Subaru WRX Sales Tank By 39.5% As Forester Flies Off The Shelves

[20WRX20]

Originally Posted by samagon

my first 'mod' on my 08 sti was to swap the 5 spoke 18" wheels with some 17" 05 bbs.

it rode 10x better, the 18s weighed nearly 28lbs vs the bbs weighing just under 20lbs, they may have been .5" narrower wheel, but for 8lbs per corner, that overcame the contact patch easily.

I honestly believe so many people **** on the 08 sti for being such a horrible handling car, if they had swapped wheels for the 17" bbs they'd have considered it a good performer, if not as good as the previous version.

anyway, it baffles my mind how people are happy about wheels being so big these days, give me the smallest diameter that will fit over the caliper and I'm a happy dude.

Yep. Stock 18s are heavy (although cool that they are made by Enkei.) Forester has 19s now which to me is crazy on a car like that.

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[chanomatik]

Originally Posted by samagon

my first 'mod' on my 08 sti was to swap the 5 spoke 18" wheels with some 17" 05 bbs.

it rode 10x better, the 18s weighed nearly 28lbs vs the bbs weighing just under 20lbs, they may have been .5" narrower wheel, but for 8lbs per corner, that overcame the contact patch easily.

I honestly believe so many people **** on the 08 sti for being such a horrible handling car, if they had swapped wheels for the 17" bbs they'd have considered it a good performer, if not as good as the previous version.

anyway, it baffles my mind how people are happy about wheels being so big these days, give me the smallest diameter that will fit over the caliper and I'm a happy dude.

It's simply aesthetics for me. Stock Subaru wheels are always heavy AF. People talk about rotational mass, but if you're keeping the wheels and tires the same overall dimension as stock then it's fine to just get lighter wheels. I got lighter, stronger, lower offset wheels for my Impreza (multiple times) and could almost not be happier. Plenty of Impreza owners complained about having the stock 18" wheels ruining the ride quality and I won't say they are wrong.

I did swap to stock 2011-2014 WRX 17x8 Enkei wheels for a bit and while I enjoyed the imroved ride comfort for my cross-country trips, they just looked tiny. Kidneys are overrated and I'm back on 18" wheels and looking to get 19" wheels eventually. Thankfully I've relocated to Phoenix and it's relatively flat compared to New England.

I, too, was shocked to see 19" wheels offered on the Forester. I think it looks great, but that's about it, and I know it's highly subjective.