16 inch wheels and preferred tire combo

[Lemming]

My roads are quite rough. The 18s it came with aren't doing it for me. Any rim/tire size suggestions? I will not be lowering the car. Since the car is white, I'm looking for a bronze, grey, or black wheel.


I also wouldn't mind if the tire is slightly larger outside diameter than stock as I already scrape a bit going into my driveway.

[makinen]

I've used 215/55R16 several years on gen 1. Rough road friendly. 16x 6.5 ~ 7.5 rims can be used.

[Westen86]

205-55/16
225-50/16

[Bobrad20]

Tires with a 55 aspect ratio might be your best bet. Check Tire Rack tire specs for diameters to make sure you don't exceed maximum.

[NLSP]

The selection of 16" wheels that fit our cars isn't very big, but Konig makes some pretty nice ones and are pretty lightweight:

https://konigwheels.com/wheels/main-line-wheels/

The following models are the 16's that will fit our cars. They all come in 16x7.5, +45, 5x100:


Lockout - gloss black, 16.89 lbs



Tandem - graphite, 17.39 lbs



Runlite - matte grey or matte black, 17.75 lbs



Oversteer - gloss black, 17.6 lbs



For tires...

• 205/55/16 matches stock diameter, wheel width range 5.5-7.5"
• 225/50/16 matches stock diameter, wheel width range 6-8" (less stretch; more curb protection)
• 215/55/16 gives extra 0.3-0.5" inches in diameter depending on brand/model, wheel width range 6-7.5"

I personally run 225/50/16 on both my 16x7.5 winters and 16x8 summers.

[new2subaru]

I run 225/50 R16 on street too. An older pic

[Lemming]

Thank you for the guidance.


It's looking like 225/50 is the only option that allows me to get grippier summer tires as an option (continental extreme contact sport, yokohama advan, potenza re71, etc...).


Unfortunately at stock ride height the front of my car slightly scrapes on my driveway, so anything to get another half inch of ride height may end up helping me there. However, when I look at the taller 215/55 or 225/55 sizes, there aren't any performance options. It does seem like 225/55 would solve the scraping problem so I may end up going that route anyway.


Regarding rims, I'm now looking at 16x7, either Volk CE28 ($480 per rim shipped) or TWS T66-F ($575 per rim shipped), both seem to be +48 offset.


So currently I am leaning towards TWS T66-F for max weight reduction and Continental DWS06 all season 225/55 for a slight ride height increase to hopefully stop the scraping on my driveway.

[alfisti]

If I have a set of 16" wheels/tires that fit just fine on a gen 1 car, would they fit just fine on a gen 2? Focal F20 wheels with 205/55R-16 snow tires. Thx

[gskv]

I’ve just ordered oem jdm 16” from gen1 cars. $500 a pop not cheap but I like the oem and shieeet

[Yoniyama]

Originally Posted by Lemming

Thank you for the guidance.


It's looking like 225/50 is the only option that allows me to get grippier summer tires as an option (continental extreme contact sport, yokohama advan, potenza re71, etc...).


Unfortunately at stock ride height the front of my car slightly scrapes on my driveway, so anything to get another half inch of ride height may end up helping me there. However, when I look at the taller 215/55 or 225/55 sizes, there aren't any performance options. It does seem like 225/55 would solve the scraping problem so I may end up going that route anyway.

So currently I am leaning towards TWS T66-F for max weight reduction and Continental DWS06 all season 225/55 for a slight ride height increase to hopefully stop the scraping on my driveway.

Regarding rims, I'm now looking at 16x7, either Volk CE28 ($480 per rim shipped) or TWS T66-F ($575 per rim shipped), both seem to be +48 offset.


My Volks TE-37 16X7 only weighs about 11.5lb each. A second-hand set cost me about US$1,200 (including shipping). Of course the TWS-T66 is even lighter (around 11lb each), but it comes at a steep price. And don't forget light weight lug nuts can save you another 150 grams per wheel.

[RZNT4R]

I'm using 16 inch STI goldies and 225/50ZR16 Continental ExtremeContact Sport, it's great. This tire size would put you at +0.04% versus the original 215/40R18, so effectively, as "exactly the same size" as it's possible to be.

I bought the wheel set for about 450$ canadian and I sold the 4 michelins that were on them (not the right size) for 80$. Since they were old wheels, I had two of them with *slight* bends to the inside lip, the worst one had a runout of just under 2mm, so I had to have that taken care of. Sandblasted, fixed curb rash with Loctite 97453 aluminum epoxy and repainted. so all in all, a "cheaper" wheel set, but you gotta put in the work to run "vintage" wheels

[nikitopo]

I am on Advan A052 205/55R16 . Very satisfied.

[RZNT4R]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

I am on Advan A052 205/55R16 . Very satisfied.

205 is kinda skinny though, that's what I run in winter!

[new2subaru]

Originally Posted by RZNT4R

205 is kinda skinny though, that's what I run in winter!

That's what I run on track.