Want to run an aggressive GTR Face setup on your Impreza?
It isn’t impossible, you just need to be willing to do the modifications necessary to make it work.
Perfect example of someone willing to do what it takes is Bill (Aka. IStoSTi, CarbonIS, and a few others I don’t know).
Bill contacted me asking “what would it take for me to run this?”
I informed Bill of what he would have to do. Generally when I reply to questions like these people run away or ask if I’m serious, not Bill. Bill asked for more details. Crazy guy I tell ya.
This setup he was talking about was an 18×9 +29mm Advan RS with the coveted GTR face.
To make this aggressive of a setup work on an Impreza it takes a good amount of work and very aggressive camber settings front and rear.The tire of choice for this setup was a 235/40/18, this allowed Bill to run slightly less camber and have the lower ride height he was searching for.
Even with the 235/40/18 and -2.5 rear camber it is still necessary to do modifications to the rear fenders. Bill decided to modify the rear fenders by trimming the excess fender lip away, this allows the car to maintain stock look and still gain the needed clearance.
Setting up an aggressive wheel and tire car isn’t a simple set ride height, install, align and done. Modifying the setup, for everything to fit properly is a tedious process and can take days if not weeks. If I remember correctly Bill and a local performance shop modified the fenders and did the alignment in two days. Crazy again I tell ya.
Once Bill had everything setup and got some photos taken he had started a revolution of sorts, proving that it is possible to run these kind of Low Offset wheels on stock bodied Subaru Impreza Sedans. This is beyond fitment, this is the way a low offset Subaru is supposed to look.
Bill doesn’t need wheels to do dual duty, he has plans to run a more performance oriented aggressive setup for track use in the future. Normally I’d stray away from this aggressive 18×9 +29mm setup for a car using these wheels for both street and track, due to other options being more ideal for dual duty. Although if you’re crazy enough to do it, do it. My only request is you do it right the first time.
Important Modifications:
Suspension: Tein Flex Coilovers, Rear Camber bolts
Wheels: Advan RS GTR Face 18×9 +29mm 5×114.3
Tires: Falken Azenis RT615 235/40/18
Alignment: -2.6 Front Camber, -2.5 Rear Camber
Ride Height: 12.5″ Front, 12.3″ Rear
Body Modifications: Trimmed rear inner fender lip
Here are some photos of Bill’s setup. Click for higher-res.
Bill asked me to thank a few of his Friends and Supporters for him.
Shades of Gray Tint
EDO Performance
RT Tuning
Area1320
Liquid Powder Coats
201 Motorsports
Photos by: Laura DeBolt
As always if you have specific questions about your setup or want to be featured on T3hclap.com don’t hesitate to shoot me an email.
drew@t3hclap.com
-t3h_:clap:
Bill’s STi is the sex
Drew,
What if he wanted to run say Falken Azenis RT615 255/35/18, what other modifications would have to be done? With a smaller side wall (35mm) would you have to adjust any camber? Do you think the wheel bearings will need to be replaced more often because of the aggressive offset?
I love the look! Flush w/o the assistance of spacers!
Omar,
the 35 in a 255/35/18 is not a measurement in mm. It is a percentage of the wheel width.
although the 255/35/18 is shorter overall than the 235/40/18.
to run a 255/35/18 on this offset you would have to do some extensive fender work to find room for the extra 10mm or so. As you see Bill’s setup doesn’t have much wiggle room.
if you didn’t modify the fenders you’d need to run more camber.
the Wheel bearings will see more stress than if they had a higher offset wheel but with the MY05s stronger bearings this shouldn’t be an issue for many many miles.
what you mean by trim the fender? don’t you crack the paint when you’re doing that? how about roll the lip up? will that work?
-ty
the 05-07 STi’s do not have alot of lip to roll up and when you do it usually creates more issues with cracking.
trimming the lip when done correctly shouldn’t effect any other portion of the paint except when you’re trimming.
also with the little 05-07 fender flare there it can cover up some minor mistakes in the process.
just be sure to prep the metal after the work is done so it doesn’t have future issues.
Freaking SIIICK!!!!
I was Wondering if 18×9 rims would fit on a stock 07 impreza 2.5i & if so what size of tires would u recommend?
Hi, I was looking around for a while searching for fender and I happened upon this site and your post regarding , I will definitely add this to my bookmarks!
Are the coilovers a necessity? I’m on stock struts w/ RCE yellows… I’ve already put on camber bolts, and don’t mind the aggressive camber nor the fender lip trimming. Just wondering if I’d have clearance with stock struts…?
you’d have plenty of clearance on the stock struts (inboard).
the issue is with the fender.
to run this setup you’d have to do extensive fender mods.
http://t3hclap.com/archives/49
even after that you may have rubbing issues due to the softness/ride height of the RCE Yellows.
there are guys with higher offset 9″ wheels and 235s rubbing with the RCE yellows.
a 9″ +45mm with a 235/40/18 doesn’t rub with the right camber on the RCE Yellows.
you can get away with the +35mm on a 9″ wheel with a 235/40/18 if you run more camber and do some fender mods.
How long to ..X.. Tires last with this setup? on Daily driving?
The camber.. scares me.
Hey I am wanting to buy those wheels from him on iwsti. I do not really want to cut rear fenders. I dont want issues later on with paint or bending or whatever. I will be running Tarmac 2′s so would I still need to cut? If so what is an offset to go with that would not require cutting the rear? If that’s possible? Thanks
with the T2′s and a 235 tire you can get away without fender mods doing the 18×9 +45mm.
Depending on your alignment and ride height you could go to a wider wheel with the 18×9 +45mm.
if you’ve got more questions don’t hesitate to email me.
IF the yellows won’t work for this setup, i’m guessing the blacks wont either? or would they since there is less of a drop?
[...] Want to be Aggressive? Are you willing to do what it takes? [...]
Hey Im thinkin about upgrading wheels and I have an 05 RS turbo non sti and was wondering if all of this info about offset is the same with me having 5×100 instead of 5×114.3??
Thank you
Trav