Steel Wheels for winter

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,
Steel wheels are not expensive to begin with. Canadian tire is one
source. My kids' Two Subies have both Arctic Alpen snow tires on 16"
steel wheels. In summer they drive 17 in. Toyo Avid tires on after
market alloy wheels.
Tony
P.S. You gotta have proper lug bolt hole spacing and off-set.

 

[al gu]

Hello.
I just bought a 2004 Impreza outback with the 16 inch alloy wheels.
Not delivered yet.
It is on a train coming from Vancouver.

I want to run steel 15 inch wheels with snow tires in the Canadian winter.
Any 'cheap' wheel sources around Toronto?
Any steel wheels from any other Japanese car fits this Subaru?
reply here or
(e-mail address removed)
thanks so much

 

[Crash]

nantucket tires and mags aren't bad and they're one of the few retailers
that carry nokian winter tires. They're off of kennedy road by lawrence.

 

[al gu]

I am not sure of the specs for a Canadian Impreza OB, but make sure that 15"
rims will clear your brakes. Call the dealer or go to www.tirerack.com to see
if it can take 15" wheels. I tried the OB Sport at Tirerack, and it only
recommends 16"+. IIRC the 16" rims and larger brakes are part of your OB Sport
package? If so, then 16"...

The Impreza wagon has 15 inch steel wheels from the factory.
The Impreza Outback has the 16 inch alloy wheels.
There is no mention of different brakes in any literature I see about both
models.
Replies?
thanks

 

[TW-Ohio]

Steel Wheels for winter

From: "al gu" (e-mail address removed)
Date: 8/29/2003 5:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id: <ZOM3b.4080$(e-mail address removed)>




The Impreza wagon has 15 inch steel wheels from the factory.
The Impreza Outback has the 16 inch alloy wheels.
There is no mention of different brakes in any literature I see about both
models.
Replies?
thanks

Yeah - the brakes are the same; 10.7 fronts, and 10.3 rears. It appears 15"
would work. You'd save a bit on rims, and $2-$20/tire, and have a narrower
profile which is recommended. Check the 15" selection on the lower part of this
Tirerack page:
http://www.tirerack.com/snow/SnowSelectWheelSize.jsp?autoMake=Subaru&autoM
odel=Impreza+Outback+Spt&autoYear=2004
The next post in line mentions another option; eBay! I almost bought there
til I saw that Tirerack had them nearly new for less $ and less S&H cost unless
you could find a local set.
Terry - '03 Silver Legacy SE sedan - 36 miles!
'02 Regatta-Red GT wagon 5spd - 23k miles
Yakima / TandeMover / Rockymount rack
To reply, get rid of the "nonsense"

 

[S]

Hi Apu!

You are assuming that ALL take offs are sold with original rubber which
they don't. Most of them might be though. Why people get rid of their
perfectly good 16"ers beats me. Besides, the additional shipping cost for
92s is way smaller that what you'd pay for replacement rubber of any kind
(unless
you get tires that are WAY worse than RE92s and maybe even not then after
you add the cost of mounting and balancing).
On top of that tires mounted on 16" wheels is additional padding that could
offer additional protection during shipping. How's that?

A wise man once said " Would you rather get 20K miles out of a set of
tires that were a pleasure to drive on, or 40K out of a set that made
life miserable every time you sat behind the wheel?"

I _had_ hoped to at least autocross the life outta the stock RE92s on
my WRX, but they were just so bad that I couldn't stand it. I replaced
them with Kumho Ecstas on the stock wheels for autocross, and a set of
Michelin Alpin Pilots in 205/65 on 15 inch rally wheels for daily use
(I drive dirt a lot, and some offroad as well; hey it's a Subaru after
all ;-) at around 6-7K miles. Gave the RE92s to a highschool kid who
couldn't afford new rubber, and so was perfectly happy to get them.

FWIW, the Michelin ice tires actually proved to be as grippy, maybe
even grippier (but louder) on dry pavement than the RE92s. They also
offer far improved performance on dirt and gravel roads, and (no
surprises here) on snow and ice. Plus the taller tire has
consistently given slightly better mileage; 25-26 for the Alpin Pilot
vs 23-24 with the RE92s.

I have since been given a used set of the Michelin Arctic Alpins in
205/50/16. I only used these for a couple ice rally cross events last
winter, (a 1st and 3rd place finish in PGT) and perhaps a thousand
miles of daily driving, but feel that they work even better than their
higher priced relatives for all around use; definitely better on ice.
Tire wear is probably greater, tho.

As in all things, YMMV. For non-aggressive driving on mostly dry
pavement, the RE92s are adequate, and probably good for 30-40K miles;
they're round, they're rubber, and they hold air . . .

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101