by "Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
Published 11/28/2017 at 20:21
by "Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
Published 11/28/2017 at 20:21
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STARS: 0
I am trying to find snow tires for my Subaru and also chasing some deals on Discount Tire Direct. They have a set of Blizzak WS80s on there in that size for $122 a tire plus a $100 mail in rebate from DTD as well as a $70 mail in rebate from Bridgestone. So that is really $79.50 per tire! I found a forum post stating that this size MIGHT fit without any modifications but it sounds like a lot of sidewall. My stock size is 225/45/R17 and with this calculator, it looks like a giant tire:
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
But if it would fit, it would be a good choice for a snow tire. I would probably just get cheap wheels from DTD since it would mount for free and get me ANOTHER $100 mail in rebate. That is $270 worth of mail in rebates plus another instant 25% off for something. So the inital total of around $900 goes all the way down near $600!
Anyways, obviously my life is just tires right now..
"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
11/28/2017 at 20:28, STARS: 1
A 9% increase in diameter is kinda a lot
"dogisbadob" (dogisbadob)
11/28/2017 at 20:34, STARS: 1
Ask DT/DTD what they recommend
Surprisingly, Tire Rack doesn’t list any minus-size options for your car. You might be able to use 205/55-16, which is a very common tire size
"Discerning" (discerning2003c5z)
11/28/2017 at 20:38, STARS: 2
Not worth risking it IMO. If it doesn’t fit right and rubs or just doesn’t work, then you will be out all of that money.
"Jayvincent" (jayvincent)
11/28/2017 at 21:06, STARS: 1
I got away with that much tire upsize on a stock ‘07 Ranger, but I’m not sure it would work on an STi. I cut out a half-circle cardboard template and held / taped it to the hub centerline to see what the tire to fender gap would look like.
"Boxer_4" (Boxer_4)
11/28/2017 at 21:16, STARS: 2
16" wheels don’t clear the Brembo brakes on the STI.
"dogisbadob" (dogisbadob)
11/28/2017 at 21:18, STARS: 0
In that case, perhaps 215/50-17 might be a better choice
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
11/28/2017 at 21:34, STARS: 0
Maybe check around to see if anyone knows of 16" wheels that clear the brakes. I’m in the same boat. Not sure if taller tires will clear, and (probably) can’t go smaller wheels due to break clearance.
You could go to a tire shop and have them mount a single tire to check clearances
"nafsucof" (galinskiomatic)
11/28/2017 at 21:55, STARS: 0
NO
"Nibby" (nibby68)
11/28/2017 at 22:29, STARS: 2
twss
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 00:29, STARS: 0
The one thing I definitely confirmed in multiple places is that smaller wheels will not fit. I’m planning to use stock sized wheels regardless of what tire. The brembos on these are obnoxious.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 00:32, STARS: 0
Agreed. I’m trying to find a surefire list of what fits and what doesn’t. Seems there is a bit of space to fit a little bit of sidewall but this is probably too much. Something more like a 215/50 would be more attainable
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/29/2017 at 00:42, STARS: 0
If you want to go narrower, the appropriate size is 205/50-17. Which, incidentally, is the stock tire size on my wife’s 2016 Impreza Limited hatch. You could do 215/50-17 but that’s a bit taller of a tire.
Unless you need the absolute most possible deep snow traction I think you’d be much happier with a performance winter tire. Outside of winter grip, the handling characteristics of typical studless winter tires are decidedly non-sporty. A performance winter tire will give you a half decent impression of a sporty all-season tire and much better winter grip than an all-season tire. I love the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 on my 335xi. The car is still fun to drive in normal conditions and they’re reasonably smooth and quiet.
Looks like the Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 is available in that 205/50-17 size for $140 a piece from Tire Rack . Discount Tire Direct has them for $205 each but you could probably finagle a price match. I often have my local Discount Tire price match Tire Rack, and make sure you include road hazard coverage in the price match because Tire Rack includes road hazard coverage in their prices. Looks like DTD has a couple rebates on these as well.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
11/29/2017 at 10:26, STARS: 0
Very cool site!
"Wacko" (wacko--)
11/29/2017 at 11:00, STARS: 1
that’s not what your mom said.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 12:11, STARS: 0
The issue is that the pricing on performance winter tires is insane. I am not looking to spend $140 on a tire and thats before the crazy shipping prices that tire rack adds on. So that $205 each from DTD is more accurate since it includes shipping. I am not so concerned about performance capabilities either since I won’t be using them for any sort of daily driving outside of going to the ski mountain. Yeah some of those mountain roads could be more fun with a tire like that but I found that the studless tires on my Miata were just fine on cold mountain roads, still plenty of fun around turns. Obviously they were mushy and handled kind of crappy in comparison to like a summer tire but it wasnt complete garbage.
But yeah if I can find a performance tire for like 120-130 each SHIPPED, then I would prefer to go that direction. But its more likely in that pricerange I have to go with a studless or unstudded winter tire.
I had only really considered other sizes just because that is what is available at the price I want.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 12:12, STARS: 1
I have to track down the other website I have used, but it was a bit better because it included a guideline on how much was too much change for each value. Basically it had ranges for each variable and what would be acceptable to change within reason.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/29/2017 at 12:22, STARS: 0
Well, now they’re out of stock on DTD. But there’s a $70 rebate from Pirelli. Shipping to my zip code was $55 for the set so $494 total price after the rebate, or $124/tire.
(Tire Rack includes free road hazard protection but charges for shipping. Discount Tire includes free shipping but charges for road hazard.)
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 12:47, STARS: 0
Yes, I would rather avoid paying for road hazard, I would not go for that anyways. But shipping I cannot avoid in either case.
But anyways, I do get what you are saying about the performance winter tire so I did a little bit of digging. Thanks to another post stating that 205/50 was the size I should look for, I have found some much better options.
Now I am in between the Blizzak WS80 and the Falken Eurowinter HS449 http://www.falkentire.com/tires/car-tires/eurowinter-hs449-tire . The Blizzak is obivously the well known studless ice/snow tire and the Falken that I found is a performance winter tire. Both are the same price after discounts from DTD for $102 each.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/29/2017 at 13:17, STARS: 1
Uhh, you sure that “other post” about 205/50-17 wasn’t me ?
I also saw those Falkens at DTD, and I almost mentioned them to you last night, but somewhere along the way I saw some review talking about them not seeming very performance-y. But I can’t find that review now.
They might be worth taking a flyer on even if they’re not up to the big name performance winter tires like Pilot Alpin, Blizzak LM, Dunlop Wintersport, Pirelli Sottozero, etc.
Back when I had an NB Miata, I switched from Blizzak LM22 performance winters to WS60 studless because it needed more help in winter than the LMs could give me. On my Mazdaspeed 6 I had Blizzak LM25 and I have the Michelin PA4 now. Sporty awd you can get away with the performance winters.
So between the Falken Eurowinters and the Blizzak WS80 on an STI, I’d probably go Falken.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 14:12, STARS: 0
Haha sorry, I totally missed that. Was doing too many things at once and didnt realize the comment chain. Definitely makes sense considering they are the same price that I could go with the semi sportier tire. I had considered just going with all seasons for the longest time but a performance winter has to be better than those.
Thank you for the help, its greatly appreciated! After plugging that size into the calculator it made WAY more sense why that tire size would work. And I should still be able to fit a 205/50 on a 17x8 but I think a 17x7 would be more appropriate if it would clear the Brembos still. I have to determine what offset wheels would fit as well. Its funny though that I had never really considered Falkens before but now I might have both my summer and snow sets be from them.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/29/2017 at 14:22, STARS: 0
I’m not positive but maybe you could get away with some other stock Subaru wheels? My wife’s 2016 Impreza runs 205/50-17 tires, for example.
She didn’t want to have snow tires for it, because it’s leased and she didn’t want yet another stack of tires taking up space in our garage, so I put BFGoodrich Comp-2 A/S on it. After I sold the shitty Yokohama S34D OE tires, my net cost was like $250.
The BFGs are reasonably sporty and above average (for an all-season) in winter. In dry and wet conditions they help give the soft base Impreza suspension some extra handling and braking capacity.
