Tire +/- size guide for FR-S/BRZ

[Brzer]

I am sticking with the stock wheels and stock size tires but Pilot Super Sports for more grip.

[NYC BRZ]

I have 225/45/17 star specs already waiting. I wish the stock wheel was a 17x7.5 because there a ton more options for lightweight wheels. 17x7 is tough in a good offset for this car. I want to stay in stock class with SCCA Solo II until I really learn the car.

[Phaedrus29]

Here's the review people are referring to: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/26/2...-review-video/

Relevant quote: "Masuda-san was commendably forthcoming on the post-drive questions I had lined up. First off, the standard 17-inch wheel/tire combo can get as large as 18 inches, and tire width, even at 18 inches, can safely grow to as much as 235 – but only in the rear. The front tires need to stay at 215."

[Thehark1]

I bought a used 13 BRZ and the previous owner put on ambit RT8s on a 255 35 18 tire all the way around. That is some serious meat! No rubbing or anything either. The car feels so planted, the steering feels nice and weighty and compared to my friends stock BRZ it feels every bit as quick. I can just toss it in to turns much better than he can

[Adam_L]

Originally Posted by Thehark1

I bought a used 13 BRZ and the previous owner put on ambit RT8s on a 255 35 18 tire all the way around. That is some serious meat! No rubbing or anything either. The car feels so planted, the steering feels nice and weighty and compared to my friends stock BRZ it feels every bit as quick. I can just toss it in to turns much better than he can

Right, better handling taking corners , but the feel is not the same. Also, your wheel weight went up, thus guarenteed you'd get less mpg (may not be a concern for you). Larger wheel also means your suspension geometry changes.

I still say 17" is proper for this car, period. If you have 17x7, Maybe stay 215 width for commuting / higher mpg. Go 225 for a bit more grip, possibly a bit less mpg (1 mpg) if you do not decrease rim weight at the same time. If you stagger your tire width F/R , then you cannot rotate tires and will burn thru your rear tires faster. I have 17x7.5 , so when it comes time for the tire change in about 2 years, I may go 225-45-17 to get a bit more grip but not really decrease MPG much at all. If you are tracking the car, need that maximum grip, then I can see 245-40-17. A lighter wheel means more to me ( all things being equal, a 17" wheel will be lighter then 18" , but at least 1 lb or more) not just for better MPG, but also for proper car feel/ handling, and not turning into a arm-chain mechanic on trying to out think the suspension geometry to "make it better". Take that to the bank Tada-san .... or who ever that engineer fella is.

[vintagemxer]

Gotta love Forum threads ...sitting on 235/40/18's ...drive it like I stole it ...it's an auto...& I STILL get 26 in town...36 on the open road !!!

[Peaty]

I have a set of wheels that I've owned before I got the BRZ, they came off of a 2011 Legacy. I plan on putting some all seasons that are more appropriate for the winter here in KS than the stock summer only rubber. We don't typically get a lot of snow but honestly, you never know. The current rubber won't cut it though. The Legacy wheels are 16X6.5, +48 Offset and I've been trying to figure out the best alternate size tire. The best would be a size they don't make, at least that I can find in something appropriate for all seasons would be 215/50-16 so I'm going to go with 215/55-16 which says that the speed will be off showing a slower speed than actual, I can live with that.

These sites generated the screen caps I've attached, I found them helpful:

http://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

https://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

I've attached a few pics when I did a test fit on the front and back to be sure the brakes would clear. The will be swapped out of course and I plan on painting the wheels matte black with plastic dip. These are just to get me through the winter and not end up in a ditch. My hope is that my kid gets a snow day and I take her Forester to work since I put dedicated snows on hers last week.

The tires I plan on having installed are some Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval AS or General G-Max AS-03's My local Subaru dealer will try to get the OEM TPMS sensors to work with the BRZ too. We aren't sure yet if the older 2011 will work or not but they will give it a shot.

[why?]

