Discussion
In my experience, late impreza's aren't massivly affected by going to 18's. In fact I find with the right tyres there in fine. No problems even on rough bumpy tarmac.
I find classic Impreza's suffer badly from oversized wheels and lack of any profile on the tyres. They may look good but their not practical.
Should be ok with the OZ's. Also quite possible with some cheaper wheels to have an adverse affect on the ride / handling due to poor manufacture and materials used.
I find classic Impreza's suffer badly from oversized wheels and lack of any profile on the tyres. They may look good but their not practical.
Should be ok with the OZ's. Also quite possible with some cheaper wheels to have an adverse affect on the ride / handling due to poor manufacture and materials used.
GravelBen said:
Might work for time attack with super-sticky tyres on a nice smooth track, but they still won't be very nice on the road!
That wide they are fine on newage Impreza's so long as you roll your arches....a lot!! 
18" generally on newage cars though are fine in 225 or 235/40/18 though and keeps rolling radius/speedo calibration near OEM. I imagine though the older classics running 16" wheels would be happier with 17". A set of 215 or 225/45/17" make a decent diffferece to overall grip and think will fit under classic arches with no rubbing.
You probably shouldn't really be exploring the grip difference of 10mm wider rubber on public roads anyway!
It wasn't outright grip I was thinking of though but the negative effects of the wider, lower profile rubber on bumpy roads - ie increased tendency to tramline, less compliance on bumps etc. However as others with more experience of them on newage Imprezas think they're ok in that regard I can accept that.
Being a gravel junkie I was actually considering swapping the GTB from the standard 17" to 16" for better puncture resistance and rim protection (after slicing up another Eagle F1 recently) but I found another set of 2nd-hand 17"s I liked at a good price, so sticking with the 215/45 but avoiding Eagle F1s from now on. Speaking of which I should really take a photo with the new wheels and post it up in here sometime.
It wasn't outright grip I was thinking of though but the negative effects of the wider, lower profile rubber on bumpy roads - ie increased tendency to tramline, less compliance on bumps etc. However as others with more experience of them on newage Imprezas think they're ok in that regard I can accept that.
Being a gravel junkie I was actually considering swapping the GTB from the standard 17" to 16" for better puncture resistance and rim protection (after slicing up another Eagle F1 recently) but I found another set of 2nd-hand 17"s I liked at a good price, so sticking with the 215/45 but avoiding Eagle F1s from now on. Speaking of which I should really take a photo with the new wheels and post it up in here sometime.
Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 28th January 11:07
GravelBen said:
You probably shouldn't really be exploring the grip difference of 10mm wider rubber on public roads anyway!
Say's the man that posted a vid of himself on PH driving his P&J at considerably more than the legal limit on a very nice quiet public road with lovely scenery in NZ. Gassing Station | Japanese Chat | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff