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Spec B all seasons or winters~help


masterkilla

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after countless hours of searching online....and on this forum, i still am unsure of what i can put on the spec b with the winter coming. i live near cape cod area which gets decent amount of snow at times and slush etc...also the roads remain very dry for prolonged periods during the winter months. the "summer performance" tires on now as already mentioned on this forum are sized at 215/45/18 y rated...the only tire i have found sticking to this size are the bridgestone blizzak's Lm-22's for $200 each, obviously i would pick up some different wheels for this application. before i talk w/ my subaru dealer on acceptable sizes and what may void warranties i would like to ask the forum if other sizes are possible. maybe 17's ~they of course would be cheaper! my needs are for a reliable tire in snow, slush , dry winter climates w/ maybe a V rating! any help is appreciated! Would sticking w/ stock size of 215/45/18 maintain the best handling and suspension aspects of this car? the suspension and handling are very important to me and one of the reasons i purchased my first suby w/ the bilstein package.

thanks for your time~nate

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Welcome to the forum, I'd go with 17's to save the sweet Spec B. wheels that we all wish we had. There are some pretty good reliable tires out there for the 17's (GT stockers, or steel rims) like the BFGoodrich Traction T/A, check tirerack.com for ratings and best buys. Oh and if you havent already, visit this thread and let us know what # Spec B. you have, we're trying to find them all.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22377

JDM'd All to hell

:cool:

Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com!

RIP Coxx & Thanks

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finse how is that setup working for ya? any noticable differences w/ handling cornering etc. we're getting 8 inches of snow tonight and i'm def. not taking the suby to work with those summer performance tires. i need to make my tire and wheel decision soon! lol thanks for the replies...keep em coming if you wish
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ok...talked to 3 different subaru dealerships and none would support the decision w/ going to a different size. all said to maintain stock size to avoid any issues blah blah blah. they said spec b is so new that they dont have any of the supporting information behind this idea of going to a 17 in a 225/45/17 or a 215/50/17. they even went further stating that their unsure of the offset and to keep the stock wheels on w/ what they recommended 215/45/18 bridgestone blizzaks until april or so and then they will have much more information. anyone w/ a spec b running 17's have supporting info. from a trusted or reliable subaru authorized dealer?
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you can go with a 17" rim and tire.. not a problem.. a Spec B is just a glorified version of the GT.. Suspension clearance and geometry for the tires are close enough by my account that you can treat it like a normal GT sedan.
Keefe
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finse how is that setup working for ya? any noticable differences w/ handling cornering etc. we're getting 8 inches of snow tonight and i'm def. not taking the suby to work with those summer performance tires. i need to make my tire and wheel decision soon! lol thanks for the replies...keep em coming if you wish

 

We got our first real taste of winter yesterday. I can say overall, I am happy with the setup. I am not sure how good/bad the yokahoma tires are, but the price point was def. good. I ended up getting into the winter setup for just over $1100.

 

Cheers,

Ryan

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thanks finse for the update...XENONK~dealer was saying some bs that there's no mathematical equation that could support this blah blah to maintain gas mileage handling etc...all i was thinking is damn...he should talk to you lol. town fair tire is saying the same shit. this doesnt seem too difficult..all i asked them is what could fit or what could i do...the spec b doesnt have the brembo brakes etc. so thats not an issue right? and then i have the dealer searching for info for 2 hours and he gets back to me saying "there's no mathematical explanation that can support going to 17's. WTF
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finse thanks for the update~

XENONK~~ 3 subaru dealers and town fair tire and sullivan tire are all saying the bs statement to me...stick w/ stock size..if not you'll affect handling gas mileage etc etc....the whole time i was wishing they could talk to you : ) i dont have the brembo brakes on the spec b stocked so whats the friggin deal here right? i dunno...just want some winter tires at the best price i can ...leaning towards blizzaks or m3's

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masterkilla - a little more on why I went the direction I did.

 

I have an awesome set of older 17" JDM GT-B wheels. I mounted them up to find there were only a couple of mm of clearance between the spoke and the caliper. While the wheels turned without coming into contact with the caliper, I just was not comfortable. I called SOA and discussed this with one of their service reps. While the service rep really could'nt tell me much, he was able to confirm the Spec-B has the same breaks as the LGT. With that in mind I was able to purchase a set of stock 17" LGT wheels from a fellow member. The stock LGT tires are 17/215/45 and the stock spec-b tires are 18/215/45. Running stock a stock LGT setup would have about 1" difference in total diameter. I compensated for this difference by mounting tires sized 17/215/50. IIRC, this brought my winter setup within 6-8mm of the stock diameter. Yes, they are somewhat smaller, but in my opinion 6-8mm is not going to make much difference on my spedo, or the actual milage of the car.

 

Ryan

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I have a spec b as well masterkilla, Xenonk knows his shiite.... he gave me info on what to do as well. Granted I got a set of Volks(18x8.5)for the summer and a set of Work(17x7.5) for the winter. As far as doing the math on tire size if you use a 17"-you should use a 225/50/17, that is the closest you could get to stock size so close that when traveling with stock rims at 60mph- with the 17's and 225's you will be traveling at 59.8mph.

I work for a Subaru dealership and it seems the dealership you deal with dont know sh*t from shinola. You cant void warranties by changing rims and tires!!!!! Unless of course you put 16" rims in the front and 19's in the rear...lol....

______________

 

tHe HoV

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masterkilla - a little more on why I went the direction I did.

 

I have an awesome set of older 17" JDM GT-B wheels. I mounted them up to find there were only a couple of mm of clearance between the spoke and the caliper. While the wheels turned without coming into contact with the caliper, I just was not comfortable. I called SOA and discussed this with one of their service reps. While the service rep really could'nt tell me much, he was able to confirm the Spec-B has the same breaks as the LGT. With that in mind I was able to purchase a set of stock 17" LGT wheels from a fellow member. The stock LGT tires are 17/215/45 and the stock spec-b tires are 18/215/45. Running stock a stock LGT setup would have about 1" difference in total diameter. I compensated for this difference by mounting tires sized 17/215/50. IIRC, this brought my winter setup within 6-8mm of the stock diameter. Yes, they are somewhat smaller, but in my opinion 6-8mm is not going to make much difference on my spedo, or the actual milage of the car.

 

Ryan

OT, but mind posting a pic of the JDM GT-B's?

JDM'd All to hell

:cool:

Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com!

RIP Coxx & Thanks

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