15 inch rims for winter?
 

Tried a quick search, but couldnt find out if a 15 inch winter tim will fit on this car.

Anyone fit a 15 inch rim yet?

Not all 15" wheels will fit. Most that will might be more than what you may want to spend on winter wheels. Best bet would be to stick to 16" wheels if you really want to go smaller.

Tire Rack is recommending 16" for downsized wheel/tire packages. The ideal is to get a narrower patch while maintaining necessary underbody clearance for snowy roads.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I suggest combing through craigslist and look for some 16 steelies from a vw golf or beetle or something. Both of those are the correct lug pattern, cheap, and you should be able to run a 195 or 205 with a 55ish section.

I wouldn't get used wheels unless they are in really good condition. Failures due to rust, damaged and improperly cleaned wheels are more common than people think - and quite dangerous.

the whole narrow patch concept is debated. With normal packed snow and snow tires, extra sufrace are (read normal/wide) helps to get more surface grip from the additional sipes and edges. With deep fluff or slush, narrow helps to cut through and get to the harder surface/pack.

I also haven't seen any 15" wheels, someone could measure the brake caliper clearance to see if they'd even clear the ID of a 15" rim... I also think 16" steelies would be the best route.

What does the diameter of the wheel have to do with the tread width?
Here's a 205/50-17 that will fit on the stock wheels, narrow the tread pattern, and provide 1/4" more clearance.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....WCXL&tab=Sizes

The front brakes are WRX brakes. So 15" wheels will fit if the barrel is shaped properly. Team Dynamics Pro Rally1 and BRAID WinRace T will most certainly fit. Some other miscellaneous OEM wheels will work too, but that would take some digging to find out. Best thing is just stick with 16" or larger.


For those wanting narrow tires, check out the BRAID Winrace N in 16x5 or 16x5.5 and wrap them in Dunlop Graspic DS-3 in 175/60-16. It's only 5mm less diameter but should cut though anything. :D Or go to 195/60-16 Pirelli Winter Sottozeros and get 7mm of lift.

http://clicccar.com/wp-content/uploads/86083.jpg
http://cdn.speedhunters.com/wp-conte...8/AY0F5224.jpg

The bottom ones are Volk TE37s, not sure about the top, OZ Alleggeritas?

I have sixteens 205 with graspics.

I have a set of 15x6.5 Konig Subzero wheels currently on my Neon that I'll try fitting to the BRZ when I get it. It's got 205/50-15 rubber in right now. If the wheels fit, I'll put some 195/65-15 Michelin X-Ice tires on them, and use them for winter.

I'm undecided if I'll go with a 16" steelie with 205/55s or 195/60s, or If I will try 15" steelies. One thing is for sure though... I'll be running WS70 Bridgestone Blizzaks. A friend owns a tire shop, and I'll be paying him a visit in a couple of weeks while I'm on holidays. I'll try both sizes of wheel before I order tires, and post up what I find out about the fitment of 15s.

I've been checking out 16" tires. The X-Ice3's seem to be at the top of the heap for non-performance winter tires. The Blizzaks are close, but don't have the commanding lead that they had when the were the first really effective ice tires. On the other hand, General Altimax Arctic are about 40% cheaper and get ratings nearly as high as the others. The only problem is that they are noisy and there are reports of vibration at speed. So I am not sure which ones I will get. As far as the size to use, I am not convinced that smaller diameter wheels are absolutely better - I am a little skeptical. But their lower cost is pretty enticing.

I tried a couple of different 15" steelies today and they were a no-go. The caliper made contact before the wheel was seated on the flange. This was on the front, so I didn't bother trying the rears. It looks like 16" is the minimum.

Very helpful, thanks for posting as I'm also considering a smaller winter wheel and it's good to eliminate the 15 from searching if it doesn't fit. I guess I'll be looking for 16s on tire rack since that is safest from a fitment perspective....

I'm gonna try to score some Impreza Premium OEM wheels.
16" and correct offset. Not 100% they'd clear the brakes though.
http://www.cars101.com/subaru/imprez...a12-wheel5.JPG


There is no extra surface to a first approximation. Especially with winter tires that have soft sidewalls. You CAN get larger surface by lowering tire pressures, but that's independent of the width.

Narrow tires will cost you lateral grip at the expense of some extra longitudal grip to help you get moving, but during winter going fast through corners should'be one's priority to be begin with.

Do the rotors and calipers clear with 15s? Maybe a small 5mm spacer would help?

Test-fitted some 15x6.5 +45 Braid Acropolis rims. It's a no-go, sadly. They clear the brakes all right, but the tie-rod ball joint rubs on the wheel a bit and doesn't let one put wheel weights on there.

You may wish to also consider the impact on your comprhension of the speed vs. speedometer readout.
According to my reference when comparing 215/45R-17 with 215/55R-17, this would mean that when the speedometer reads 100kph the car would be travelling 106.9 kph. Thats relatively quite different.

195/60R-16 gives 100 speedo = 102.4
195/55R-16 gives 100 speedo = 99.3
205/55R-16 gives 100 speedo = 101.1

Everyone I have talked to says 15" wheels are too small. Maybe there are some out there that fit, but how hard is it to find them and acquire them?

