Christmas wheel surprise

New to this forum due to the fact that my girlfriend just got a 2011 Legacy. These cars are pretty sweet! Anyways, I want to surprise her for Christmas with some new wheels. She's a city girl and wants 20" wheels for the summer time. Her car is black and she wants black wheels. I'm just now in the starting phase of looking around so I'm taking all suggestions. Any details I should know about fitment, rubbing, and wheel brand is greatly appreciated. I would like to try and stay below $1,000. Thanks!

Thinking about going with these ones. (http://www.rimsntires.com/wheel.jsp?itemid=241552&brand=ICW&model=215B%20Banshee&carMake=Subaru&carModel=Legacy&carYear=2011)

You might want to start here... http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/faq-offsets-sizes-rims-and-tires-gt-xenonk-version-4426.html

 

20" wheels are awfully big for our cars and will have compromises to make it work. I don't think they are just bolt-on. Also, good luck finding wheels and tires for less that a grand.

20s, sigh. Even after you make it fit, it's going to ride like CRAP.

The Aussies seem to love 20" on the Legacy/Liberty. Might want to consider 18" or 19", which plenty of members have.

You might want to start here... http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/faq-offsets-sizes-rims-and-tires-gt-xenonk-version-4426.html

 

20" wheels are awfully big for our cars and will have compromises to make it work. I don't think they are just bolt-on. Also, good luck finding wheels and tires for less that a grand.

 

The OP is in a 2011 and the 5th gen Legacies have ginormous wheel wells. Xenonk's information might not be directly applicable to the 5th gen.

 

There are quite a few people running 20's in the 5th gen forums, so you should be able to find some good examples. I'd start browsing the Fifth Generation Legacy (2010 - ) and Legacy Photos (2010 +) forums. Then play with the advanced search tool in those two forums if you are not getting the information you need.

 

Keep in mind, the 5th gen LGT came stock with 18s.

Stock is 225/45/18, yes, so in order to maintain the same overall circumference (and thus maintain the correct speedo reading) he would have to run 225/35 if he went all the way up to 20s. That is only 3.1 inches of sidewall thickness, as opposed to 4 inches for stock.

 

A 4th gen LGT is only 215/45/17 which is only 3.8" of sidewall. I've run as low as 215/40/18 which is only 3.5" of sidewall. I've also dented my 18" rims from potholes as a result.

 

I can't even imagine what 19" or 20" would do to the ride and pothole damage susceptibly for the car.

 

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

If you're talking going from 18s (or 17s or 16s depending on what trim it is - we don't know) to 20s, you're probably not interested in maintaining the overall circumference. I personally wouldn't bother and simply accept the fact that your speedo and odo will be off and then remove the spare donut from the trunk and leave it home. Then get a AAA membership.

 

20s with some decent sidewall height will probably fit with no rubbing at stock ride height and if not too wide (around 8.5 inches). I'd confirm this with the handful of 5th geners who have gone to 20s before buying anything.

So after looking around, it looks like 19"s are going to be the winner.

I can hook you up with some 20" black with machined face wheels...let me know

 

5x100 and 20" is a hard to find combo...

I think Im going to go with the matte black TSW Interlagos 19" wheels. Haha I dont really trust her and I think I want to get the tires that give the wheels that little extra padding. Anybody know what size wheels I should get to make that happen?

With TSW and needing a 5x100 bolt pattern, you typically can only get up to 19x8 which should fit just fine. 19x8.5 would probably fit without any rubbing if you can find them, depending on offset, but I don't think you'll find 8.5" TSW wheels for the Legacy. TSW's fitment guide for the Legacy is here.

 

Here's a tire calculator with the 5th gen LGT stock wheel specs to work from as a base and the TSW's I suspect you'll find:

 

http://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=225&aspect=45&diameter=18&wheelwidth=7.5&offset=55&width2=235&aspect2=40&diameter2=19&wheelwidth2=8&offset2=45#content

 

The Interlagos can come in 35 and 45 offsets, and with an 8" wide wheel, I'd probably put 235/40s on them, although you could stick with a 225mm wide tire if you want it more narrow.

 

On my car, I'm running 18x8.5 43mm offset with not even the slightest chance of rubbing. This will have a similar poke to the Interlagos with a 35mm offset, so you should be able to get whichever offset you wish.