke setup you won't know till you actually bolt some differend wheel/tires setups to see what just might work.

I think 04 sti wheels are only 17x7.5? eh i very well could be wrong. But i agree with trying 18s just more cost effective if possible.

 

[stiXXX]

'04's are 7.5 wide, '05's are 8" wide.

Stock size is 225/45/17 & I've never had issues w Blizzaks on her.

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

I think 04 sti wheels are only 17x7.5? eh i very well could be wrong. But i agree with trying 18s just more cost effective if possible.

what is it you guys don't get about "fat tires suck for winter" ??

Am constantly amazed when I see cars set up with like 245/40-18 snows, the owner thinks they look so badazz but in reality they are just dumb.

forget the fact that most 18" tire sizes are just too WIDE for decent winter traction. 18s don't leave you enough sidewall to deal with rough winter road impacts. maybe you like taco wheels, I dunno

all I know is, the WRXs STIs and Evos I've driven with 18" winter tires were slippry slidey beasts--particularly not fun on wet soft snow/slush. (and have driven a large bunch of em whilst teaching @ at Team O skool) The ones with stock size 17s and good snows were MUCh more manageable. and if you can squeeze 16s and 205/55 snows, now we're down to where the traction just totally rocks.

we run 195/65-15 snows on the rally car cuz they work 110% the best, OK?

 

[Iboc_C64]

Hey Nigel I listened, I searched, I found 16x7s and 205/55R16 Blizzaks. I dunno if 15" rims may have fit over my brakes (stock 09 rex) but if they do I may consider them later. I have warped 2 17" rims before, I have no desire to do it again. I would think 17"+ is bad for Maine winters for anywhere off the highways and outside the City, that is if you call Lewburn or Augusta cities!

Also tires for smaller rims are cheaper, lots and lots cheaper!!! I plan on digging down through the snow, not slipping around on top of it with 225+s.

 

[stiXXX]

I run 17"x8", '05 OEM rims on my STi. I'd not run 18s with 245/40s, as that's a fairly big-azz footy-print!

I agree with Nige, if 16s clear your rotors, a 195ish/60-70/16 w/ a thick sidewall is great in the winter.