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Old 01-14-2003, 02:52 PM   #1
NW_WRX
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Question 53mm vs 48mm Wheels offsets?

What's the difference? I know the stock offset is 53mm but the wheels I'm considering are 48mm. How will this affect fitment? Would a 48mm offest move the wheel further out from the hub or further in? Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance
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Old 01-14-2003, 03:09 PM   #2
ludecrous
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with wheels the same width, a 48mm offset will move the wheel further out from the hub towards the fender in comparision to the same width wheel with a 53mm offset.
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Old 01-14-2003, 03:49 PM   #3
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Thanks for the info. The wheels I'm looking at are 17" x 7.5". My main concern is any rubbing of the fender and/or the struts with a 225 45 17 tire. Is anyone running the 48mm offset with this size tire on a wagon?

Thanks again for any feedback
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Old 01-14-2003, 04:55 PM   #4
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If you run 225/45/17's with a 48mm offset you risk fender rubbing under hard cornering. In order to minimize this, you want to go with an offset of 50mm or greater. The extra mm's may be the difference between rubbing and not rubbing.

There are several people who have posted that they've gone to 225's with the stock wheels (same overall rolling radius) that do not have problems with rubbing. Also, I met a guy who has a lowered wagon with 17x7.5's with a 50mm offset (5Zigen Fighters) and 225/45/17's who doesn't have a rubbing issue.

The other thing you may want to look into is the width of the patch for the tire you choose. Not all 225's are equal. From what I've found, 225/45/17's vary with width from 8.8" to 9.1".

You may want to check with Tire Rack. They are closing out several of their 17x7.5's and I believe they all have 50+mm offsets.
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Old 01-14-2003, 05:34 PM   #5
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I run 215-45 17's on 17 X 7.5" Sub Zeros on my wagon. I believe the Sub Zero's have a 48mm offset. Though I don't have any rubbing issues, I do have wheel bearing roar since I put the Rota's on. As I understand it, you won't have rubbing issues with most 225-45's...unless you install lowering springs. Then, you're asking for trouble. Use the search function to see all the posts regarding this subject. There's been a lot of 'em...

Richard
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Old 01-14-2003, 07:38 PM   #6
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mine are 18x8" SSR comps and they have 48mm offset and no rubbing at all. I love them
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Old 01-15-2003, 10:29 AM   #7
Sea Dragon Rex
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Quote:
Originally posted by juztin180
mine are 18x8" SSR comps and they have 48mm offset and no rubbing at all. I love them
That's because you have a sedan! Fender flares give you more clearance.

With the Rota's even if your wagon isn't lowered, you risk rubbing on extreme cornering. Of course, most people don't push their subies to the extreme in the corner and I certainly don't. If your suspension compresses far enough, you will get rubbing. It won't be constant but it can still rub with a stock suspension.

Your best bet is to go with a 50mm+ offset if you have a wagon and want to go with 225's. I'm not sure how high of an offset you can go without rubbing on the strut.

I bought a set of P7 which have a 52mm offset and am planning on getting one of the middle of the road width 225's (Kumho MX's). I was thinking about the Azenis but I'm concerned about them making a unidirectional tire that doesn't have different right and left sides. It's nice in the dry but not too good in the rain. Of course, I'm planning on using them for the dry and using the 16's for the wet and snow. Besides, we all know that it doesn't really rain in California.
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Old 01-16-2003, 12:28 AM   #8
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Thumbs up

Sea Dragon,

Thanks! You pretty much nailed it right on the head! One of the wheels I was considering was a Rota, 48mm offset. I've seen that the 225 45 17 tires do vary quite a bit from mfger to mfger too. I'm planning on putting aftermarket springs on this wagon eventually. A 1-1.5 inch drop. It sound like the ideal setup would be to go with a 53mm offset on 17 x 7.5" wheels with the 225's. Report back with your impressions of the P7 wheels.

Thanks again!

PS, I looked at Tire Rack, good prices on the closeouts. Your P7 is only 7" vs. 7.5" from what the site shows? I'm thinking 7.5" would take a 225 tire better...... ?

Last edited by NW_WRX; 01-16-2003 at 12:46 AM.
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Old 01-16-2003, 11:15 AM   #9
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The 225's will definitely sit better on the 7 1/2" than the 7" but I'm not sure which 7 1/2's have a 52mm (or 53mm) offset. I've heard that the newer Prodrives have a 48mm offset like the rota's but that isn't confirmed.

