I've bought a new WRX and had the PPP kit fitted, the cars about run in and goes well! It seems pretty easy to get the car to the limit of it's grip when cornerring fast - will 225 tyres on the 17" STI type rims make much difference?
The dealership tell me it's quite a small light car and too much rubber can actually reduces the grip (lower pressure per square inch of rubber in contact with the road) and I should stick with the standard 215's. It seemed like this could be good advice bearing in mind they could have been motivated towards selling me some bigger wheels!

Any opinions on this please??

 

What sort of tyres?
Obviously, you get different amounts of grip with different compounds.

The preferred option seems to be Goodyear F1 GSD3 at the mo, but some people swear by Toyo Proxes T1S.

You also have to have a bit of a trade off for dry grip if you want 'em to be grippy in the wet too....which you do

Alcazar

 

I have a WRX03 PPP changed my wheels/tyres to STi8 far better handling than before, even on original Bridgestone RE040,s also later changed brakes to AP 4pots massive improvement over standard, easy to sell on existing as gun metal rims popular with classic scoobs, hope this helps.
Pete

 

I've got a WRX PPP coming and want to upgrade to the 18" 225/40 Prodrive wheels subject to price.

I drove a WRX PPP on standard 17" wheels and was surprise how easy it was to get the tyres chirping! Maybe Prodrive are right to recommend an upgrade to 18" wheels with the PPP? It's not cheap though!

 

I put sti8 wheels/tyres on my wrxo3 225/45-17,and like you i've found the limit of adhesion when cornering fast ,particularly on roundabouts.Don't half **** you up,soon comes back into line though.

I was thinking about putting strut braces on to try and improve things.

steve

 

stevho - did you find the STi 8 wheels an improvement on the standard WRX wheels and tyres though? I'm buying some so am hopeful this will be an improvement as the STi tyres are slightly wider - pete says it's much better (earlier reply). On standards I can feel the tyres peeling on v hard corners and get understeer or start to lose the back end! All said the PPP adds alot of extra performance to the WRX - it's not just bhp but the way the car delivers the power.

Cheers chaps

 

I couldn't honestly say if there was an improvement because i swapped them at 1000 miles and i was running the motor in up until that time.

Pushing hard out of slow corners is where i lose traction,and mine is a standard wrx.I personally think you will have a marginal improvement only going 225s.

Visually though the 225s look a lot wider than the 215s and fill out the wheel arches much better(the reason why i put sti8 wheels on )

steve

 

Thats good enough for me - the wider wheel arches do look a bit crappy with the WRX wheels on. Have to get them sprayed silver or gun metal colour though because I bought a silver car and Gold and silver won't look too good. Should have bought the black WRX they had in stock - bollocks! silver easier to keep shiny tho.

 

Why buy the 17" STI wheels when the Prodrive brochure has at least two choices of 18" wheels for the WRX for not much more cash and the choice of gold, silver or black. I can't imagine that spraying gold wheels to make them silver or black would be a long term solution? Just buy the right colour straight away!

 

£550 for a set of brand new STI wheels and tryes is better than £1800 or so for Pro Drive alternative (as I couldn't afford any more dosh just for wheels). As long as you get the Gold paint sand blasted off and start from the alloy and get them laquerred properly I think they should be fine

 

How are you getting the STI wheels & tyres this cheaply?

 

AR try some dealers as alot have the STi in stock to sell at £500-£600 from customers upgrading to 18" on STi's from day one. Got mine from someone on this forum - posted a note in the wanted section. My local dealer had sold out but said they were pretty common.

cheers macka