15 inch rims for winter?

[roddy]

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.

[Captain Insano]

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....

[dsgerbc]

I'm gonna try to score some Impreza Premium OEM wheels.
16" and correct offset. Not 100% they'd clear the brakes though.

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

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.

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.

[trifenix]

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

[dsgerbc]

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.

[smbrm]

Originally Posted by roddy

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.

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?

[roddy]

Originally Posted by smbrm

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.

[roddy]

Originally Posted by dsgerbc

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.

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.

[Flat Black VW]

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.

[dietz]

Originally Posted by quik1987

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

[Mr. Sociable]

Originally Posted by Flat Black VW

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.

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.

[oinojo]

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.

[churchx]

@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

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by churchx

@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