Wheel/Snow tire combo for 07 spec.B?

[looneycanuk]

According to downtown subaru in Toronto, the light should go off automatically when your OE's go back on or until you install the sensors.

 

I don't know what to believe at this point because I have heard on this forum that Canadian spec b's don't even have tpms.

 

Tell downtown Subaru to show the TPMS on your invoice or window sticker. If they can, then you might be unlucky and perhaps SoC has added it...which I doubt. If they can't, and they try to bill you for any TPMS issues, tell them that you'll take them to court for fraud.

 

I've been running two different sets of aftermarket rims since I picked up my LSB in October and haven't had any TPMS lights, let alone sensors installed.

[ridgeback]

nice, My car must have the same equip as yours looneycanuck as I picked my car up in October as well.

[looneycanuk]

nice, My car must have the same equip as yours looneycanuck as I picked my car up in October as well.

 

I am guessing that the CDN LSBs will not have TPMS; we have some silly laws but I can't say that I've heard about a TPMS law up here like the one in the States.

 

Maybe next year?

 

BTW, the Tribeca has TPMS.

[trigeek]

I just heard back from my dealer regarding the grinding noise in the back, and they say it is the tires, they are too big (245/45 17"). They are going to put on 205/55 17" (edit: OK...I just heard back from the dealer again, and now they are saying 235/45 17"). So hopefully that fixes the problem.

 

My question to everyone out there is, would having too big of tires on the rims sound like grinding metal when they rub? Because the sound I heard coming from the rear end of the car was closer to grinding metal than rubbing rubber.

 

Any thoughts? My thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread, and this site in general.

[looneycanuk]

I just heard back from my dealer regarding the grinding noise in the back, and they say it is the tires, they are too big (245/45 17"). They are going to put on 205/55 17" (edit: OK...I just heard back from the dealer again, and now they are saying 235/45 17"). So hopefully that fixes the problem.

 

My question to everyone out there is, would having too big of tires on the rims sound like grinding metal when they rub? Because the sound I heard coming from the rear end of the car was closer to grinding metal than rubbing rubber.

 

Any thoughts? My thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread, and this site in general.

 

Unless the tires were rubbing against the fender/suspension, I can't see what else would be grinding. Maybe the wheels weights catching on the fender/suspension?

 

Have them put on 215/45 for the winter -- thinner is better in this case.

[ilh]

235 and 245 sound awfully wide for winter tires on an LGT. That sounds like a recipe for "hydro"planing on slush. 205 or 215 make a lot more sense if you are in real winter country.

[whiskywizard]

I just heard back from my dealer regarding the grinding noise in the back, and they say it is the tires, they are too big (245/45 17"). They are going to put on 205/55 17" (edit: OK...I just heard back from the dealer again, and now they are saying 235/45 17"). So hopefully that fixes the problem.

 

My question to everyone out there is, would having too big of tires on the rims sound like grinding metal when they rub? Because the sound I heard coming from the rear end of the car was closer to grinding metal than rubbing rubber.

 

Any thoughts? My thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread, and this site in general.

 

I talked to a guy at tirerack today. He said they recommend 215/45-17 but can just fit a 215/50-17. They bring in each car model and try the various combinations in real life. The nice thing about tirerack is they have the overall rolling diameter listed for each wheel/tire combo. based on this, I'd say you heard tire in the fenderwell.

[Vimy101]

The OEM set up for the Spec.B is 215/45/18 which almost the same circumference as 215/50/17(very slightly shorter) which is the size I'm currently running for winter. The 50s will easily fit.

[Fantastipotamus]

So, I got a call back from the tirerack guy who was the sales rep assigned to my order.

 

He said the 17x7.5 ASA JH3's, because of the combination of width and offset, would likely require some form of fender work to keep them working properly.

 

So, while they're a fantastic deal at $92 apiece, be careful to anyone who gets them. I ended up upping my cost and going with Kazera KZ-C's. Unfortunately, the delay in them getting back to me means two day shipping won't get them here in time for my trip this weekend, so I get to pay $130 for fedex overnight shipping on TOP of $30 more per tire.

 

Argh!

[whiskywizard]

So, I got a call back from the tirerack guy who was the sales rep assigned to my order.

 

He said the 17x7.5 ASA JH3's, because of the combination of width and offset, would likely require some form of fender work to keep them working properly.