Originally Posted by Peaty

I have a set of wheels that I've owned before I got the BRZ, they came off of a 2011 Legacy. I plan on putting some all seasons that are more appropriate for the winter here in KS than the stock summer only rubber. We don't typically get a lot of snow but honestly, you never know. The current rubber won't cut it though. The Legacy wheels are 16X6.5, +48 Offset and I've been trying to figure out the best alternate size tire. The best would be a size they don't make, at least that I can find in something appropriate for all seasons would be 215/50-16 so I'm going to go with 215/55-16 which says that the speed will be off showing a slower speed than actual, I can live with that.

These sites generated the screen caps I've attached, I found them helpful:

http://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

https://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

I've attached a few pics when I did a test fit on the front and back to be sure the brakes would clear. The will be swapped out of course and I plan on painting the wheels matte black with plastic dip. These are just to get me through the winter and not end up in a ditch. My hope is that my kid gets a snow day and I take her Forester to work since I put dedicated snows on hers last week.

The tires I plan on having installed are some Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval AS or General G-Max AS-03's My local Subaru dealer will try to get the OEM TPMS sensors to work with the BRZ too. We aren't sure yet if the older 2011 will work or not but they will give it a shot.

why wouldn't you go with a smaller tire? It would be closer to stock and be lighter. The 195/55 in the AS-03 are 7/10ths of an inch off in circumference and 6mm shorter. Plus they only weigh 16.7 lbs and would handle better in rain and snow than bigger tires.

[yelsew]

Originally Posted by Peaty

local Subaru dealer will try to get the OEM TPMS sensors to work with the BRZ too. We aren't sure yet if the older 2011 will work or not but they will give it a shot.

I wouldn't be too optimistic for the tpms. The sensors in the BRZ are a toyota part using a toyota system. When Subaru mistakenly used their tpms protocol on my car the system stopped working until they used the toyota device.

[Peaty]

I wouldn't be too optimistic for the tpms. The sensors in the BRZ are a toyota part using a toyota system. When Subaru mistakenly used their tpms protocol on my car the system stopped working until they used the toyota device.

Thanks for letting me know this, I will talk to the service department. I was hoping it would work but it's not the end of the world I suppose.

why wouldn't you go with a smaller tire? It would be closer to stock and be lighter. The 195/55 in the AS-03 are 7/10ths of an inch off in circumference and 6mm shorter. Plus they only weigh 16.7 lbs and would handle better in rain and snow than bigger tires.

I agree, I guess I was too focused on getting the same width and when I was looking. The car could use wider wheels as it is. I probably should go that way, thanks for suggesting that.

Update: I sent an e-mail to my local Subaru Dealer, they are getting the tires, and I should be able to switch my order the to 195/55's. He also said that they will give it a try to program the sensors, they also sell Toyota but that most likely will not help me if the systems aren't compatible.

FWIW - When I get new tires I get them at my local subaru dealer because they get everything from the tirerack. The prices are the best around and that sort of shocked me. I expected my dealer to be the most expensive and it's not the case. In fact, if you go to their website and click on the "tire store" although it says subaru, it's really the tire rack's inventory. Not sure if that's the case for everyone's dealer but worth a look.

[Peaty]

Just following up now that I've been driving around with the new tires and wheels for a few days. Unfortunately, when I tried to get the 195 with wheels as suggested, they only have 1 in stock at the time so I went with the 215 width. In the end thought they do look okay. My speedo use to read 1 MPH higher according to the GPS than actual (60 indicated was 59) now up to about 70 MPH it's pretty much dead on. After 70 though GPS says 71 and speedo says 70. I guess rotational expansion maybe. As for the handling and ride I haven't noticed a dramatic difference. I'm running the air pressure at 37 right now. Since there is more sidewall I was hoping to stiffen it up a little. Temps have been in the teens here and no grip issues so far. We had a small amount of snow but nothing stuck to the roads.

As for the TPMS the Subaru sensors will not work in the BRZ as I was told. It's weird though, I have my stock wheels about 12 feet away from where I park. When I leave for work in the AM the TPMS light will flash a few times then go off. About 20 minutes into my commute the light comes back on. I was told this might happen but I thought the wheels would be too far away to communicate.

Here are a few pics of what they look like installed.