If you look up a few posts from this one, I did try a 15" steel wheel on the car. It was a no-go. The caliper hit the wheel before the wheel was flat against the flange. Not even close, really. I think it would be difficult to find a 15" wheel that would work. So, it looks like a 16 is the minimum. I did consider the speedo vs actual speed, and figured that a taller tire would be a worthwhile tradeoff for a speedometer that was off by a few percent. I live in the country and will take all the ground clearance I can get (I'm out before the plows and it gets drifty here on the shores of Lake Ontario). That said, I pretty much decided on a 205/55/16 once I saw that the 15 wouldn't fit.

I just noticed your post. That's good to know...I tried a 15" steelie, and it wouldn't go on far enough for me to see this issue. The one I tried didn't even clear the caliper.

I test fitted a 15" VW Avus wheel. It fit over the calipers and did not appear to have any other clearance issues however I did not have any ball seat lug nuts so I did not take it out for a drive or anything. I will probably test those soon seeing as I have a full set of four in my shed with brand new winter tires already on them.

What the the size of these? I can't tell from the pics. Also, did they raise this at all?

FWIW I've been unable to find ball seat lugs in a Subaru thread pitch. Was looking for them when I had a set of GLI wheels I wanted to put on my old WRX. Factory are 60* conical.

Just tested this the other day. Any race wheel with a 14.5" inside barrel will fit the tie rod just fine. So you could do a custom wheel with normal backspace/offset in 15 inch. For future reference for those who are looking to do 15s. It likely won't be an off the shelf option. Just thought I would update this thread since it peaked my interest and nobody had hard data outside of OEM type wheels.

@oinojo

MR501VT 15x7+48
Team Dynamic Rally1 wheels 15x6 +25
VW AVUS Wheels 15x6.0 +38 (need ball seat lug nuts)
15x6.5 ET40 Dodge Neon wheels
Rota Slipstreams 15x7 +35

How are you forgetting about me @churchx ??? :)

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143176

Fun for gravel and winter but no, not that light. My 16x7 RPF1s were lighter.

- Andrew

I just quickly searched through my notes .. maybe missed some others too. There is no excuse to this crime! :)

Add the Motegi MR139 to your list, fits without any modification on stock suspension:
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...&postcount=619

does anyone know if suspension and clearances are similar enough that all of this info will apply to a second gen car

Do you think the rota slipstream 15x8 +40 will fit in the rear? I got my eye on some 27x9.5r15 super swamper ssr.

Will those offroad tires fit at all in our wheel wells without rubbing? (+2.5" diameter) 15" were meant more for narrower winter tire fitment. And way i see, where one might benefit from offroader tire use, these cars are "not right tool for a job" due many mods needed (eg. to increase ground clearance, add extra underside/engine protection, add high travel probably rather custom suspension), by time of adding them it makes more sense to use other, better fit for purpose car to begin with. In winter, such tires of harder all season-ish compound, big rubber patches w/o small sipes in thread, without weight of heavy SUV or pickup leaning on them .. i don't expect any reasonable grip at all. In summer .. i wouldn't want to compromise sporty performance on tarmac for car that is meant to be drivers car either.

That's a pretty aggressive setup... I'd be more worried about the tire clearance rather than wheel clearance.

This person is using a 25.5" tire and clearance is probably already tight: https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...4&postcount=86

Probably best to find the whole wheel, but who's Winter Tim?

Guess i kinda derailed the thread a tiny bit, but the 15x8+40 wheel fitment question still applies. This is for offroad or bad country road in sand or wet dirt where i don't want to sink in, not for winter/snow. Weekend warrior rallycross kinda thing, on top of frequently traveling bad country roads that get washed out regularly.

I'm running 27" diameter all terrain tires already with a 1.5" lift kit (215/65/16 on 16x7+30). After frame rail hammer mod and heat gun to the fender liner, there is no rub even at full lock. The tire size isn't the issue, especially since i'll be running it rear only where there is much more room. Its the wheel size i'm concerned about if it will conflict with any suspension by being the 1" wider than the 15x7+35. The radius on the ssr is about 1/4" larger than what i currently run, and what's shown on the pics at 27.5" diameter. If i run into issues with rubbing on the inner well, i can always put on a 15mm spacer i suppose, which will put the inner wheel rim edge more in line with the 15x7+35. I'd prefer not to have any spacers or poke though.

Slightly continuing offtopic (as i have no info on asked wheels brake clearance) are wished tires really providing more grip? Googling on gravel rally tires ( & here) show a bit smaller thread patches/more grooves. While such large empty spaces between patches imho might work better at slower speeds/at mud .. actually going at speed on gravel .. maybe different tires may work better/provide more grip?

As far as rally goes, probably only in wet mud. I will use these in non motorsports more than I will in motorsports.

I have stock brakes, not brembos.

2nd gen GR86...yes almost certainly.

2nd gen BRZ...not entirely sure if the aluminum uprights shift things at all for the tie rod. It's so close with all of these 15 inch fitments that even the slightest bit of difference could be a problem. I'll test my 15 inch Enkeis on our 2nd gen car at some point.

- Adnrew