But let’s put it this way: even though the BFGs are good in winter for an all-season, my Pilot Alpins do a much better dry/wet impression of the Comp-2 A/S than the BFGs do a winter impression of the PAs.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 14:59, STARS: 0
Well yeah I am well sold on just having a snow tire. I will no matter what have an extra stack of tires somewhere since my daily tires are 200TW summer tires lol. Those would not fair well trying to go to any sort of ski mountain in the winter! I much prefer to have the right tire for the task since an all season would be abysmal for my canyon runs on my commute. I think I am pretty sold on the Falkens as my snow tire though.
I did find another REALLY useful calculator for the wheels. I might just go take some measurements of the car to get it 100% accurate. But this shows the setup I am looking at should be no issue at all.
And that is of course before the discounts and rebates. $75 rebate for the tires, 25% instant discount for these wheels, and $100 rebate for the wheels as well. These seem like not terrible cheap wheels. There are cheaper ones with the same discounts, but they were a 28 offset which I was too worried about fitment.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/29/2017 at 15:08, STARS: 0
Yeah +28 is too low an offset. If you want to save a few bucks on wheels, these +38 from the same MB brand might also work. But the looks of the ones you chose fit the car better.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 16:38, STARS: 0
Ahh but those Don’t have the 25% off though so they actually end up costing more! My only concern in general is I don’t know anything about MB wheels. I really do not want shitty replicas that will break on me, I will look into the company first a bit.
I was just trying to find a used stock set but 5x114.3 is kind of an odd bolt pattern so it’s more difficult to find affordable ones. The BBS for this car are crazy expensive so I’m looking at other options too.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/29/2017 at 16:53, STARS: 1
My Mazdaspeed 6 used the same bolt pattern. I had Drag wheels from Discount Tire on it. They were replicas but seemed to be of nice quality. But the Drag options in your size seem more expensive than MB.
Also, pro tip on winter wheels: try to pick a design with fewer spokes and larger gaps in between them so snow can get in and out of them. If you get like a mesh design with a bunch of nooks and crannies they can accumulate snow and get out of balance.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 17:04, STARS: 0
Oh yeah its crazy when snow unbalances tires. My friends mazda 3 on the way home from a ski mountain was wobbling like crazy, we thought a wheel bearing or tire rod was about to break free or there was a flat. It was really bad! When we pulled over to check everything seemed normal until we kicked one wheel and a TON of snow came out of the back. Then we used a ski pole and got even more snow out of that wheel and then it drove perfectly normal. He definitely has some multispoke wheels so I have learned to avoid those. Plus in general I think the 5 spoke type is a stronger design anyways.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/29/2017 at 17:09, STARS: 1
Of course, I’m bad at following my own advice, my stock multi-spoke wheels in winter on my 335xi.
Also I decided I wanted to keep the stock sizes of 225/40-18 and 255/35-18 even though I know full well that narrower is better in the snow. The rear PA4s were $300 a pop. Ouch.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 17:21, STARS: 0
Ouch indeed! I am glad tires for the STi are not CRAZY more expensive than my Miata. I have to figure out if DTD will sell wheels without selling me shitty lugnuts with them for $45. I am happy to buy new lugs if the stock ones don’t fit, but I do not want to use the crappy locking ones they include. Ive learned that one the hard way before.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/29/2017 at 17:25, STARS: 0
If I were smart, I would’ve bought wider-than-stock 18s for summer, and used a square winter setup (the stock rear wheels are only 18x8.5 vs. 18x8 for the front so I could run the same size all around). But nooo I just had to have 19s for summer and run the stock sizes for winter. At least with the low mileage my winter tires will last several years.
If you have a local Discount Tire store they can basically do anything from DTD and finagle things more. Including not having to buy the lugs, as long as you have something that will work with their wheels. They will charge sales tax though.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
11/29/2017 at 17:36, STARS: 0
Yup, I had my summer tires put on a my local Discount Tire (called Americas Tire in most of California for whatever reason). I had not planned on having the wheels installed since I will just put them on the car when I go ski. But yeah I might as well give them a call and see what they can do.