The 5Zigen Fighters have a 50mm offset and they seem to fit fine. But I checked and they are a 7" and not 7 1/2". I'm not sure about how much they weigh. That's the other drawback of the cast Prodrives (P1's and P7's). They are heavy wheels (20# and 22#) and you can probably get a stronger forged wheel that is lighter. I think the Fighters are also heavy cast wheel.

I checked www.tires.com and they have one 17 x 7 1/2" wheel with a 50mm offset. It is the Konig Passport and they run $170 each shipped. I'm guessing that the wheel is cast and weighs 20+# since most of their wheels are in that range. You may want to call Tire Rack to find out the offsets of their 17 x 7 1/2" wheels. I believe they have several wheels for the WRX that are forged but I'm not sure what their offsets are.

I'll post when I get the 225's on my P7's. I'm still debating on whether to get the Azenis or the Kumho MX's. Right now because of finances, I'm leaning towards the Azenis again. Better dry traction and $80 cheaper.
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Old 01-16-2003, 06:12 PM   #10
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I've had the Rota Battles with 225/45/17 Azenis, with light rubbing under heavy load...

I also had the Rota Tarmacs with 225/45/17 with Kumho 712s, and no rubbing... Both were +48 offset...

I like the Azenis for the dry, but I found the Kumhos slightly better in the wet...

I've dumped both because the excess weight caused performance impacts, and am now putting on 225/50/16 Kumhos on stock rims for my summer tires...
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Old 01-16-2003, 06:28 PM   #11
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Good info guys, keep it coming! What is the weight on the stock 16" wheels? I spoke with a guy at TireRack and I was a bit surprised just how heavy the ProDrive wheels are. The SSR Comp wheels are very light but pricey, forged vs cast. I'm also wondering what wheels will be on the USDM Sti when it's released? Hmmmm

Thanks for the input!
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Old 01-16-2003, 06:35 PM   #12
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The suggestion to keep the offset high is good. Except that with wide wheels and large tires you also run the risk to rub on the inside.

Say you tried to use 8 inch wide rims with 53mm offset, the tires would rub in the inner fender well when you turned the wheel to full lock (the area right outside the cam gear).
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Old 01-16-2003, 06:37 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally posted by NW_WRX
I'm also wondering what wheels will be on the USDM Sti when it's released?
BBS.

The SSR Comps aren't forged, at least not with the same process as the more expensive forged wheels. You can probably find details with a search, I think the process used for the SSR Comps is called "semi-solid forging", or something like that.
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Old 01-16-2003, 07:11 PM   #14
Sea Dragon Rex
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Quote:
Originally posted by ciper
The suggestion to keep the offset high is good. Except that with wide wheels and large tires you also run the risk to rub on the inside.

Say you tried to use 8 inch wide rims with 53mm offset, the tires would rub in the inner fender well when you turned the wheel to full lock (the area right outside the cam gear).
I agree with you to a point. The issue of rubbing has to do more with the width of the tire used than the width of the wheel. If you use a 7"wide wheel with a 52mm offset and a 225 tire, you will have almost the same clearance with a 7 1/2" wheel with the same offset and tire (you may actually lose a mm of clearance because of less shoulder rolling/sidewall deflection because of the narrower rim). However the tire should be positioned almost exactly the same. The offset refers to where the hub touches the wheel in relation to the center of the wheel. If you go to a wider wheel with the same offset, the inner and outer edge clearance will be reduced by the same amount. So in the case of the 7" vs. 7 1/2", there will be 1/4" less clearance on each side for the rim but if you use the same tire the clearance should be the same since the center of the wheel is in the same location. The problem with going to a say 8"wheel is that you may not have enough clearance with the wheel even though the 225 may still clear (again, you do gain a little in patch width with a wider rim but that is about 1 mm per 1/2" of rim width on average if I remember correctly).

As for the Azenis rubbing vs. the 712's, with the same offset, the Azenis have a section width of 9.1" and the 712's have a section width of 8.8". So, there is a .3" (or about 8mm of width) difference in the tires alone.
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Old 01-17-2003, 08:32 AM   #15
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I think it depends alot on how you drive it to....I push hard and I had Rotas with the 48MM with a 215/45/17 on them....first night they were on went out cornering.....heard bad noises...pulled over and pulled out chunks of my sidewall

They only rubbed in the rear.....on stock suspension.......I ended up cutting my lip on my fender and sanding it smooth and then undercoating the lip....came out pretty good and doesnt rub anymore and shouldnt even if I lower it alot.....
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