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Old 03-22-2008, 12:26 PM   #1
brianc
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Default '06 WRX: 17's vs. 18's?

What are your thoughts on upgrading wheels? I wanted 18's but some people say stick with 17's for various reasons. Any comments? pros v. cons? I will likely lower the car, but no more than an inch. I live in NY but very rarely travel over roads that are potholed or messed up. I also dont put a lot of mileage on the car. Ive been looking at Rota P1's and Tarmac III's in 18 x 8 or 18 x 8.5. Thanks.
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Old 03-22-2008, 12:43 PM   #2
nhat
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17s are, in general, lighter than 18s. tires are cheaper for 17s and you have more tire protecting your wheels. the ride quality isn't much worse with 18s, but potholes or a rough road are far more worrisome.
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Old 03-22-2008, 08:20 PM   #3
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^ +1 for nhat's comments.

18's do look great, but you're going to be paying a heck of a lot less in the long run with 17's.
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Old 03-22-2008, 08:53 PM   #4
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17's for sure. Just grab a set of 17x8'' rims so you can put some beefy tires on your rims.



~Josh~
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Old 03-23-2008, 10:15 AM   #5
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thanks for the info. it will be a lot less expensive to simply upgrade my wheels and keep the stock tires, but wont i be stretching out the stock tires by going with an 8" wheel? whats the max wheel width for the stock tire?
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Old 03-23-2008, 10:33 AM   #6
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well according to your profile, you have 16s stock. so i don't know which stock tires you have but my guess is 215/45/17 re92s?
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Old 03-23-2008, 11:42 AM   #7
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I havent updated my profile yet...that '04 is long gone and I just bought a 2006 WRX. It has the stock 17's with 215/45 Re92's.
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Old 03-23-2008, 01:39 PM   #8
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man! the stock's tires suck so bad, just buy a set of new tires if u buy the rims too! I live in nyc too! I just bought a set of 17x7.5 rota torque and Continental ContiExtremeContact 225/45/17. I love them!
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Old 03-23-2008, 01:41 PM   #9
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dont waste time with 17's
stock rims are already 17's!
or 16's on 02-05,,
18's all the way,
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Old 03-23-2008, 02:01 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IMjustWRXed View Post
dont waste time with 17's
stock rims are already 17's!
or 16's on 02-05,,
18's all the way,
some people actually like having lighter wider wheels...17x8.5 or 17x9 are not a waste of money. stock wheels are 17x7 and heavy...

do whatever you want with the stock wheels and tires. i see no reason to dismount the re92s and put them on a wider 17" wheel. there are so many options for 17" tires in the $100-130 range to try!
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Old 03-24-2008, 11:08 AM   #11
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I'm getting some 18" OZ Ultaleggera's. I've always had bigger wheels on my cars, and I've been running 19's on my GTO without a problem. You lose a miniscule amount of ride quality and if you choose the right wheels, there's no weight penalty. The 18's I'm buying are 18.4 lbs a piece.
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Old 03-24-2008, 12:16 PM   #12
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17's
Pros:
- tires cheaper
- you retain the original ratio of power delivery based on the original gearing used by the car to wheel size
- usually less $$$ than 18's

Cons:
- doesn't have that bigger is better look
- cant always fit over brembos or big brake kits

18's
Pros:
- bigger and gives you choices if you are after the look
- bigger wheel can give you choices for more rubber sizes

Cons:
- its bigger and you gotta spend more money to get it light as a smaller 17 can be (Enkei RPF1 17 lighter than a 18 only due to size for comparison)
- unless you get a light wheel designed for less unsprung weight you will see a small acceleration penalty in power delivery to a larger wheel (can be offset by more money on lighter 18's)
- more $$$

Judging by the OP's description I see no problem with 18's.
Get some you like. 17's might be better but for street use I doubt it will matter to you unless you got some massive bbk's and need massive rubber for track use.
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Old 03-24-2008, 12:52 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nhat View Post
some people actually like having lighter wider wheels...17x8.5 or 17x9 are not a waste of money. stock wheels are 17x7 and heavy...