 

So, while they're a fantastic deal at $92 apiece, be careful to anyone who gets them. I ended up upping my cost and going with Kazera KZ-C's. Unfortunately, the delay in them getting back to me means two day shipping won't get them here in time for my trip this weekend, so I get to pay $130 for fedex overnight shipping on TOP of $30 more per tire.

 

Argh!

 

That would be very frustrating! When I talked to tirerack (Chad) he said all the rims listed had been tried on the car. If what he says is true, the ASA JH3 should have fit just fine. I wonder where the issue is? He stated emphatically that they would take back anything that didn't fit properly, and they'd pay the return shipping too. Still- it's a pain in the a$$ to go through that.

[Gamble]

My new 07 LSB also needs its winters, so I've been corresponding with one of the reps at TireRack on this question as well. He warned me that the ASA JH3 would only fit if the fenders are modded. The two wheels that he did recommend were:

 

17X7 5-100/114 ET48 ASA JS5

17X7.5 5-100 ET48 KAZERA KZ-C

 

[trigeek]

Well I finally got my baby home. Turns out the grinding noise was the tires, they were too big. They put 235/45 17s on and she drives beautifully. I know alot of you guys suggested getting skinnier tires (and I appreciate all the opinions and input) but I'm hoping these will work well for me. Frankly I'm just happy to have her home.

 

I have a question around breaking the engine in that I've posted here:

 

Please check it out, as there seems to be a number of very knowledgeable people reading this thread.

 

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?p=874155#post874155

[EL PAALO]

I still don't get why they'd go wider than stock for snow tires ........ goofy.

[whiskywizard]

I still don't get why they'd go wider than stock for snow tires ........ goofy.

 

As many of you alreadyhave said, the right tire for snow is narrower, not wider, than the summer equivalent. That sounds typical for a dealer. They want to sell you what they have, not what you need. In this case, they got caught making a silly mistake and now can't back down.

[whiskywizard]

You can go to The Tire Rack website and see what options they offer. I went with 17x7.5 ASA JH3 wheels with 215/50 Dunlop Wiinter Sport M3 tires. No snow yet in Chicago but I'm looking forward to snow!

 

ANDYJ, I'm still trying to sort out my tire issues. You said you have Dunlop 215/50R17 Wiinter Sport M3 tires. That seems to be the perfect size but Tire Rack doesn't list that size for the Dunlops. Maybe yours are an older model? Are you pretty certain that size is right? Don't mean to question you - just trying to get it right so I don't get into a lot of extra back and forth shipping with Tire Rack. Thanks in advance

[Fantastipotamus]

ANDYJ, I'm still trying to sort out my tire issues. You said you have Dunlop 215/50R17 Wiinter Sport M3 tires. That seems to be the perfect size but Tire Rack doesn't list that size for the Dunlops. Maybe yours are an older model? Are you pretty certain that size is right? Don't mean to question you - just trying to get it right so I don't get into a lot of extra back and forth shipping with Tire Rack. Thanks in advance

215/50's seem like kind of a weird/rare size. I think he meant 55 series, which they do have the Winter Sport M3's in.

 

I'll throw a vote in for a similarly priced tire, the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2s, which I used for a pair of seasons on my STi and still have a lot of tread left for my new car (probably at least another 2 seasons or so on them). The dry handling is okay (you can feel them roll over a bit under aggresive cornering), but the snow traction is quite good.

 

Also, I'm eager to see how the Legacy's longer platform works with AWD over the shorter Impreza one. I expect good things.

[Boxer2Blower]

215/50's seem like kind of a weird/rare size. I think he meant 55 series, which they do have the Winter Sport M3's in.

 

I'll throw a vote in for a similarly priced tire, the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2s, which I used for a pair of seasons on my STi and still have a lot of tread left for my new car (probably at least another 2 seasons or so on them). The dry handling is okay (you can feel them roll over a bit under aggresive cornering), but the snow traction is quite good.

 

Also, I'm eager to see how the Legacy's longer platform works with AWD over the shorter Impreza one. I expect good things.

 

I don't think that is a weird size. For example, I almost positive that is the OEM size of say an Infiniti G35 Sedan.

[Vimy101]

^ I'm running 215/50/17 which is the closest circumference match to the Spec.B OEM 215/45/18s.