do whatever you want with the stock wheels and tires. i see no reason to dismount the re92s and put them on a wider 17" wheel. there are so many options for 17" tires in the $100-130 range to try!


yea
same here i have 18" 5Zigen's and theyre like 18 lbs each, or maybe right under,

i dont think you loose power to the wheel size ratio bc and 18" rim with 225/40/18 tire is the exact same height as the stocker on 02-05 wrx's
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Old 03-24-2008, 02:05 PM   #14
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I'd go with 17... gives you enough cushion for bumps and handling is decent compared to 16s that came stock with mine and are lighter than 18s.
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Old 03-24-2008, 10:00 PM   #15
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F it all. Buy 18's if you want looks. Buy 17's if you want price. It doesn't seem like the rest of the factors even matter. Lower it an inch and it won't make a damn. I prefer 18's myself. I run 18's on my 06 leg GT and My 03 WRX. They look and handle great.
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Old 03-24-2008, 10:07 PM   #16
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a nice light 17x8 with a 245/40 is the lightest most cost effective wheel and tire size combination
unless you want to use a 235/40 to alter gearing for a bit better acceleration
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Old 03-25-2008, 03:21 AM   #17
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go 17's, but go wider dude. I am running 17x8.5 and love em. Significantly lighter than stock 06 wheels. 17x8.5 or 17x9 is what I recommend.
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Old 03-25-2008, 01:04 PM   #18
GreenLantern
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Do the 17's preform better than the 18s?
im trying to decide which wheels i want to go with also for my warm weather wheels/tires
and ive almost decided on gold 18x8 Enkei RPF1's but i don't know now if i wanna go 17s. i have stance GR+ pro coilovers on my car. I care about looks but ultimately performance is what im looking for. input?
the 17" rpf1s are a good deal lighter then the 18s but i don't really know how to weigh which would be better performance. do i need a physicist : ) ??
thanks
-GL

Last edited by GreenLantern; 03-25-2008 at 03:58 PM.
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Old 03-25-2008, 04:48 PM   #19
brianc
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what wheel choices do we have for 17 x 8.5 or 17 x 9? I know 5zigen makes the Pro Racer GN+ in 17 x 8.5 (has them on my s2000) but dont know of any others.
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Old 03-29-2008, 01:15 AM   #20
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im getting 18x8 +45 gold rpf1's for my 07
dont know from where yet haha but yea. what size tires should i get to get the best performance w/o rubbing my fenders????
-GL
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Old 03-29-2008, 08:13 AM   #21
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17x8, or 17x9 with a nice offset of 35, 38, or 45 will look very aggressive.
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Old 03-29-2008, 01:40 PM   #22
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will 17x9 rub? one more question,if i run 17x8 in the front,and 17x9,will that do harm to anything?thaks in advance
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Old 03-29-2008, 02:50 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by soulhassorrow View Post
will 17x9 rub? one more question,if i run 17x8 in the front,and 17x9,will that do harm to anything?thaks in advance

I assume you mean running 17x8 in the front and 17x9 in the rear. Honestly, you would not want to do this type of setup. If you were to run different size wheels, you would want to run the wider wheels in the FRONT on our cars. However, you will still HAVE to keep the same size & brand of tire on front and rear.

If you are thinking of doing this because you want the looks of a RWD vehicle, then you really should either avoid doing this or get a RWD that this kind of setup would actually work on. If you are doing it for some type of racing competition, then more power to you.
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Old 03-29-2008, 04:16 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Superstar View Post
17x8, or 17x9 with a nice offset of 35, 38, or 45 will look very aggressive.
35 & 38 are not nice offsets. even 45 is pushing it. going that low is going to give you issues with rubbing on the fender.
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Old 03-30-2008, 02:23 AM   #25
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I just put on 18"Enkei RP03 rims wrapped in Goodyear F1 allseason tires. They handle well, look great, and weigh less than the stock rims by about 1.5 lbs. I haven't had any trouble with potholes (knock on wood) and definitely think it was worth the money.
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