[Fantastipotamus]

Yeah, upon closer inspection, it may just be tirerack.

 

They have 3 winter tires in 215/50R17, for some reason I thought there were 10-12 in 215/55R17, but there are actually only 6 or so. So yeah, my bad.

[ANDYJ]

ANDYJ, I'm still trying to sort out my tire issues. You said you have Dunlop 215/50R17 Wiinter Sport M3 tires. That seems to be the perfect size but Tire Rack doesn't list that size for the Dunlops. Maybe yours are an older model? Are you pretty certain that size is right? Don't mean to question you - just trying to get it right so I don't get into a lot of extra back and forth shipping with Tire Rack. Thanks in advance

 

 

I double-checked and I do have 215/50/17 Dunlop Winter Sport M3 tires on 17x7.5 ASA JH3 wheels. I ordered this wheel/tire combo pre-mounted from Tire Rack ~2 months ago. At that time, this combo was one of the many offered on the website for an 06' Legacy GT Spec-B. I find it hard to believe that with Tire Rack's reputation and experience that they would offer a wheel/tire combo that doesn't fit. I've had these on my car for ~2 months now and they fit perfectly. The wheels would need a huge positive or negative offset to even come close to rubbing on anything. The wheel offset looks pretty small to me. Maybe the Tire Rack just wants to sell people some more expensive wheels/tires??????

[Jair]

Just installed the 18" Blizzaks on the stock rims last night, big difference over the stock Spec B tires for sure.

 

I spent a month debating to go down to 17's and get rims for snow tires, winter season here in Alaska is a long one, but after spending a few weeks slidding around on the stock tires just called up tirerack and ordered the 18's. Think with shipping paid about $870, which isn't to bad a deal.

 

 

Evan

[whiskywizard]

I double-checked and I do have 215/50/17 Dunlop Winter Sport M3 tires on 17x7.5 ASA JH3 wheels. I ordered this wheel/tire combo pre-mounted from Tire Rack ~2 months ago. At that time, this combo was one of the many offered on the website for an 06' Legacy GT Spec-B. I find it hard to believe that with Tire Rack's reputation and experience that they would offer a wheel/tire combo that doesn't fit. I've had these on my car for ~2 months now and they fit perfectly. The wheels would need a huge positive or negative offset to even come close to rubbing on anything. The wheel offset looks pretty small to me. Maybe the Tire Rack just wants to sell people some more expensive wheels/tires??????

 

Thanks AndyJ. That's what i suspected.

[whiskywizard]

I wanted to say thanks for the advice from everyone. I especially appreciated the discussion on sizes and what rubbed vs what cleared.

 

I ended up going with the Pirelli Sottozero 215/45-17 on a 7"x17 wheel sold by Subaru of Canada for winter tires on STis. The dealer will get them in and mounted this week.

 

Here's a rough photo of the wheel - not sure what the vehicle is; STi I guess?...

 

http://i16.tinypic.com/2z74nrk.jpg

[whiskywizard]

I thought I'd show you the others that the dealer suggested as "perfect fit" choices. There was no way I could go with chrome on winter wheels. All were $215 each.

 

http://i16.tinypic.com/401ivbr.jpg

 

http://i10.tinypic.com/2rr9jdd.jpg

 

http://i11.tinypic.com/2v3olk7.jpg

[coredump4]

I double-checked and I do have 215/50/17 Dunlop Winter Sport M3 tires on 17x7.5 ASA JH3 wheels. I ordered this wheel/tire combo pre-mounted from Tire Rack ~2 months ago. At that time, this combo was one of the many offered on the website for an 06' Legacy GT Spec-B. I find it hard to believe that with Tire Rack's reputation and experience that they would offer a wheel/tire combo that doesn't fit. I've had these on my car for ~2 months now and they fit perfectly. The wheels would need a huge positive or negative offset to even come close to rubbing on anything. The wheel offset looks pretty small to me. Maybe the Tire Rack just wants to sell people some more expensive wheels/tires??????

 

I'm about to buy winter wheels & tires for my '06 Spec B as well. However, I live in the Wash. DC area, and you definitely don't need snow tires here. What winter footware are Mid-Atlantic folks buying these days? I like the ASA JH3's, but I was thinking of getting a really good all-season tire instead of snow tires.